The 'Low-Impact' Myth: Minor Vehicle Damage, Serious Injury

Published September 20, 2022 · Injury Law Basics

The call usually comes a week or two after a rear-end crash. The neck pain has not gone away, the headaches are worse, and the doctor has ordered an MRI. Then the other driver's adjuster calls and says, in a friendly voice, that the photos show only a scuffed bumper, so the company does not believe anyone could have been hurt.

That argument has a name in the insurance business: the low-impact or minor-impact defense. It is one of the most common reasons legitimate claims get lowballed. It is also built on a false premise.

Why a clean bumper says little about your neck

A car is designed to protect itself in a low-speed collision. Bumpers, crush zones and the structures behind them are engineered so that a fender-bender does not require expensive body work. That is good for repair bills, but it means the force of the impact is not absorbed by bending metal. It goes somewhere, and some of it goes into the people inside.

What happens to your body depends on things a repair estimate does not measure:

• Your position. A head turned to check a mirror or a body leaning toward the console moves differently than one facing straight ahead.
• Whether you saw it coming. People struck from behind while stopped at a light often have no chance to brace.
• Head restraint position, seat design and vehicle size differences.
• Your age and medical history. A spine with pre-existing degeneration can be injured by forces a younger spine would tolerate. Ohio's eggshell-plaintiff rule holds the at-fault driver responsible for harm to the person as they actually are, which we explain in Focus on Treatment First.

Herniated discs, concussions, and shoulder and knee injuries can all follow crashes that left little visible damage. We have written before about proving whiplash and soft-tissue injuries, and the same principles apply here.

What Ohio courts have said about "minimal damage" photographs

Defense lawyers like to put a photograph of a barely scratched bumper in front of a jury and let jurors draw their own conclusion. Ohio courts have recognized the problem with that tactic.

In Hastie v. Dohar, 2002-Ohio-812, the Eighth District Court of Appeals in Cleveland reviewed a case in which the at-fault driver admitted causing the collision. Rita Hastie was a passenger in a car stopped at an intersection when it was struck. She did not feel hurt at first but later developed neck, shoulder and lower back pain and went through therapy. The only issue at trial was the extent of her injuries.

The defense wanted to show photographs of the minor damage to the car and argue that so little damage meant so little injury. The trial judge refused, because the defense had no expert to connect the car's damage to the harm to the person inside. The jury awarded $19,000, and the appeals court affirmed. It wrote that "it is conceivable that a party in an accident could sustain injury to her person and at the same time suffer minimal damage to her vehicle," and held that when the defense uses vehicle damage to minimize a person's injury, an expert may be required.

That is not an absolute rule. The decision was divided, the court said its holding was limited to its facts, and later Ohio decisions have treated admission of vehicle photographs as a matter for each trial judge's discretion. Photographs that fairly show the damage often come into evidence. The practical point is this: the photo of your bumper is not proof that you were not hurt, and a well-prepared case can meet it head-on.

How low-impact cases are won

The answer to a photograph of a bumper is medical evidence.

1. Prompt treatment. See a doctor the same day or the next, even if you think the pain will pass. A delay of weeks is the adjuster's best argument after the photo.
2. Consistent treatment. Follow through with referrals, imaging and physical therapy. Gaps in care are read as proof that you got better.
3. Honest symptom reporting. Tell every provider about every symptom, including headaches, sleep problems and memory trouble, which can signal a concussion.
4. A treating physician's causation opinion. In Ohio, the injured person generally must prove with medical testimony that the crash caused the injury, especially for anything beyond the obvious. Your doctor's opinion, grounded in the history, the exam and the imaging, is the core of the case.
5. Engineering evidence when needed. In some cases a biomechanical or reconstruction expert can explain the forces involved. The car's event data recorder may show the change in speed at impact, which is why we cover black-box data preservation early.
6. Photos of the inside of the car. In the Cleveland case the Hastie court relied on, the interior of the car was more damaged than the exterior. Seat backs, head restraints and items thrown around the cabin tell a story the bumper does not.

What not to do

Do not argue with the adjuster about the photos, and do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver's insurer. Questions like "You felt fine at the scene, right?" are designed to lock in the low-impact story. Our chapter on dealing with insurance adjusters explains how to handle these calls, and our page on rear-end collisions covers the most common low-impact crash.

Do not accept a quick settlement before your doctors know the full extent of the injury. A disc herniation that needs surgery may not be diagnosed for weeks. What a case is worth depends on the injury and its permanence, not the body-shop invoice, as explained in What Your Case Is Worth.

What this means for you

If an adjuster has told you your crash was too minor to hurt anyone, understand that this is a negotiating position, not a medical finding. Your claim will be decided by your medical records, your doctors' opinions, and the quality of the evidence gathered early. The sooner you get treatment and get advice, the weaker the low-impact argument becomes.