The masters of the annual European Car of the Year Award have conducted an important safety test among all cars competing for the title.
Called the ‘moose test’ in automobile jargon and ‘evasive maneuver test’ in more official terms, it is essentially a trial where the vehicle attempts to evade collision with a suddenly appearing obstacle.
As you can see from the video, the Toyota RAV4 has recently failed a similar test set up by a Swedish journalist crew.
This time around, however, the SUV has performed considerably better, evading the obstacle flawlessly at 65 km/h (40.4 mph). At 70 km/h (43.5 mph), evading caused the wheels to lose their grip, but the intervention of the roll stabilization system saved the day. In the end, the car only began hitting the cones at 76 km/h (47.2 km/h).
The jury explained the failure of the Swedish test by the driver keeping his foot on the acceleration pedal even during the maneuver, which does not correspond to the typical human behavior in similar situations.
Furthermore, the Toyota RAV4 has passed the latest test moving at a higher speed than all other tested SUVs. The Range Rover Evoque showed acceptable performance at 63 km/h (39.1 mph), the Subaru Forester at 64 km/h (39.8 mph), and the electric Audi e-tron at 60 km/h (37.3 mph).
The remaining contenders included the Audi e-tron, BMW 1 Series & X7, Citroen DS3 Crossback, Kia e-Soul, Mazda 3 & CX30, Peugeot 208, Renault Clio, Skoda Scala & Kamiq, Range Rover Evoque, Tesla Model 3, Toyota Corolla, Camry & Supra, and Volkswagen T-Cross.