Watch the 2019 Toyota RAV4 Miserably Fail the Moose Test
The popular crossover received a do-not-buy-rating from its testers given its tendency to ride up on two wheels at just 42 mph.
Swedish testers have warned car buyers to avoid the 2019 Toyota RAV4 after the crossover flubbed a collision-avoidance test known commonly as the "moose test."
A fixture of automotive evaluation in Sweden since the 1970s, the moose test is designed to test a vehicle's ability to dodge an obstacle that suddenly appears in the road—such as a moose—before rejoining its lane, all while staying under control. This involves a quick jog left, then right again, at the highest speed the vehicle can safely manage. The test received international attention in 1997 when a brand-new Mercedes-Benz A-class spectacularly failed a moose test conducted by Sweden's Teknikens Värld, nearly rolling over in both the moose test and the slalom.
Teknikens Värld has remained one of the moose test's most prominent conductors, and to this day pits dozens of vehicles against the infamous and invisible moose each year. One of its latest subjects was the 2019 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, which it says "shows dangerous behavior" when run through a 42 mph moose test. Both RAV4s tested handle initial driver input fine, but when the driver attempts to bring the vehicle back in line, its rear end steps out, and on some occasions, the inside wheels lift off the ground.
This isn't the first case of a Toyota failing a Teknikens Värld moose test; as two Toyota Hilux pickup trucks also failed the test in 2007 and 2016 respectively. It's unclear why the 2019 RAV4 Hybrid failed the moose test after two previous fails by Toyota products.
The Drive reached out to Toyota in regards to the test's poor performance, and Toyota responded the following:
“At Toyota, the safety of our customers is our number one priority, and to ensure their security, we apply strict safety tests during the development of all our products," a Toyota spokesperson told The Drive via email. "Our internal tests fully meet the global standards for obstacle avoidance, and since 2016, we have updated our processes to also reflect the procedures used by Teknikens Värld."
"During its development stage, RAV4 successfully passed all internal tests, including the Teknikens Värld elk test. After this report, we recently re-ran the Teknikens Värld elk test with a similar specification vehicle and achieved the same positive results as before," the spokesperson added. "We are now in contact with Teknikens Värld to further understand the different test results. We give our assurance to all Toyota customers that they can be confident in the safety of their vehicles.”
