The new Lada Azimut crossover has passed crash tests

In preparation for the official state certification, Lada Azimut crossovers have successfully passed factory validation tests for passive safety. The press service of AVTOVAZ told Izvestia about this on April 2.

The test package includes more than 100 different tests of the car and its components for passive safety, including frontal and side crash tests, side impact on a pole and rear impact. Special attention is also paid to static tests of the body and restraint systems for strength and injury safety.

Bench tests of seat belt attachment points became one of the validation stages. A special hydraulic stand allows you to create a high load on all seat belts at the same time. Unlike the usual crash test, such tests allow you to check the strength of the rear row belts and their attachment points, AvtoVAZ said.

During the tests of the safety belt attachment points in the rear row, the stand applied a total force of 9 tons for 2 seconds, although the rules provide for a load time of 0.2 seconds (a tenfold excess of the standards is modeled). It is stated that according to the results of the test, the belts showed high strength under load exceeding the legal requirements of the "R14 Rules", and the belt attachment points demonstrated a minimal level of deformation.

In preparation for certification, additional tests were conducted according to more stringent foreign standards. One of them was the static strength check of the body and the driver's door. At the stand, in slow motion, the cylinder-shaped loading element is inserted 46 cm into the interior, developing a force of up to 10 tons. As noted in the company, the low speed of movement of the loading element allows you to build an accurate graph of the deformation and structural changes of the elements of the door's power frame, which cannot be done with a classical impact test. According to the results of the tests, the Lada Azimut body showed a 30 percent safety margin.

Waiting for the "window": AvtoVAZ shares plans for 2026

Lada to launch crossover, van and sports car on the market

On April 1, the head of AvtoVAZ Maxim Sokolov said that the company is developing a hybrid modification of the Lada Azimut crossover, the first car will be ready in the third quarter of 2026. A pilot sample of such a model is scheduled to be released in the third quarter.

The top manager clarified that the hybrid Lada Azimut will be all-wheel drive, and the total power plant capacity will be 290 kW (394 hp). The start of mass production of Lada Azimut is planned at the same time.

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