I dropped my car off st the body shop today and it got me thinking how bad this current design is.

A very minor parking lot tap is a 3k repair!

And a more serious rear ender can affect the frame and be a 40k repair.

This strikes me as form over function. Sure it looks cool, but I had two rear impacts to my 997 that onky required a cheap bumperette replacement. Got them painted perfectly online from Eric at bumper plugs.

 

I like living on the edge. No bumperettes for me, please!

 

True "bumpers" don't exist like in the old days -- they are now structurally part of the frame and covered by plastic (the bumper cover). Sucks in low-speed minor impacts where the cost to refinish/repair is significant (look at what a broken headlight costs nowadays!), but in higher-speed collisions the integrated bumpers with frame/body crumple zones are significantly safer than the "old days" where it was expected the chrome bumper would absorb the impact!

 

At least protection film and ceramic coating helps with the small stuff.

 

Having our engine hanging off the back end for someone to crash into is definitely living on the edge...especially with so many distracted drivers

 

The ubiquitous Camry bump. Every Camry has an indent in the plastic shell that covers the actual bumper structure (but looks like a bumper). My highlander had the same design.