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Bumpers were initially intended to prevent damage to the vehicle, not the occupants.

This is why older cars (1980 and earlier) seem to have bumpers that look more like "bull bars".

These days they are more intended to prevent injury to pedestrians. In the case of a vehicle/pedestrian collision the bumper is made of plastic, and backed by some form of collapsible material such as polystyrene. This more likely to deform in a controlled manner and minimise (as far as possible) injury to the pedestrian.

The "protection of the occupants" is given over to carefully designing sections of the vehicle to "collapse" under impact and absorb energy (crumple zones), while designing other sections of the vehicle to maintain their shape and protect the occupants (passenger compartment).

This is one reason why even a low speed impact can cause extensive damage: The crumple zone did what it was designed to do, and "collapsed" while at the same time preventing damage to the more important part of the vehicle containing the occupants.

This effect can easily be seen in Formula 1 vehicles. A car hits something, and seems to fly apart, only to (Hopefully!) leave a small section of the vehicle intact containing the driver.

The car has been designed to "fly apart on demand" as the "Flying apart" absorb the energy of the impact, leaving the much stronger "cockpit" intact.

The reason for this approach to design is as follows.

During an accident/impact one major cause of injury is "rapid deceleration." (slowing down very quickly. It hurts when you hit you head on a wall, but it does not hurt when you hit a mattress at the same speed.)

By designing parts of the car to "crumple" you are in effect adding a "mattress".

Also a great deal of attention is given to controlling how the "crumple zones" crumple/deform.

A second cause of injury is "intrusion of foreign objects". So consideration is given to ensure that the passenger compartment is not penetrated by other parts of the vehicle.

For example, It is very common for there to be some form of "locking device" (for want of a better word) at the rear of a hood/bonnet to prevent the bonnet coming off, and going through the windscreen/wind-shield and decapitating the occupants.

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