Even if you are a good driver, somewhere along the way the experience of a fender bender or low-speed collision often occurs. Questions often arise: What constitutes minor damage and do you report it to your insurance company for coverage or just pay direct for the repair? More times than not, most of us settle on the spot with the assumption that the damage is not more than a few hundred dollars or we go to a body shop with the intent to pay directly for the repair thinking the damage won't exceed our deductible. How do you know what minor damage is and whether it is better to have insurance cover the cost?

The extent of damage caused by low-speed crashes- one of the most common forms of collision- at under 6 m.p.h. into the front and rear corners of auto bumpers might significantly surprise you. With the plastic cover, reinforcement bar, and absorbing foam of the bumper system, you would think your bumper would absorb the energy from a minor collision and reduce the collision impact. In various studies conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on bumper crashes between 3 to 6 m.p.h. on late model sedans and vans, multiple problems in automotive design had a large effect on expensive-to-repair parts like fenders and hoods, causing damage costs in the thousands to repair.

Without Correct Alignment or Improper Absorption, Bumpers Can Produce Damage That is Not Minor

In the studies conducted by IIHS, the height and line-up of the colliding vehicle bumper often did not engage the contact bumper directly, permitting it to slide under or over the other vehicle's bumper damaging the auto body. Aerodynamic styling also accounted for bumper sliding which impaired bumper energy absorption. The more contoured the bumper, the slippage increased creating the colliding bumper to direct impact force toward the bumper corner. Many later model vehicles exhibited weakness with the corner hit crushing the rear quarter.

Another aspect in bumper malfunction was the actual size and strength of the reinforcement bar (behind the plastic cover) that serves to minimize energy absorption.If the reinforcement bar was not broad or large enough there was not enough surface area to correctly absorb crash energy redirecting force to bumper corners. A lack of integral strength in the reinforcement bar also made it unable to repel force resulting in breaking the bar and thrusting full force upon the auto body. With what should have been minor damage with a solid bumper construction turned into thousands of dollars of damage, not several hundred. This underscores how important effective auto design and technology is to minimizing collision damage.