Have you seen where it's fitted ? It's attached to, and within the bounds of, the subframe. You'd need to have a MAJOR smash to damage it, enough to bend the subframe too, and there's no sign of any damage anywhere else. More likely it was removed for access last year when the steering rack was replaced, and somehow forgotten when they reassembled.

Anyway, I've been driving it for two months, and the previous owner was driving it for I-don't-know-how-long like this and nothing bad has happened. I'll definitely get a replacement from a breakers but for now I'm not going to sweat it.