Teknikens Värld have released pictures of a moose test of the BMW 523i, which have been shown and commented upon in the media. They also gave away the footage to public television news where the viewers can see driving sequences that end with a substantial skid.
What the viewers don’t know is that in the particular scene shown, the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system has been deliberately deactivated by Teknikens Värld. This gives a completely misleading picture of the driving dynamics of the car. Teknikens Värld also claims that the test shows that the car is dangerous.
Because of this, BMW immediately invited Teknikens Värld to their test course in Munich to perform a joint moose test with the same 523i and further 5-series models such as the 530i, 530d, and 550i.
The test team from Teknikens Värld investigated the car and course thoroughly. Afterwards they participated as passengers in all of the tests performed with maximum load.
The same BMW 523i formerly tested by Teknikens Värld passed the moose test at 72,73 km/h, which is a top performance in it’s class. In the prior test made by Teknikens Värld in Sweden, the car passed at 68,5 km/h.
Teknikens Värld’s test driver was offered the opportunity to carry out the moose test but refused.
Teknikens Värld’s test team and BMW agree that the Teknikens Värld’s moose test can be performed with different driving techniques. This means that the way of handling the car and choice of track will have a big influence on the result. Therefore the original moose test was developed into the VDA test, which is acknowledged by the car industry and ISO-certificated. The BMW 5-series has successfully completed this test performed hundreds of times by the
media all over the world. After a test demonstration Teknikens Värld confirmed that the VDA-test is more reproducible than the moose test.
In the BMW 523i test made by Teknikens Värld in Sweden, they consider that the car’s stability control system allows a too large rear end side movement in the exemplary avoiding manoeuvre.
-The setting of the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system is chosen for an optimal combination of safety and driving pleasure. The Dynamic Stability Control system catch up a rear end side movement and the joint tests in Munich clearly shows that this is the case. The system is calibrated for different road conditions; snowy, wet or dry roads are all handled. Also different tyres, e.g. Runflat tyres, do not influence the behaviour of the car, says Nils Simonsson, Corporate Communications manager of BMW Group Sweden.
BMW 5-series is thoroughly tested and manufactured in nearly half a million samples and has been driven by its owners for over two and a half years. It has also been tested hundreds of times in the media, including previous tests by Teknikens Värld and has shown exemplary results for it’s over all driving dynamics, and in the lane change test.
See the film from the test in Munich at:
www.bmw.se/523i