> We hear again and again of the robustness of these vehicles. They
> have an absolutely minimal crush-zone and are designed basically to
> use the other vehicle as a crush-zone instead.

That's not true. Lack of "crush zones" is a foregone conclusion when the
entire vehicle is essentially potentially occupied space, but it certainly
wasn't designed to use the other vehicle to absorb impact energy. Instead,
VW engineers  made the frontal undercarriage structure essentially
wedge-shaped. In a head on collision, the wedge is forced backwards between
the two body rails underneath, forcing them apart sideways. This forcing
absorbs quite a lot of energy, and is a lot more predictable than building a
solid vehicle and hoping nobody runs into anything that can't absorb the
impact for you.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"