I don't know if this a good thing. The energy of the accident is not absorbed by deforming the body of the cybertruck, but the energy needs to go somewhere.
I had a similar accident 14 years ago. Rear-ended and my car was hardly deformed either. The consequence was that my car was jolted forward and I ended up with an enormous whiplash which keeps me dissbled ever since. I would have rather had the car absorbed the energy in stead of my neck.
I understand (via extended family) how rough and long-lasting that sort of injury can be..so I genuinely hope you're doing okay.
I'm not an accident analyst by any means, but I do suspect that the speed and energy of this Ram vs. Cybertruck crash may have been smaller than it looks, and yours was probably a more severe crash and therefore injury. I believe the cybertruck driver posted the photos originally and didn't indicate any personal injury.
I also suspect that the sturdy tow hitch on the cybertruck did some work here. When I was young, I was in my Dad's truck when a sedan hit the back of it during a sudden stop in traffic. The speed was not high...we felt just a slight bump. The only contact to my Dad's truck was to the tow hitch, so no damage to us. But, that tow hitch hit the bumper and/or hood of the other car, creating some decent damage to thin plastic and metal.
It looks to me like the tow hitch on the cybertruck probably dented the metal bumper/bumper cover on the Ram. It's a good dent, but probably only an inch or two of any real "crumpling."
Beyond that, to my eye, the RAM didn't really show much crumpling, if any, of the actual crumple zone -- the bumper seems to be in its normal location, just dented, and the most obvious broken things are the crumpled hood and broken grill, both of which are fairly weak (at least in terms of thousands of pounds of car colliding at any speed), and wouldn't have actually dissipated much energy.
Not directed at you supecifically, but there seems to be some common misinterpretations and misunderstandings about crumple zones in general and the Cybertruck in particular. The notes I think many people misunderstand:
- The CyberTruck DOES have crumple zones...or maybe more like crumble zones due to the nature of the aluminum alloy of the castings.
- When Tesla released one of the crash test videos, they explained: "It's not about the size of your crumple zone, it's about how you use it. When in a high-speed collision, Cybertruck's front underbody casting is designed to break into small pieces. This helps reduce occupant impact by absorbing & dispensing energy."
- I think I also remember more explanation about a not-so-high speed collision breaking off smaller pieces at the outer section of the castings, and a higher speed collision will break off that area, plus larger/stronger areas farther into the casting to dissipate ever more energy, as needed.
- The sheet metal on the cybertruck being thicker or stronger than standard vehicle sheet metal will still be "weak" in front and rear collisions relative to the casting structure, so that sheet metal will still bend, and it's still the job of the casting to break in a way that absorbs and dissipates energy when needed.
- The "exoskeleton" term Tesla uses seems to be partially related to general dent and scratch resistance. The doors, specifically, have extra strong stainless steel panels that we might call a true exoskeleton...but that means that the Cybertruck doesn't need some of the metal bars that reinforce doors on typical vehicles. The stronger cybertruck sheet metal can do that job, in that area.
- The bending of flimsy sheet metal is NOT a car's crumple zone...and bending flimsy parts doesn't dissipate much energy
- The actual crumple zones are more internal, and tied more closely to the structure and frame of the vehicle.
- A vehicle showing lots of damage to things like the hood, fenders, grill, headlights, etc. didn't necessarily have its crumple zones activated, and all of that cosmetic damage, while expensive to repair, probably didn't actually dissipate much energy or do much to protect anybody.
- We can dent vehicle sheet metal with a good kick, a swing of a mallet, or even just accidentally hitting it with another car's door....that sort of energy is nothing compared to a vehicle-on-vehicle collision...evidence that bending sheet metal isn't really a crumple zone.
- Usually, crumple zones don't activate in low speed collisions. "Low speed" is, of course, a relative term, and will vary with the vehicles and types of accidents...
- But, low speed collisions can of course do lots of damage to thin sheet metal, headlights, plastic parts, etc.
- Crumple zones are generally designed for higher speed collisions, and have varying degrees of crumpling depending on the speed (energy) that needs to get dissipated.
Again, I don't think we know the speed of this accident, but we're pretty sure the Cybertruck driver that got rear ended is just fine. The Cybertruck's rear crumple/crumble zone probably didnt' activate because it didn't need to. The damage to the Ram, while pretty expensive, also probably didn't activate the crumple zones and was mainly "cosmetic" damage to the outer cosmetic parts (hood, grill, bumper cover, etc.).
In a higher speed collision, I do believe that the Cybertruck still has crumple zones, front and rear, built into the castings and other structural parts to make sure occupants are protected and energy is dissipated.
Release should be imminent!
