The Moose Test Doesn’t Hold Its Own Weight

A recent video of a Toyota Truck coming close to flipping as it drove through the “Moose Test”, created a great deal of Social Media talk.  PDC would like to share our thoughts on the video.

Our Thoughts

For those that conduct EVOC programs, the Moose Test is a lane change without the decision component. The lane change we having been using for 40 years is designed from the ISO 3888 standard for evasive maneuver tests, which is the same lane change the Toyota drove through. In 2012 the same magazine did a video of the Jeep Grand Cherokee lifting.

In our opinion what caused the Jeep and Toyota to lift was a combination of the driver, the load in the vehicle, and tire pressures that could not handle the load. The fact is if you apply sufficient amount of energy to the Center of Gravity (CG) of a vehicle, you can get any vehicle to lift, and roll. It’s the laws of physics. Our honest opinion, if the magazine makes a profound statement like “take the vehicle off the road” they should back up it with a computer analysis of what the vehicle is doing.  For the very little money, the producers of the video can purchase a G-Meter that will tell them everything they need to know about what the vehicle is doing, including how much energy is placed on the CG, for how long, and where in the scenario was the maximum energy applied to the vehicle.

For all those who use SUV’s/ Trucks as patrol vehicles, or for that matter all those who have an SUV/Trucks as a personal vehicle, there are some important safety issues that should be taken away from the Jeep/Toyota Moose Test.

Just because a vehicle looks like it can carry a lot of cargo and people does not mean that it can. For SUV’s/Trucks, the vehicles payload is an important safety number, know what it is and do not exceed it.

I strongly recommend that the tire pressures are checked often. An overloaded vehicle, with low or even standard tire pressures, will (not can – will) produce what you see in the video. Please do not take this lightly.

 Some definitions

Payload

The combined, maximum allowable weight of cargo, occupants and optional equipment that the vehicle is designed to carry.

Tire Pressure vs. Payload

SUV’S are much more sensitive to loading and tire pressure. Consult the vehicle manual for correct tire pressure and the payload capacity. You will more than likely find that the tire pressure will vary in accordance with the load being carried.