I've thought about your question for a day... hoping for some clarity. Not sure I have it but here goes...
Taking a Crow step back. Daimler - Benz (AKA Mercedes Benz -Daimler and other historically famous brands in their stable) is first and foremost and engineering firm. They do auto engineering to a fair-thee-well. From Grand Prix racers in the 30s to the Formula One cars and engines (turbo V6 with a kinetic energy unit AND a Heat energy unit, endurance & rally cars from the '50s like the 300SL, Daimler aircraft engines, Maybach Zeppelin engines, Mother Benz has done it all.
Yes, there are 'Roo bars', deer bars, gate bars, etc., for Sprinters. You have to check the internet. Definitely, in Austrailia, NZ and Tasmania, maybe Africa. Haven't seen any here in the states. But there's probably 30 different vendors for 'merican trucks and cars here in TEXAS.
I'd be very cautious about hanging a big chunk of metal on the front end of a Sprinter van or RV.
First, it is always 'dead weight'. Some Class Cs have very small Occupant & Cargo Carrying Capacity. Adding a 'Roo Bar' takes away from the OCCC.
MB/Daimler/Sprinter vans/cab chassis are really well designed with your and your passenger's safety in mind. They can ABSORB a lot of damage dissipating a huge amount of energy in a calculated, scientific, destruction of the body work, front frame, displacing engine, hood, cab and doors so that you can walk away. The vans are even designed with crush-able impact absorbing foam pads in the roof just by the driver and passenger heads, for what it is worth.
And, then there's the calibration of the airbag impact sensors which are designed to work in a very scientific way to fire, or not fire, the air bags. Adding iron out front changes that. The entire effort is to give you the best chance of walking away from an accident with no, or minor injuries. And, people have horrendous accidents in Sprinters and walk away.
Put in Crow-Speak: the van is expendable, you are not......
Hanging a hunk of iron off the front end, regardless of purpose, changes all of that safety engineering and in all likelihood increases your chance of serious injury.
A second point (or maybe a third?)..... On the other side of Mother's safety engineering suites are her Boyz who do the engine cooling and aerodynamic work. The newer vans (maybe from 2013 on) are 'Blue Efficiency' designs. From year to year there have been very subtle changes in the shape of the grill, fenders, mirrors, bumpers and a bunch of other unseen things to improve the aerodynamic and mechanical efficiency of the van. They continue to hone that efficiency down to a microtome's edge.
If you compare a Sprinter from about 08 on, to a FORD, CHEVY or DODGE you will see that the 'mercian trucks/vans have huge openings in the front. Yeh, part of that is for efficient cooling of their engines... but it is mostly for the MACHO appearance. Mother's vans have grill openings about 1/2 that size, or less, (sure, smaller engine and cooling system!) but the Wizards in Stuttgart have closed and refined that opening with carefully designed slots, vanes and openings to minimize the air entry (= drag) while providing adequate cooling air to the radiator, inter-cooler, and AC coil under all operating conditions. If you hang a bunch of iron, spare tire, fishing rods or beer cooler in front of the grill, you are going to restrict and disrupt the flow of air into the carefully crafted opening, As we all know, that's not a good plan.
The point is: Mercedes doesn't to anything with out a lot of thought and engineering leading the finished design. Although, we sometimes may disagree or be puzzled by their seemingly confused approach to stuff..... In the case of engine cooling, everything the Stuttgart Boyz have done has been to give you the most efficiency. From the cooling system, to the fans, & engine compartment layout are designed on a razor thin efficiency level to let in just enough air and not more than needed to do the job. If you mess with the airflow through the grill, there's going to be fall out somewhere along the line because everything has to be in balance. Mother want's it that way... an engineered, balanced approach to efficient operations. It is what Mercedes Benz does.
'merican cars and trucks it don't much matter... hell you could put a tarp over the grill of Ford, Chebby or Dodge on a 105F day and drive 85 in Texas and never over heat it. German and Japanese designs... it do.
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As an aside, to show what craftsmanship and engineering Daimler-Benz puts into things.....
Somewhere in Britain there is a BF-109 fighter with a Daimler-Benz DB-605 engine built in late '44 under wartime conditions. The DB-605 is a 12-cylinder liquid-cooled, fuel injected, supercharged 60°
inverted Vee aircraft piston engine. Who knows how many were made in all the variants? The 109, was captured during the war and used for test and evaluations. Worn out it was put into storage. Sometime in the 70?s it was decided to return it to flying status as a museum aircraft. The engine was pulled and sent to Rolls-Royce, the only company with the 'smarts & tools' to repair/rebuild/refurbish the engine. The crankshaft was pulled and checked. The RR engineers reportedly told the museum: "The crank is in perfect condition. No issues. And.... by the by.... do not break it!!!!! We do not have the ability to make another one with these close tolerances. The builders did an outstanding job on machining the one you have......
The point: If you mess around with Daimler Benz stuff, you had better be on the top of your game because they put a lot of effort into making the product.
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