My experience is the same as Susan’s.

From the time I worked as a chauffeur in Chicago working my way through school, through my thirty year carrier as a communications engineer, and now in my retirement, the majority of the accidents I have been involved in have been rear end collisions. Most of these collisions have occurred while my vehicle was stopped at a traffic control device or parked.

Cars today do not have the bulk of metal that the old Detroit Iron had to protect the occupants or the vehicle in such accidents. Consequently I have long ago changed my mode of transportation to heavy suvs and pickup trucks. In addition, I have changed the tin foil bumpers the OEM provided to half inch thick steel specially design bumpers, front and rear. The rear bumper is equipped with a heavy Class V two and one half inch square receiver. Into this receiver, I have either a solid steel bar with a sacrificial hitch ball or my regular Easy Lift Hitch. What this does is to concentrate the majority of the impact of a rear end collision to the bar or hitch. With such a system, it is like taking your hand and running it into the point of a knife. Very little damage is done to the knife but your hand will be penetrated. Usually the offending bumper is bent into a “V” shape penetrating its own grill, radiator, air-conditioning condenser, and oil cooler, if equipped, then the fan, and finally the engine block. In extreme cases, the block is cracked. Those vehicle with mid or rear mounted engines, have the their front suspension destroyed as well as most of their sheet metal. In all but two of these accidents, the offending vehicle was totaled. So far my vehicles only needed inspection and a new coat of paint on the bumper. With the advent of cell phones the frequency of these accidents are on the increase.

I won’t say the my bumpers are a judge and jury but so far I am happy with the verdict!