I'm putting on the chargespeed carbon brake ducts and I will need a jdm bumper beam or gruppe-s's lightweight beam for them to fit, but I wondered what the bumper beam is for, if anyone knows if it supports any of the front bumper, if it triggers airbags, or if it is only a crash beam. I know I shouldn't remove it and should replace it, but if the airbags would trigger without it I wouldn't mind as much. Thanks for anyone who can help.

 

Without the beam there would be nowhere to mount the bumper cover. The bumper attaches to the beam.
The airbag sensors are mounted to the frame and not the beam itself. The beam does provide crash protection for the front end, and is designed to take the impact/damage of minor front end collisions. With a lighter or modified beam you will be sacrificing some of that protection.