>Interesting. I wonder what would account for the difference in experience? Maybe newer cars are more prone to that? Maybe traffic in your area is moving faster

>Interesting. I wonder what would account for the difference in experience? Maybe newer cars are more prone to that? Maybe traffic in your area is moving faster... are the accidents where you've seen this typically on a freeway / interstate, or a secondary road or what? I suspect that you're right that it's a combination of newer vehicle construction (cars designed to 'fail' in order to protect the occupants), and speed. Most of the collisions I've seen this happen on aren't on freeways, but they are on 55mph county roads (where the average rate of travel is often closer to 65mph).