Yesterday in Pickens County, SC, a head on collision occurred between a Ford Transit and a Ford F150 pickup - the couple in the Transit are both dead - one at the scene and the other at the hospital. The two guys in the 150 survived. Kinda scary in that the front of the Sprinter is similar.
It might be similar but as always looks can be deceiving!
It is generally considered in the trade that MB makes one of the highest crash surviveability ratings in the industry.
I have even fixed a 906 Sprinter that had a 50/50 40 mph front ender with NO degradation of the cells structure; in fact we took the doors from a non bashed up Sprinter and fitted them to a crumpled unit--fitted perfectly!
Now each collision and its severity cannot guarantee 100% surviveability as in the case of Lady Diana Spencer in Paris, but I have seen plenty of MB cars that have had been well and truly crunched, even T boned but all the doors could be opened. There are few makes that can emulated that enviable fact.
Basically its what you pay for when you buy the MB product and its structure is first class.
Dennis