Moose test
Encyclopedia
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
acts when the driver evades a suddenly appearing obstacle (such as a moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
on the road). When in 1997 the newly produced Mercedes-Benz A-Class
Mercedes-Benz A-Class
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a mini MPV produced by the German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. The first generation was introduced in 1997, and the all-new second generation model appeared in late 2004. Launched as a five-door hatchback in 1997, the second generation W169 introduced a...
failed an examination of the Swedish motor magazine Teknikens Värld
Teknikens Värld
Teknikens värld is a leading motor magazine in Sweden, owned and published by Bonnier. The magazine primarily features automotive news, reviews and test drives of passenger cars from various segments. Books are also published under the name, e.g...
, it became well-known under the name Älgtest (Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
for “Moose test” – in Europe the word "elk" and its cognates refer to the moose and not to the smaller animal, the cervid called, confusingly, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
in North America).
The test is performed on a dry road surface. Traffic cone
Traffic cone
Traffic cones, also called traffic pylons, road cones, highway cones, safety cones, construction cones or witches' hats or safety wizards, are usually cone-shaped markers that are placed on roads or footpaths to temporarily redirect traffic in a safe manner...
s are set up in an S shape to simulate the obstacle, the road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
and its edges. The car which is going to be tested has one belted
Seat belt
A seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop...
person at 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
Speed
In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...
until the car skids down the cones or spins around. This usually happens at speeds of about 70-80 km/h (45-50 mph) in the best cases.
This test has been used in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
for decades. In 1997 the journalist Robert Collin from the motor magazine Teknikens Värld
Teknikens Värld
Teknikens värld is a leading motor magazine in Sweden, owned and published by Bonnier. The magazine primarily features automotive news, reviews and test drives of passenger cars from various segments. Books are also published under the name, e.g...
overturned the new Mercedes-Benz A-Class
Mercedes-Benz A-Class
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a mini MPV produced by the German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. The first generation was introduced in 1997, and the all-new second generation model appeared in late 2004. Launched as a five-door hatchback in 1997, the second generation W169 introduced a...
in the moose test, while a Trabant
Trabant
The Trabant is a car that was produced by former East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Sachsen. It was the most common vehicle in East Germany, and was also exported to countries both inside and outside the communist bloc...
— a much older, and widely mocked car from the former German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
— managed it perfectly. The Dacia Logan
Dacia Logan
The Dacia Logan is a small family car car produced jointly by the French manufacturer Renault and its subsidiary Dacia of Romania. It is manufactured at Dacia's automobile plant in Mioveni, Romania, and in Colombia, Brazil, Russia, Morocco, Iran, India and South Africa...
appeared initially to fail the test, but a later investigation concluded that excessive testing had worn the car's tires to failure.
On the occasion of being interviewed for an article in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The Süddeutsche Zeitung , published in Munich, is the largest German national subscription daily newspaper.-Profile:The title literally translates as "South German Newspaper". It is read throughout Germany by 1.1 million readers daily and boasts a relatively high circulation abroad...
, Collin tried to explain this test by the example of an evasive maneuver for a moose on the road. It was soon called "Elchtest" (moose test).
The term has since then become popular with German journalists in various meanings, for example for friendly matches (German: Freundschaftsspiel or Testspiel) of the football national team against Sweden.
Because Mercedes-Benz was forced to upgrade the A-Class, the test was important in the popularization of Electronic Stability Control
Electronic Stability Control
Electronic stability control is a computerized technology that may potentially improve the safety of a vehicle's stability by detecting and minimizing skids. When ESC detects loss of steering control, it automatically applies the brakes to help "steer" the vehicle where the driver intends to go...
.
Swedish automotive magazine Teknikens Värld now publish results from many years of moose testing on their web site. There you can see many cars and the speed they had through the moose testing track. See external link below.
Moose crash test
The mooseMoose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
is common in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, northern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
but does not appear in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
or Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Because of its heavy weight and tall legs, collisions with moose are particularly dangerous for the persons in a car. Both Volvo
Volvo Cars
Volvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. When Volvo AB was introduced on the Swedish...
and Saab
Saab Automobile
Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...
have a tradition of taking moose crashes into account when building cars. The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute has developed a moose crash test dummy called “Mooses”. The dummy (which is made with similar weight, centre of gravity and dimensions to a live moose) is used to recreate realistic moose collisions. Australian car manufacturers use crash test kangaroo dummies for similar reasons.
External links
- Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute - Moose Crash Test Dummy
- Moose test - the fastest and slowest cars