WATCH: Toyota Rav4 flunks Swedish ‘moose test’
Given their high centres of gravity, SUVs simply don’t handle evasive manoeuvres as well as traditional cars, and the same goes for bakkies.
That said, unlike traditional ladder-frame bakkies, most SUVs are now built around monocoque platforms. This, along with lower ride heights, advanced ESP stability systems and, in some cases, permanent all-wheel-drive, has definitely made your average SUV safer through the corners than their more rudimentary ancestors.
But not all of the modern unibody SUVs are safe in an emergency situation, as recently illustrated by Swedish publication Teknikens Varld, which subjected the latest fifth-generation Toyota Rav4 to the infamous ‘moose test’ - which emulates swerving around a moose, for which you can substitute any sudden obstacle that your imagination can conjure up.
As with the Toyota Hilux that the publication also recently tested, the Rav4’s moose test performance (conducted at just 68km/h) was “really bad”, in the words of reporter Linus Pröjtz.
Not all modern unibody SUVs perform well in emergency situations, as Swedish publication Teknikens Varld illustrates.
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