Are you saying that a Ford 1/2 ton with a full frame is going to be worse off than say a dodge intrepid or any other front wheel drive vehicle after it was rear ended? I have a hard time believing what your saying. I don't work in a body shop but have seen enough to have a curious opinion.

 

Back when I took driver's ed we all had to go through a lesson at a theater with speakers that had been in drunk driving accidents. Outside they carted in vehicles that had been involved. One was a smaller pickup, Ranger sized, but I don't recall specifically what it was. Anyway, it had hit one of those little sheetmetal barriers, the ones that are rippled sheet metal, supported every 10 feet or so by 6x6's, and that had sliced the truck clean in half longways. Both passengers had been drunk, and both survived the wreck without a scratch 'cause the barrier just shot right between them. They had been going a little over eighty.
As to the previous comment on not putting totalled cars back together, I think that's a good idea to a point. Eight months ago I was in a wreck where a suburban failed to yield at a left turn and pulled in front of me. I T-boned him at about 30-35 mph (his fault) and the insurance company called my truck totalled. I asked why, and they said it was because to replace all the body paneling it would cost enough in labor to push the repair past 70% of the truck's value, therefore totalling it. Furthermore they told me there was extensive frame warping. I made the BS call at this point and snuck into the yard in the night and took some measurements. Guess what? No frame damage. I agreed to buy the truck back from the insurance co for a grand, fixed the truck with new (to me) panels from the junkyard and I had it back like new in, oh, about 4 hours. So I technically have a mix-and-match truck, but I consider it no less safe than it previously was.

The Law

 

 

Gee i hate it when those light poles pull out in front of ya like that