Front longitudinal members (11) of a vehicle (10) extend forward from a passenger cell (12) and partially bound an engine compartment (13), in which a drive unit (14) is positioned. A deflection device (17) has deflection elements (18) fastened to the front longitudinal members (11) for rotation about vertical axes (24). In the event of a partially overlapping frontal collision with a barrier, the deflection element (18) is rotated by the collision from an inoperative position in which the deflection element extends in the longitudinal direction of the respective front longitudinal member (11), into a collision position where a first portion (19) of the deflection element (18) projects into the engine compartment (13). Thus, a longitudinal pulse from the frontal collision acting toward the passenger cell (12) is at least partially converted by the deflection element (18) into a transverse pulse acting on the drive unit (14).