Compare and Contrast

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 03/17/2016 at 19:01 • Filed to: Mercedes A Class, Trabant

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The Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld (it means what it sounds like) likes to subject cars to the Elk Test, or Moose Test if you talk American. This is designed to simulate a car being swerved at speed around an elk which has suddenly appeared on the road in front of the unfortunate driver, a thing which is a major cause of road deaths in northern Scandinavia and, one presumes, in other places equipped with large animals.

Here we have a Mk1 Mercedes A Class

And a Trabant 601

One, and only one, of these passed the test at the first time of asking.

Autohaus Derp > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:03

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The trabbie! IIRC the Merc was famously bad for this test

CB > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:04

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The Trabant passed, obviously.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:08

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I know the Mercedes failed, but would the Trabant even get to the speed at which the test is performed?

dogisbadob > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:10

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NOT FAIR! The Trabant can’t go fast enough to make swerving that dangerous :p

Cé hé sin > CB 03/17/2016 at 19:18

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Indeed it did.

Cé hé sin > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap 03/17/2016 at 19:22

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“The test is performed on a dry road surface. Traffic cones are set up in an S shape to simulate the obstacle, road , and road edges. The car to be tested has one belted person in each available seat and weights in the trunk to achieve maximum load.

When the driver comes onto the track, he or she quickly swerves into the oncoming lane to avoid the object and then immediately swerves back to avoid oncoming traffic. The test is repeated with an increased speed until the car skids, knocks down cones, or spins around. This usually happens at speeds of about 70–80 km/h (45–50 mph)“

No actual speed requirement then, just proceed until the car is out of control. I don’t know what speed the Trabi reached, but it didn’t fall over.

duurtlang > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:25

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The pre-recall Merc A wasn’t the only which handled more dangerously than the Trabant.

samssun > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:25

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We covered this in my Crisis Management class. From what I remember it was a pretty questionable test run which no one could really replicate, but since Mercedes didn’t take it seriously the media response was less than ideal.

They eventually ended up reassuring the public, laughing at themselves, and including stuffed mooses when customers brought cars in.

Cé hé sin > samssun 03/17/2016 at 19:29

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Didn’t some Jeep model fall foul in circumstances which Jeep fans found questionable as well?

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:30

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I’ll just leave this here...

Cé hé sin > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 03/17/2016 at 19:34

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ESP is a good thing, then...

Cé hé sin > duurtlang 03/17/2016 at 19:36

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Jeep fans were Very Unhappy with that test and cried “foul!” because other testers weren’t able to reproduce the rollover.

samssun > Cé hé sin 03/17/2016 at 19:36

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Couple years ago, Grand Cherokee, same test. I think it was a similar scenario where the initial video was dramatic (three wheels, punctured tires) and others weren’t able to replicate it, questioned the tire pressure, etc, but it was borderline enough for Jeep to reprogram the ESP or something, same as Mercedes.

IanZ - limited-slip indifferential > Cé hé sin 03/20/2016 at 22:53

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NO!! I remember when cars were light and simple and dangerously unsafe! Those were the days!...when you drove in constant fear and worry.