Moose test

[2] The colloquial and internationally better-known name for the test was coined in 1997 by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung after the Swedish motor magazine Teknikens Värld together with the TV-show Trafikmagasinet flipped a First generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class in a test ostensibly made to measure the car's ability to avoid hitting a moose.

[3][4] This is because it is more likely that the moose will continue across the road than remain in place or turn back, making it more advisable to brake hard and try to slip behind the animal than to swerve in front of it.

The car to be tested has one belted person in each available seat and weights in the boot to achieve maximum load.

On 21 October 1997 the journalist Robert Collin from the motor magazine Teknikens Värld overturned the new (now First generation) Mercedes-Benz A-Class in the moose test at 60 km/h (37 mph), while a Trabant—a much older, and widely mocked car from the former East Germany—managed it perfectly.

[15] Saab assisted Magnus Gens in creating a crash test dummy moose to simulate moose–vehicle collisions.

[17] In a 2008 episode of Mythbusters, the urban legend that accelerating to hit a moose would cause less damage than braking was investigated and busted using a modified version of Gens's model.