[sangnoir]

> Is material science not advanced enough to find some combination of parts that can sustain a low speed impact with no damage but crumple safely in a higher-speed impact?

For collisions, it's safe for the cabin to be fairly rigid to protect the occupants while crumpling the zones further away to absorb as much of the energy as possible before the impact reaches the soft, mushy humans.

It's a combination of physics and costs. Material science might be advanced enough, but the solution might not make economic sense; but if anyone has it, it would likely be Volvo.