Do skid plates compromise crumple zone?

Recently saw a post here about a guy with bad accident in t bone. The discussion consensus was if he had sliders it would reduce the crumple zone and cause more chance of injury. Could the said be said for a full set of undercarriage skid plates?

 

In a side impact, the side of the vehicle is not designed to crumple. If you look at a materials breakdown of a chassis, the occupant area is made of high strength steel specifically not to crumple. There is inadequate room to absorb the energy required in a side impact, as the occupants are too close to the doors. The energy absorption is relying on the impacting vehicles front crash structure to absorb energy. Sliders would be benificial to the occupant safety of the T-boned vehicle.

The undercarriage is not designed to buckle, only the front and rear of the vehicle have designed impact zones. Keep in mind these impact areas are designed around absorbing energy for GVWR, so if you add lots of heavy armor and accessories you may exceed the vehicles energy absorption design compacity. Adding a front plate steel bumper and removing the energy absorbing aluminum front crash bar will have much greater impact than adding skids. The only skid that would possibly make a difference is the front IFS skid, but at that point you are already talking about significant frame deflection, so the over all effect would be very minimal.