Same thing happened actually to my 230E (W124). A lady (no offence to women drivers.. it just happened to be a lady) hit it hard from behind with her Toyota Starlet (not sure if you've seen one)..
the black impact strip got torn a little...I don't see a need to repair it yet.. but the Starlet was quite badly smashed..

I guess it has to do with the car's size..
Once a Nissan Sunny cab hit the Toyota Crown (not sure if you've seen one either) that I was driving ... (it was my mistake)..
but only a minor damage happened to the Toyota's rear quarter panel (namely dents above the wheel)

I do remember seeing how badly wrecked the cab was...
I felt so guilty and stopped driving for a while...