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Nigeria’s Favourite SUV Toyota RAV4 Is Now Much Safer 5-Months After Failing The Moose Test
Nigeria’s favourite SUV Toyota RAV4 is now much safer 5 months after failing the Moose Test. Before Toyota updated its ESC, the SUV showed dangerous behaviors when tested on the twisty cone course in Sweden.
5-months ago, Swedish publication Teknikens Varld subjected two latest 5th-generation Toyota RAV 4 compact crossover SUV to a Moose Test.
Despite earning an IIHS Top Safety Pick + in the US, the petrol and Hybrid versions of the all-new Toyota RAV4 showed dangerous behaviors when tested on the twisty cone course in Sweden.
Teknikens Varld discovered that the electronic stability control was not performing well. The chassis reactions also made the car difficult to handle.
The visibly angry Teknikens Varld said then that :
“The world’s largest car manufacturer Toyota has once again released a product on the market that fails to perform safe through the moose test”
“Toyota RAV4 has quick front end reactions when we turn left into the lane”
“When we turn right it cuts in and the car goes up on two wheels”
“The behavior for the all-new Toyota RAV4 in the avoidance maneuver test (aka moose test) is so dangerous that, until Toyota corrects the error, our advise is to not buy the car”
In the test, the fastest speed the latest RAV4 was able to get through the moose test was 68 km/h (42 mph), which is below the publication’s 70 km/h (43.4 mph) minimum.
By comparison, the Nissan Qashqai was able to pass through the test at 84 km/h (52.1 mph). The much-heavier Kia Sorento recorded a speed of 78 km/h (48.4 mph).
Updated Toyota RAV 4
In response, the world’s largest car manufacturer Toyota deployed a software update that fixes the Electronic Stability Control(ESC) issue.
To put this to the test, Teknikens Varld brought an updated Toyota RAV 4 to the Circuito Monteblanco racetrack parking lot to retest the SUV.
Result
The software update on the new Toyota RAV4 clearly made a huge difference. Now, the maneuvering is smooth, while the bouncing behavior is gone.
The RAV4 passed the latest test at 45 mph. Still very poor when compared to the performances from Nissan Qashqai and the Kia Sorento.
Teknikens Varld said the software update will be available during the second quarter of 2020. A recall isn’t planned for models that has already been delivered and the software update won’t be applied during regular servicing.
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