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I think that the issue is more to do with the mechanics of the accident than the speed. Hitting a solid object at 80 mph may result in no injury, minor injury, major injury or worse. The issue is 'how' the impact took place, head-on, sideways, backwards or spinning.
In an accident there are 3 distinct impacts, the vehicle colliding with whatever it hits, your body colliding with the interior of the car (even if this is actually the restraints) and your internal organs (which are not rigidly fixed inside your body) colliding with your body structure.
The way in which the impact occurs can significantly vary the outcome for the driver. Each of the 3 impacts dissipates some of the stored energy, obviously it's best if the car dissipates most of it by crumpling as this is by far the easiest to replace.
I think that the point I'm trying to make is that an 80mph head-on impact may result in no injury or major injury dependent on a huge variety of varialbles, if you can reduce or remove one of those variables then it must be an improvement in the likelihood of a no-injury accident.
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