This normally uninterestng article shows the value of a steel bumper vs. the fancy plastic crap that you get on cars nowadays:

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that most bumpers on midsize cars do little to prevent costly damage to vehicles ... only three midsize vehicles ... sustained less than $1,500 in repairs from each of the four crash tests.

In one test of the front-end at 6 mph, four vehicles ... had damages of more than $4,000.

By comparison, the Institute conducted similar tests on a 1981 Ford Escort and found the front-end test only caused $86 in damages.

What they don’t mention is that the $86 repair cost makes the Escort a total loss.