Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld’s moose test has claimed another victim, a really surprising one indeed – the Porsche Macan S Diesel.
While Porsche’s new 911 performed the moose test under total control, the brand’s smallest and sportiest SUV was found to be nowhere near as safe. Teknikens Värld describes the Macan’s result as “really bad, almost a disaster” when it comes to Porsche’s remarkable moose test performance so far.
The magazine claims that “most competitors in the SUV class excel with significantly better handling, control and level of security” compared to the Macan, with the BMW X4 and Range Rover Evoque deemed much safer. But what exactly happened?
“Porsche Macan S Diesel behaves very strange in the moose test, most especially because the left front brake locks up in the middle of the maneuver. This is really strange,” noted test driver Linus Pröjtz.
For those unfamiliar with the moose test, the car is driven at 70 km/h (43.5 mph) on the test track, with the driver swerving the vehicle to the left then sharply to the right as if to avoid a sudden obstacle. In the case of the Macan, the left front brake locks up and the result is that the car continues straight ahead for a moment, instead of continuing the turn to the right to get back into the correct lane.
“In other words, the car with its passengers remains unnecessarily long in the opposite lane, which is never to be recommended in an emergency,” notes Teknikens Värld, which has tested two different Porsche Macan S Diesel models several times with the same results.
Porsche issued an official reply in which it claims that the brake intervention shown in the video is “a deliberately applied intervention to prevent the car from rolling over.” The system responsible for this is called Active Rollover Prevention (ARP) and is active at all times, “irrespective of whether Porsche Stability Management (PSM) is on or off.” However, if PSM is on, Porsche says ARP intervention is significantly diminished since PSM brake interventions to stabilize the vehicle occur much earlier or are superimposed.
Porsche concludes that the driving style adopted by Teknikens Värld was very demanding and resulted in the safety function being triggered. Still, the automaker does not regard the event as critical.
“As the video shows, lane changing can be completed stably and safely. What is more critical in this situation is if the vehicle were to roll over or the rear were to break away. The vehicle demonstrated none of these instable states (rollover, oversteer, wheel lift) at any time,” Porsche says. You can judge for yourself by watching the video of the moose test posted below.