I would like to defer to Wikipedia.

The crumple zone (also called crush space) is a structural feature mainly used in automobiles and recently incorporated into railcars.
Crumple zones are designed to absorb the energy from the impact during a traffic collision by controlled deformation.
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When a vehicle and all its contents, including passengers and luggage are travelling at speed, they have inertia / momentum, which means that they will continue forward with that direction and speed (Newton's first law of motion). In the event of a sudden deceleration of a rigid framed vehicle due to impact, unrestrained vehicle contents will continue forwards at their previous speed due to inertia, and impact the vehicle interior, with a force equivalent to many times their normal weight due to gravity. The purpose of crumple zones is to slow down the collision and to absorb energy to reduce the difference in speeds between the vehicle and its occupants.

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