The energy management structure for the Volkswagen ESV.

In order to improve the crashworthiness of vehicles, attention must be given both to an improvement of the occupant crash protection and to a reduction in the "aggressiveness'' of heavy vehicles toward lighter vehicles. The latter requires a "soft nose" on the heavier vehicle. By use of hydraulic shock absorbers in the bumper system, an energy-absorption distribution can be achieved in vehicle-to-vehicle- collisions without requiring larger deformations on the large vehicle than on the smaller vehicle.