I had to respond to this thread because I was rear-ended in my Vibe on Thanksgiving Eve. It was raining. I came up on stopped traffic a bit too fast and I stopped quickly, but did not squeal my tires or veer out of my lane at all. As I came to a rest I looked in my rear-view mirror to see if anyone behind me had missed seeing me stop and was going to rear-end ME. Yup, a smear of a greige-colored car was coming fast. I was going to be hit. I have rehearsed this in my mind a thousand times. Let go of the wheel, get feet off the brake, head up against the headrest, and try to relax. Bang! the first impact threw me forward as I was rear-ended, and Smash! I hit the truck in front of me. I felt my body, and especially my neck, go forward and back. Otherwise, I was not hit by anything. The airbags did not deploy.
The cop later told me the airbags do not deploy if you are at a stop or near-stop. I knew that airbag injuries (and deaths) are a real thing, so I was glad to not have had to deal with them. I did ask to go to the hospital for a check because I do have degenerative disc disease in my neck already and I know that whiplash injuries often do not show up for days. I was afraid to do much until I knew I was okay. They did a CT and my neck and head were cleared of injury.
My door took two guys pulling on it to open, as the front end had been pushed into it and it was jammed against the front fender. I knew the front was smashed in. Until Friday morning, when we could get to the yard where they towed it, we did not know exactly what was damaged or not damaged, though. I did not get to look around, they put me in the ambulance and took me away. Friday we saw this:
http://www.pbase.com/nancyb/image/164703024/large
http://www.pbase.com/nancyb/image/164703040
http://www.pbase.com/nancyb/image/164703030
http://www.pbase.com/nancyb/image/164703031
And the following Wednesday, when the police report was finally available, I learned what had happened. A Dodge Charger with no insurance hit me, and I hit a Dodge Durango. No one was hurt, and the other two cars drove away from the accident. It did not say how fast the Charger was moving or if he was braking. I imagine that he was, or I would have been even more of a Dodge sandwich than I was. I stuck right to the Durango after the crash. I did not bounce back after hitting him. I think I was wedged under his bumper where my metal frame that was beneath my bumper is shown stripped of any red plastic parts, and where my grill is where the radiator used to be.
I believe that it was my taking my foot off the brake that saved me. The front bumper and the engine block absorbed most of the energy of the impact. My seat and harness and seat belt protected me just as they were designed to do. I was not even bruised. The back end is not dented as far as I can see. That bulb hanging down above the license plate is the only damage.
State Farm decided that the car was totaled, so I have lost my Vibe. She only had 51,123 miles! They gave me $9000 for her, minus the $500 deductible they are holding on to because I went to the hospital.
I have a set of GM window deflectors I never installed if anyone wants them. I also have a cover for the cargo area that I never even got to open because I started carrying a walker with me and needed to keep a seat-back down to fit it in.
If all this happened to my car at a low speed crash, but NOTHING dented in the back, I can only imagine how hard that car from eBay had to be hit!