Off topic: In the first crash test video in the article [0], does the rear seat completely detach from the car?? And that was a car that after NHTSA crash-testing ... basically received a perfect score . It's always amazing to me to see how much energy is involved in a car crash... it's easy to forget how dangerous cars can be.
If the other car was under heavy braking, it's front-end dips down and instead of a bumper-to-bumper collision, you have the rear-ending car go "under" the back of the front car.
Source: My old '81 Mustang got rear-ended at fairly high speed by a Civic and had no taillight damage. Lost my tailpipe but that was about all.
[0] http://youtu.be/R_PnnrAtRuk?t=54