Bumper Problems of Honda Element

On a resent trip to colder climates, where there was still some snow on the ground, while parking in a parking lot, I hit a small patch of snow and slid into a tree. Normally I would expect no damage due to the low speed I was traveling at around 5 mph and car bumpers to protect the vehicle in low speed mishaps. However, with the design of the 2004 Honda Element I own there is no bumper in the front center for approximately 30 inches. This leaves the car with no protection if struck in that area. There were two passengers in the car at the time. While we were hardly even jolted by the impact, the car sustained considerable damage in the amount of over $7000. However my concern here is not limited to what happened to me at such a low speed impact but also what would be the result at highway speeds if the car was struck or skidded in a similar way as my accident. The results would probably be disastrous with considerable losses possible. If possible then, this problem should be corrected as soon as possible.

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Problems with windshield, cd player, horn and alarm. The windshield cracked after a small piece of debris hit it. The cd player stopped working after it had been playing for 5 hours. The right side bumper fell off.

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We purchased a Honda Element and within 6 hours I foolishly rear-ended a vechicle from a complete stop at a traffic signal when the light turned green. It was a very low speed (3-5 mph maximum) collision however the subsequent damage was astounding, my Element basically does not seem to have any front bumper support, rather appears to have two beams protruding from the front of the car, that look like they should have something horizontal between them but they do not. One of the beams impaled the car ahead of me stabbing thru its bumper into the vehicle slightly bending the metal below the bumper. My Element ended up with $1786. 00 in damage. The plastic bumper cover (that has no bumper support beneath it) shattered and the single point impact allowed my car to somehow destroy the condenser, radiater, and frame that supports the condenser. I have involved Honda of my concerns and they are telling me that the Element is designed to not have a horizontal bumper support in the front of the car. My question remains how is the vehicle engineered to be safe if there is not supposed to be anything there to distribute the force in the case of a higher-than-3-5mph collision? I noticed that you have released steller front collision ratings on this vehicle, it would help me tremendosly if you could confirm that this particular design makes sense. I am currently too nervous to drive the vehicle and have left it (repaired back to it's original no bumper support form) at the dealership. Please OH please OH please respond so we can put this behind us and move on. We do have photos on disc if that would help my words make sense. Thank you so much, diane munizza goodnight.