Vehicle Safety Tossed Out the Window for Russian Car Company

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has a serious negative impact on the Russian auto market. One of the most popular brands has tossed out vehicle safety.

Its not that this company desires to build cars without safety features, but Avtovaz has no choice. Recent sanctions creates an environment where Russians will have a car that doesn’t offer some of the basic items we’ve come to expect from these vehicles. This invasion is finally causing serious problems for the offending nation, which will end up back in the stone ages of vehicle safety.

The Lada Brand Goes Without

You might not know very many Russian automotive brands, but Lada is one of the most popular. This car company has been around for a long time and was part of an episode of The Grand Tour on Amazon, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. If you’ve seen this episode, you know this brand wasn’t highly thought of when the Lada cars were relatively new and popular, but when Communism controls nearly every aspect of your life its hard not to drive what the controlling government requires in your country.

Does Russia Truly Have Freedom?

Democracy doesn’t work in every country in the world and some of the challenges Russia faces after the fall of the USSR prove that. In fact, this recent invasion into Ukraine is partly due to leftover ill feelings between the two nations. Its not a secret that the border between these two nations has been a tense and heavily guarded area for several years. Many might not think Russia actually has any form of freedom or democracy, but that could be part of the problem in this country. This supposed democracy seems to be much more like a dictatorship than anything else.

What’s Missing from the Lada Cars?

The affordable four-door passenger car, Lada Granta, is being made without some of the features many of us take for granted. Some of these features include air bags, anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, or emergency retraction locks on the seatbelts. Without these basic safety items, it almost seems like this car shouldn’t be made at all. Unfortunately, the movement forward to build this car is much of what we’ve come to expect from this country. While the rest of the world doesn’t understand what or why Russia does, a car without any basic safety features seems only logical.

Safety Isn’t All That’s Missing

Along with the list of basic items we expect to find in vehicles, the new models of the Lada Granta don’t pass emissions standards from neighboring countries. Of course, it won’t be too surprising if Russia claims this car is safe enough and passes the emissions tests, even if it won’t if this car is sent to other countries. This is a bit of a strange change that should have some nations concerned.

Why Should Other Nations Worry?

Not only will the vehicle safety standard suffer in Russia, but a global impact could be felt. Russia might have rolled back safety features, but they serve as the vice-chair of the United Nations’ World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. This is ironic and very sad for the country, but it could bring a global impact that might create serious problems in other areas of the world. Can other nations trust that Russia is a leader in on road safety if they take so many steps backward, especially when it comes to basic safety items in vehicles. If this country is expected to be a leader in this arena, shouldn’t safety come first?

Is the Cold War Back?

During the Cold War, Russia turned blindly away from its own people and the government was only ever concerned with the impact on the oligarchs and “leaders” of the country. This move away from vehicle safety standard shows how Moscow can turn a blind eye to the economic sanctions from the West while making its own population suffer and do with out essentials necessary to live. Some of these are basic car safety features, which we often take for granted in every vehicle we drive.

Is the Invasion that Important to Russia?

Putting the entire population at risk shows the Kremlin only cares about the invasion of Ukraine and not much else. The fact the government is pushing Avtovaz to build cars without basic safety items shows its willingness to sacrifice the population in favor of this movement toward Europe. With more cars coming of the line every day, it appears to the rest of the world that sanctions aren’t impacting the Russian economic market at all, but that’s certainly not the case. This false façade is right out of the Cold War Playbook, which takes us back nearly 40 years.

What Does Avtovaz Have to Say About the Parts Shortage?

During a recent press release, Avtovaz reported these new models show the maximum use of localized parts and resources for the car while dealing with the shortage of imported components. This might be a hint at how the sanctions are impacting this car company, but in a way that doesn’t go against the current government and President Putin. This response sounds more like something we expect from China and its communist government, not one that should come from a nation with a democratic form of leadership.

Be Thankful Not to Live in Russia

Actually, be even more thankful not to live in Ukraine right now, but these new Russian cars are an incredible step backward in the most important ways. The recent lack of vehicle safety for this new Lada car makes it hard to trust anything coming out of the Kremlin or Russia as a whole. Thankfully, in the United States, we have some of the strictest and most important safety features and standards in the world. Safety is a huge priority in our auto market and the cars we put on the road have more than just the basics when it comes to protecting drivers and passengers.