The moment of impact at over 50kph.
WUHU: It was a most satisfying smash-up in Wuhu, China, last Friday. And it was all to send an underlying message to everyone.The international press had a rare glimpse of a head-on collision at 56kph between two Chery Tiggo 9 SUVs at Chery's crash test lab here.
In fact, Chery said this is the first of such public testing by an automaker in the world.
The two plug-in hybrids came together with a sickening crunch, caving in the engine bays of both cars. Dummies seated in front in each SUV apparently escaped unscathed. No signs of facial, chest or leg "injuries" although there were coloured imprints on the airbags, showing where the faces of the dummies had connected with them.
A and B-pillars remained intact. Front doors could still be opened although with some effort. Emergency lights were flashing away. One of the SUV's spare tyre was detached from the vehicle after the impact.
What's also important to note was that no fuel leaks were detected in both 7-seaters that would mean the fuel tank was spare the kind of damage that would cause a post-crash fire.
Chery sought to show in this live demonstration how safe the Tiggo 9 is, justifying its high ratings among safety testing agencies locally and around the world.
The Chinese automaker treated the world to another crash to round off the afternoon.
A third Tiggo 9 went off a ramp for the benefit of the select crowd and tuned turtle.
Dummies hung upside down, still belted up and strapped in, with all airbags deployed. Tailgate remained closed (photos showing an open tailgate the result of witnesses opening it for photo-taking later).
Again, there were no deformations in critical areas of the SUV that would make the Tiggo 9 a very survivable vehicle to be in and one of the safest in the world.
In both demos, Chery invited a member of the press to check and verify for themselves the condition of the vehicles and the dummies after the crashes.
The PHEV is coming to Malaysia this year along with the Tiggo 7 PHEV and Tiggo 8 PHEV. A Tiggo 4 Pro hybrid with a 1.5-litre petrol engine is also due this year and is positioned as a compact model below the Omoda 5.
