Yes, Margaret, that is absolutely true. A locomotive following AAR "standards" acts just like a block, and does not dissipate much energy at all. It simply passes it to the first car, which may simply fail miserably.

On the other hand, a vehicle with modern crash energy dissipation elements (in your car, it is called crumple zones) takes up enough energy that the passengers are protected. In addition to that, that energy dissipation does lower the deccelleration, which increases chances for the passengers to be less affected.