I am with chedda. Our cars are NOT meant to take a hit at all. I tapped a curb with the back tire going sideways on ice. Maybe going 15 and it bent the whole frame and I had to replace the whole rear axle(replaced with g1teg axle)
Again, I have seen chedda's car after hitting a moose awhile back and it wasnt pretty. He is lucky to be alive let alone still doing what he does for our cars. Any kind of strength for our cars is needed, even just to hold them together while they go down the road.
An idea to look into though, which is something euopean cars are already doing and we are starting to use in our cars in america. But everyone thinks of making the car stronger so there is less chances of everything smashing in on you. But if you think of hitting sand with your hand to try and get through it, hitting it flat with your fist doesnt do much but if you smack it with an open hand sand will fly around and it doesnt hurt so much. Idea is that you want the car to crush and absorb the impact in as many areas as you can rather then trying to not crush at all.
I think what chedda did is great. It was send the shock around the car instead of straight through.
Sorry for such a long writting