The "Moose Test" is a well-known test of a car's emergency-maneuvering capabilities. Imagine a moose on your side of the road, and oncoming traffic in the other lane. You'll need to quickly dodge said moose and return to your lane safely.

https://youtu.be/VtQ24W_lamY


It's an interesting turn of events for the RAV4, which doesn't seem to be all that controllable in the test - in fact, it's downright bouncy. I wonder what sort of suspension tuning led to this problem - or, is it a stability control issue?

 

Didn't Jeep and GX also fail at some point? Retuned the VSC and no problem.

 

Hoovey has a point. Also, another possibility is poor-quality shock absorbers on the RAV-4.

 

There are so many factors that could cause a vehicle to fail the elk / moose test: shock absorbers; spring rates; tire pressure; worn tires; high centre of gravity; lack of, or poorly-tuned, stability control system.

The first-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class failed the elk test in 1997 (it flipped). There was a recall and stop-sale, and the problem was solved by adding electronic stability control.

In Autumn 2016, the Toyota Hilux Double Cab also performed poorly in the moose test (lifting the inside front and rear tires). By February 2017, Toyota solved the problem by reprogramming the stability control system and increasing tire pressure.

I agree that re-programming the RAV4's stability control system will probably fix the problem.

 

In modern vehicles, these types of problems are almost always ESC-related. Time to recallibrate.

So what is the ticking sound with every vehicle going through the cones? I know an ESC makes a ticking sound inside the vehicle when activated, but the audio is not from inside the cabin. Plus, every different SUV shown testing displayed the same ticking sound.

 

The ticking sound is probably the sound of the rapidly-pulsing brake-application on the individual wheel involved to correct either oversteer or understeer. When the regular ABS is working, you hear the same sound on one or more wheels (or on all of them) at the same time...it is more of a drumming noise.

 

I'm more concerned about the crash test safety and brakes. 99.9% of the drivers will either brake hard or swerve and hit a tree hard anyways. And they should call it the Deer test instead. Who runs into a moose these days?

 

From the looks of the trees around the vehicle and the accent of the driver, sounds like the test was done in a Nordic or far Northern environment, perhaps Scandanavia, where moose and elk may be more common than deer.

 

I wonder who didnt get the memo in the ESC tuning dept for Toyota. Does it really matter what its called, i think the idea here is the vehicles stability in avoidance maneuvers. Not a biggie, as a ESC retune will fix it, but I would assume if this is an issue that exists in a particular geography, the regional branch would specifically require the modified tune before launch.

 

Yeah, at this point they'd need to retune the ESC of vehicles people are already driving...

 

Ok so someone will run into some kind of animal on the road somewhere in the world unexpectedly and they will either panic stop or swerve and hit a tree or fall off a ditch somewhere. A driver will have no where near the amount of time to try and swerve like that in real life compared to these test environments.

 

Are some of you serious? This is a general avoidance test that happens to have moose in the name the same abrupt maneuver can take place in many situations. And yes the RAV did poorly, inexcusably in my view Toyota needs to come up with an update. Owners will have to book a dealer appointment assuming Toyota issues a fix, meaning not everyone will get the update. Tesla is far far ahead in this respect.

 

Let's not think of this as "Moose" avoidance but general "obstruction" avoidance. It could be someone pulling out into traffic unexpectedly, in a city, where there is no ditch.

 

Despite the moose vs. deer question, I think all (or most) of us are aware that this is a general-avoidance test. It could be anything from a child or pet running across the road to a rock or boulder rolling across a mountain road.




One thing that helps with Teslas is that the big heavy battery pack sits quite low in the vehicle, under the seats, and that lowers the center of gravity for less body roll.

 

Aware of all that. What I mentioned was the ticking sound is the same in all videos, at the same time, same tone, etc. The audio was not of inside the vehicle or even close to it outside. There would be no way to hear the actually ABS or ESC ticking taking place (as far as I can see). So it's like they dubbed in the sound or something...