Chery has put its safety claims under public scrutiny by crashing two Tiggo 9 SUVs together in front of more than 500 guests and media at the Longshan Test Centre, the centrepiece of its Ultimate Safety Exploration Tour.
The demonstration used a 15-degree small-overlap configuration, one of the industry’s toughest crash scenarios because the impact skirts the main front longitudinal beams and loads weaker structures.
Each Tiggo 9 PHEV accelerated to 50kph before the strike, creating a combined energy broadly comparable to a single vehicle hitting a rigid barrier at around 100kph — a speed band familiar on urban and suburban roads.
On-site reports said both passenger cells stay intact, with no deformation to the A, B or C pillars.
Front, knee and curtain airbags deploy, and seatbelt pre-tensioners activate as designed.
The fuel system remains sealed, all four doors open immediately after impact to aid rescue access, and the hazard lights trigger automatically to warn other road users.
Chery positions the exercise as a test of more than body strength. Xu Youzhong, Chief Engineer of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd, said the scenario reflects everyday driving and noted: “From the collision angle, the front beams alone could not absorb all the impact. The test was therefore not just a measure of the vehicle’s structural strength, but a full evaluation of Chery’s ability to manage crash forces, coordinate restraint systems, and ensure post-collision safety and rescue functions.”
The company said the live crash complements standard laboratory testing and forms part of a broader verification approach that blends controlled assessments with staged real-world challenges.
The aim was to show how the Tiggo 9 behaved when forces concentrated away from primary load paths — a situation that could create extreme compression, bending and torsion through the front end.
Chery used the tour to argue that structural engineering, restraint timing and post-crash operability matter as much as star ratings. By taking a high-severity test out of the lab and into public view, the brand seeks to lend transparency to its safety message while courting buyers who place crash performance high on their checklist.
Chery had also organised a crash test in front of the world’s media in April, showing two units of the same model crashing squarely into each other.
