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Quick Summary
Key points
- A crash bar is the same piece of hardware the industry calls an exit device or panic bar. Nobody who sells parts will correct you, but the part number lives under the formal name.
- The bar you push is only one of four parts that can fail. The center case, the latch, the end cap and the outside trim all wear separately and are ordered separately.
- Crash bars exist because of egress law, not convenience. On a door that needs one, the door has to open with a single push from the inside with no prior knowledge of the hardware.
- Fire rated crash bars and standard crash bars look almost identical and behave differently. The fire version cannot be held open, and that difference decides half the parts list.
- Nearly every complaint we hear about a crash bar turns out to be the latch, the strike or the closer rather than the bar itself.
| Everyday name | Industry name | What you search for parts under |
|---|---|---|
| Crash bar | Exit device | Device series number, for example 98, 99, 22, 25 |
| Push bar | Exit device or touchpad device | Same, plus the push element type |
| Panic bar | Panic hardware | Same, with panic or fire rating noted |
| Emergency bar | Exit device, often delayed egress | Device series plus the alarm or delay option |
In This Guide
- What Is a Crash Bar on a Door?
- What Are the Parts of a Crash Bar?
- Why Does a Door Need a Crash Bar?
- What Types of Crash Bar Are There?
- What Is the Difference Between a Fire Rated and a Standard Crash Bar?
- How Do You Identify Which Crash Bar You Have?
- What Does It Mean to Dog a Crash Bar?
- Can a Crash Bar Have an Alarm on It?
- Why Would a Door Have a Crash Bar That Does Nothing?
- What Goes Wrong With Crash Bars in Service?
- How Do You Order the Right Crash Bar Parts?
- About the Author
Somebody calls and says the crash bar on the back door is broken. That sentence is completely clear to everyone in the building and completely useless for ordering a part, because no manufacturer prints the words crash bar on anything.
This guide translates. It covers what a crash bar actually is, the four assemblies inside it, why the door has one in the first place, and how to work out which part has failed before you spend money on the wrong one.
What Is a Crash Bar on a Door?
A crash bar is a horizontal bar across the inside face of a door that releases the latch when you push it. Push anywhere along it, in any direction that moves it towards the door, and the door opens.
The formal name is an exit device. Manufacturers, specifiers and parts catalogues all use that term, along with panic hardware when the device is there to satisfy egress requirements. Crash bar is the name it picked up on site, probably because of what happens when a crowd hits one.
The defining characteristic is that it needs no instruction. There is no knob to turn, no direction to work out and no latch to find. A person moving quickly, in the dark, carrying something, pushes and the door opens.
Why does the name matter when ordering?
Because the catalogue is organised by device series, not by nickname. Once you know the series stamped on the chassis, the parts list narrows from thousands of items to a few dozen. Until then, no amount of describing the bar gets you to a part number.
What Are the Parts of a Crash Bar?
Four assemblies do the work, and they fail independently. Knowing which one you are looking at is most of the diagnosis.
| Assembly | What it does | How it usually fails |
|---|---|---|
| Push rail or touchpad | The part the user presses | Bent from impact, or loose on its mounts |
| Center case | Converts the push into latch movement | Internal wear, springs, dogging mechanism |
| Latch and strike | Holds the door shut | Worn latch, misaligned or damaged strike |
| End cap | Closes the far end of the rail | Knocked off, cracked, fixings backed out |
Outside trim is a fifth item but it is not strictly part of the device. It is what gives you a way back in from the outside, and it is ordered separately and matched to the device series.
Which part should you suspect first?
Work from the symptom. A bar that feels loose or rattles points at the rail mounts or the end cap. A bar that moves fully but the door stays shut points at the latch or the connection to it. A door that will not stay shut points at the latch or the strike. A bar that has become stiff points at the center case.
Why Does a Door Need a Crash Bar?
Crash bars are a life safety requirement, not a convenience fitting. The building codes require panic hardware on certain doors so that a crowd can leave without anyone needing to understand the lock.
The triggers are occupancy type and occupant load. Assembly and educational occupancies above a defined occupant load need panic hardware on their egress doors, and rooms containing certain electrical equipment need it regardless of how many people use them. The authority having jurisdiction has the final word on any specific opening.
Our guide to panic hardware on commercial doors sets out the code side in detail, including where the two main model codes differ.
What does the hardware have to do to comply?
Three things, and they are worth stating plainly because they explain the design. The device has to release the latch with a single motion. It has to work with a push, not a pull or a turn. And the force needed has to stay within the limit the code sets, so that a child or someone being pressed from behind can still get out.
What Types of Crash Bar Are There?
The type is decided by where the device latches, which in turn is decided by the door. This is the single most important thing to establish before ordering anything.
| Type | Where it latches | Typical door |
|---|---|---|
| Rim | One latch into a strike on the frame or mullion | Single doors, or pairs with a mullion |
| Surface vertical rod | Top and bottom, rods visible on the door face | Pairs without a mullion |
| Concealed vertical rod | Top and bottom, rods hidden inside the leaf | Pairs where appearance matters |
| Mortise | One latch in a case set into the door edge | Single doors needing a heavier lock case |
If you have established the device is rim type, our rim exit device guide covers it at part level. For the vertical rod versions, see the concealed vertical rod guide.
What Is the Difference Between a Fire Rated and a Standard Crash Bar?
They look nearly identical and they behave differently in one way that matters every day: a fire rated device cannot be dogged.
Dogging is the facility to hold the latch retracted so the door pushes open freely, usually with a hex key or a cylinder. It is how a shop holds a back door operable during trading hours. A fire door has to latch positively every single time it closes, so dogging is not available and the mechanism is not fitted.
| Standard panic device | Fire exit device | |
|---|---|---|
| Dogging available | Yes, hex key or cylinder | No |
| Must latch every closure | Preferred | Required |
| Label on door edge | May be absent | Present, states the rating |
| Parts interchange with the other type | No | No |
Read the label on the edge of the door before ordering. If the opening is fire rated, the device and every part on it has to suit that rating. Our commercial door fire rating guide explains how the labels are read.
What if the device on a fire door has a dogging keyhole?
Then something is wrong with how the opening was specified or the device was replaced at some point with the wrong configuration. It is worth raising, because an inspection will pick it up.
How Do You Identify Which Crash Bar You Have?
Five minutes at the door saves a wrong order. Collect these in sequence.
| Step | What to look at | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stamping on the chassis or under the cover | Manufacturer and device series |
| 2 | Rods on the door face, or latches top and bottom | Rim, surface rod, concealed rod or mortise |
| 3 | Label on the door edge | Fire rated or not |
| 4 | Keyhole in the touchpad end | Whether dogging is fitted |
| 5 | Outside of the door | Trim type, and whether there is a cylinder |
Door width and handing matter too, because rail lengths and some latch parts are handed. Measure rather than estimate.
What Does It Mean to Dog a Crash Bar?
Dogging holds the push bar depressed and the latch retracted, so the door behaves like a push plate until you undog it. It is used to keep a door freely operable during business hours without propping it with a wedge.
Two mechanisms exist. Hex dogging uses a small hex key in the touchpad end. Cylinder dogging uses a key cylinder, so only keyholders can dog the device. The cylinder version is usual where staff should not be able to leave a door unsecured.
A device that will not dog, or will not release from dogged, almost always has a worn dogging assembly or a rounded hex socket. Both are stocked parts rather than a reason to replace the device.
Can a Crash Bar Have an Alarm on It?
Yes, and it is one of the most common upgrades on a back door that keeps getting used as a smoking exit.
An alarm kit fits to the device and sounds locally when the bar is pushed. It does not lock the door and it does not delay egress, which is the point: the door still opens instantly, but the building knows about it.
Where the requirement goes further than an audible alarm, delayed egress hardware holds the door for a set period before releasing. That is a code controlled function with its own rules, covered in our guide to delayed egress.
Why Would a Door Have a Crash Bar That Does Nothing?
Dummy bars exist and they confuse people regularly. A dummy touch bar has no mechanism behind it. It is fitted to the inactive leaf of a pair so both doors look the same, or used as a pull on a door that does not latch.
If a bar moves but nothing happens and there is no latch visible anywhere on that leaf, you are probably looking at dummy trim rather than a fault.
What Goes Wrong With Crash Bars in Service?
These are the complaints that come to us most often, and what they usually turn out to be.
| What the user reports | Usual cause | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| Door will not stay shut | Latch or strike, not the bar | Watch the latch meet the strike with the door closing slowly |
| Bar is hard to push | Center case wear, or a binding latch | Operate the device with the door open |
| Bar rattles | Loose rail fixings or a missing end cap | Fixings along the rail |
| Door only latches when slammed | Door closer, not the device | Latch speed adjustment on the closer |
| Key turns outside but door will not open | Outside trim or the cylinder | Cylinder, tailpiece, then the trim |
| Device will not dog | Dogging assembly or hex socket worn | Whether the opening is fire rated at all |
How Do You Order the Right Crash Bar Parts?
Order by assembly, not by device. The device series and the configuration narrow the list, then the symptom tells you which assembly to buy.
Parts do not cross between series, and they rarely cross between the standard and fire rated versions of the same series. A part that looks identical in a photograph can have a different internal profile.
Start from the exit device parts section, or the 98 and 99 Series parts guide if that is what is on the door. For the naming question that brought you here, our comparison of exit devices and panic bars covers where the terms came from.
About the Author
Security Parts has supplied repair parts for commercial door hardware since 2001, covering Von Duprin, LCN, Schlage, Falcon, Detex and Adams Rite at the component level. Our diagram based lookup exists so a technician can confirm a part before ordering it. This guide was written by the Security Parts team from supplier documentation and the questions our customers bring us.
If all you have is a photograph and the words crash bar, that is enough to start. Send it through our contact page with the door type and we will identify the series, or browse Von Duprin parts if you already have a number.