The invention relates to a device for a motor vehicle for protecting vehicle occupants when there is an impact of energy directed laterally at a motor vehicle door due to a collision, having a connecting structure which has at least two parts, a first and a second part, of which the first part is permanently connected with the motor vehicle door and the second part is permanently connected with an energy-absorbing region of the motor vehicle body located in the vehicle interior and both parts via at least one common joint region can be operationally connected with each other for the calculated conducting-away of at least one part of the energy input laterally acting on the motor vehicle door in the region of the motor vehicle body.The invention is characterized in that the first part is coupled in a rotatably fixed manner to a pivot bearing within the motor vehicle door and can be reversibly moved from a vertical position into a horizontal position under the impact of force, and that the second part is embodied in the shape of a rod or tube and comprises a first end permanently connected with the motor vehicle body, that the second part comprises a second end located opposite the first end, which second end can be reversibly moved from a first position into a second position through horizontal linear movement under the impact of force, and that the first part can be operationally connected in the horizontal position and the second part in the second position via a common joint region, that the energy impact acting on the motor vehicle door can be conducted away from the pivot bearing along a force flux oriented linearly and horizontally via the first and the second part to the first end of the second part permanently connected with the motor vehicle body.