4Front Engineered Solutions has introduced the Talon trailer restraint, the company’s latest offering in loading dock safety equipment. It is being offered under both the Kelley and Serco brands.
Due to pending National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regulations affecting the design of trailer rear impact guard (RIG) bars, many trailer restraints are no longer compatible or are simply less effective at restraining and releasing trailers. Newer-style five-sided RIG bars with pentagonal cross-sections or tilted configurations require a different approach to trailer restraint design.
To keep redesigned RIG bars more secure during loading and unloading trailers, the Talon trailer restraint’s additional upper hook provides true four-sided RIG bar capture, which prevents the RIG bar from hopping over the hook and releasing the trailer from the dock. Talon accomplishes this as a powered restraint that does not use powered hydraulics or a motor.
Instead of a trailer restraint’s hook contacting only two or three sides of a RIG bar, and much like the talons on a bird of prey, the Talon trailer restraint makes complete contact with and surrounds all five surfaces of the pentagonal RIG bar while also eliminating restraint release failure, ensuring the trailer can be released at the appropriate time, thanks to a proprietary locking mechanism.
