Watch the Toyota RAV4 fail the infamous moose test

Monday, 23 September 2019

The 'moose test' (or 'elk test') has been around in Sweden since the late 1970s, but only gained global notoriety in 1997 when it quite literally tripped up the Mercedes-Benz A-class.

Basically a swerve obstacle that tests a car's ability to handle a quick, violent manouevre (a swerve to avoid a moose, for example), it has claimed more than a few big names over the years, including the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Porsche Macan and Toyota Hilux.

Now it is Toyota's turn again with the RAV 4 on the receiving end of a withering 'do not buy' warning from Swedish publication Teknikens Värld (Technology World), the magazine that coined the 'moose test' name and tested the A-class in 1997.

The RAV4 doesn't handle the rapid change of direction well. Toyota says it carried out its own 'Moose tests' with better results.

The video above tells the story, but it isn't a good one for the RAV4, with the magazine saying:

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'Toyota RAV4 has quick front end reactions when we turn left into the lane. When we turn right it cuts in and the car goes up on two wheels. But the behaviour varies.

'Sometimes it goes up on two wheels with extreme reactions including severe skid tendencies, other times the car bounces sideways through the moose test and manages, in the midst of this hard to handle behaviour, to ease the worst forces and avoids going up on two wheels.

'But instead the car becomes willing to skid sideways. After much effort and great hassle, we manage to reach 68 km/h (42 mph) – a speed that is not approved.'

Toyota responded to the Teknikens article with a statement.

'At Toyota, the safety of our customers is our number one priority, and to ensure their security, we apply strict safety tests during the development of all our products.

'Our internal tests fully meet the global standards for obstacle avoidance, and since 2016, we have updated our processes to also reflect the procedures used by Teknikens Värld. During its development stage, RAV4 successfully passed all internal tests, including the ISO 3888-2 and the Teknikens Varld elk test.

'We give our assurance to all Toyota customers that they can be confident in the safety of their vehicles.'

Which doesn't really address the magazine's concerns, but to their credit, Toyota did quickly address earlier issues with the Hilux (that saw it go up on two wheels during the test) with a package of tweaks to its suspension and stability control that saw it easily get through the test.