How stable is a Hilux really ?

A Swedish magazine recently had the 4x4 community in a spin with a dramatic video in which a new Toyota Hilux almost ends up on its roof during a road test. Would the South African model do the same? Drive Out booked a race track and a Hilux to find out.

- Charles Thompson

In October 2016, the Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld published a video and an article of a severe lane change manoeuvre test, (commonly known as “The Moose Test”) with six bakkies: the Toyota Hilux, Nissan Navara, Ford Ranger, VW Amarok, Dodge RAM and Isuzu KB.

While the other vehicles passed the test with relative ease, the Hilux flunked it spectacularly: When the quick lane change was done at 60 km/h, the bakkie tipped dangerously onto two wheels and almost fell over.

The video spread like wildfire through South African online media. Not only did it seem like the new Hilux wasn’t stable on the road, but it was reminiscent of 2008, when Fortuner owners across South Africa circulated images of this Hilux-based SUV tipping over or rolling.

The Swedish results

Teknikens Värld’s lane-change test is a version of a standard international severe lanechanging test, ISO 3888-2, but it is commonly known as “The Moose Test” since it simulates a situation in which a driver quickly swerves out for an imaginary animal. The magazine has been doing these tests since 1948, using all sorts of vehicles, and has thousands under its belt. So you can’t just ignore their results, even if they weren’t done on South African vehicles or in local conditions.

According to the magazine’s current test driver, Oskar Krüger, it felt as if the Hilux “gets too much grip” during the lane changes. After he’s swerved out for the imaginary animal and swings back into his lane, he writes, the outside wheels grip and the inside wheels lift high off the ground. Then he has to counter-steer to get them back on the ground.