Funny that you posted this, as I was just thinking about this today. I wasn't aware that the bumper standards had been rolled back, but it makes sense if that is what happened, since today's bumpers suffer cosmetic damage with the slightest impact. However, they may well still protect the sheetmetal and lights, which is what the original bumper standard was designed to address. If you think back to the late 60s and early 70s and cars like the Ford Maverick or Chevy Camaro with their thin "blade" bumpers, the slightest impact would result in body damage, broken taillights, etc. We went from that to the battering ram bumpers mounted on shock absorbers, which were heavy and ugly. The thing about todays bumpers that adds to the cosmetic damage is that most are painted body color instead of being black rubber, which would hide a lot of small impacts. Better stylistically but less practical.