The Toyota RAV4 safety system was unexpectedly scandalized last September when a Swedish team of enthusiasts tried to put it to a ‘moose test’, which it failed. Well, seems like the problem is sorted out now!
The so-called moose test simulates the sudden appearance of a large obstacle on the road, forcing the car’s roll stabilization system to react rapidly and help the driver evade the collision. The last year’s tests showed that in the RAV4, the system had an intrinsic activation lag that prevented it from being efficient.
Having studied the case, Toyota came out with a statement that the SUV had passed all the proving ground tests successfully, but the engineering crew still developed a software update for it that improved the reaction times of the stability control system. The update is due out in the second quarter of 2020, but the Swedish test team has already had an opportunity to test it out – and was satisfied with the results.
According to Teknikens Värld, the SUV now passes the moose test successfully at 72 km/h (44.7 mph), even though it used to struggle at 68 km/h (42.3 mph) earlier.
What remains unclear is whether Toyota rolls out the software update for its currently produced cars only or retroactively for all cars.