Crash ratings

Bollard crash ratings explained

A rating like “M30 P1” packs three facts: what hit the bollard, how fast, and how far it got. Here is how to read every rating you’ll see on a Canadian spec sheet, and the questions to ask before you trust one.

By the Safety Bollards team · Updated 2026-10-26 · Every spec below links to the manufacturer’s own page.

ASTM F2656: vehicle security barriers

ASTM F2656 is the crash test for perimeter security barriers. The rating’s letter is the test vehicle, the number its speed in mph, and the P-number how far the vehicle’s leading edge travelled past the barrier.

Test vehicles (Gibraltar’s summary of F2656-07 and -15)
Code	Vehicle	Weight
C	Small car	2,430 lb (1,100 kg)
FS	Full-size sedan (added in -15)	4,630 lb (2,100 kg)
PU	Pickup truck	5,070 lb (2,300 kg)
M	Medium-duty truck	15,000 lb (6,800 kg)
C7	Class 7 cabover truck (added in -15)	15,873 lb (7,200 kg)
H	Heavy goods vehicle	65,000 lb (29,500 kg)

Speeds are 30, 40, 50 or 60 mph (about 48, 64, 80 and 97 km/h). So M30 is a 6,800 kg truck at 30 mph, and M50 the same truck at 50 mph.

Penetration ratings
Rating	Distance past the barrier
P1	1 m (3.3 ft) or less
P2	1.01 to 7 m (3.31 to 23 ft)
P3	7.01 to 30 m (23.01 to 98.4 ft)
P4	30 m or more (dropped in F2656-15)

The year matters

F2656 has been revised several times. Gibraltar’s summary: -18 moved the point penetration is measured from, -18a reverted it, and -20 moved it back, strengthened the truck’s bed in the test and aligned with ISO IWA 14-1, so M-series ratings under -20 “will no longer align” with older ones. Read the rating with its year: “F2656-20 M30 P1”, not just “M30”.

ASTM F3016: low-speed impact protection

F3016 tests with a 22,250 N (5,000 lb) surrogate vehicle at low speeds. It’s the standard for storefronts, patios, gas pumps and parking-lot edges, where the hazard is a driver who hits the wrong pedal, not an attacker.

Rating	Impact speed	Penetration
S10	10 mph (16 km/h)	P1: under 1 ft · P2: under 4 ft (dynamic)
S20	20 mph (32 km/h)	P1 / P2 as above
S30	30 mph (48 km/h)	P1 / P2 as above

The old K-ratings

Older specs and some product names still carry US Department of State ratings from SD-STD-02.01 (1985): K4 is a 15,000 lb vehicle at 30 mph, K8 at 40 mph and K12 at 50 mph. DOS replaced them with ASTM F2656 in August 2007. Reliance Foundry maps them as M30 ≈ K4, M40 ≈ K8 and M50 ≈ K12 (each at L3, 3 ft or less of penetration).

PAS 68 and IWA 14-1

British PAS 68 and international IWA 14-1 are the equivalents used in the UK and Europe. Some makers list them beside ASTM: ännt on its K4/M30 models, McCue on CrashCore S20 (2,500 kg at 32 km/h).

Five questions before you trust a rating

Which standard and year? F2656-07, -15 and -20 are not interchangeable; F3016 is a different (low-speed) test.
Certified or engineer-rated? Gibraltar marks some of its models “engineer rated” or extrapolated: not crashed in that configuration. Gibraltar’s G-1050 carries K12 by DOS design but, it says, does not meet F2656 M50 P1.
On what foundation? The rating holds only on the tested foundation, from ännt’s 200 mm shallow fitting to its 1,720 mm retractable box.
At what spacing? A line of rated bollards is rated at the spacing tested.
In what ground? ASTM says certification doesn’t make a barrier invulnerable or confirm performance on your site; soils, terrain and climate can degrade it.

Rated products with their foundations: crash-rated bollards. Which test to ask for: F2656 vs F3016.

Questions

Is M30 the same as K4?

Close but not identical. Both use a 15,000 lb truck at 30 mph; Reliance Foundry maps M30 to K4 at L3 (3 ft or less of penetration). M30 P1 allows 1 m or less.

Do Canadian building codes require crash-rated bollards?

We haven’t found a Canadian code page that requires them generally. Requirements usually come from a security assessment, an insurer, a tenant or a municipal standard, so ask whoever set the requirement which rating they mean.