Dimension
the thing about the mercedes test was that the car only flipped on the runway tarmac because it was more grippy than normal road tarmac so they could do it an iunfinite number of times on a real road and it wouldnt happen but on that one type of tarmac it could. It was also blown way out of proportion by the press
Totaly false.
The test in question is a standard handling test for cars in Scandinavian countries and is known as the Elk or Moose test.
It consists of a lane change (right or left) and back again at 30mph without the use of the brakes, and is considered a fairly standard manouver within these markets.
The A-class' failure to complete this test was not a one off, but was repeated numerous times by saftey bodies and magazines. It was nothing at all to do with grippy runway tarmac, and certainly in the UK it made very little press outside of the motoring press; as the car had not yet been launched.
This is a manouver I have carried out on a wide range of cars at various proving grounds, in both wet and dry conditions and on a wide range of surfaces.
I have never had a car flip in the manner of the A-class, some have lost control and spun (mainly in the wet or on low grip surfaces). Some are bloody frightening in these conditions (step forward most MPVs and 4x4's) but none have ever flipped over.
A well designed car should not flip at 30mph when changing lane (note that I say car and not pick-up or 4X4 which can and do flip under these conditions, particularly the bigger ones), even if the direction changes are sudden. This is a product that was marketed as a family car and as such the buyer will expect a certain level of safety from a brand such as M-B.
You should also be aware that the reason these test were carried out was that automotive groups in Germany were stating that A-class owners had reported stability issues to M-B and had got no joy. The tests were initialy carried out to prove or disprove the validity of the owners claims, the Scandinavian tests were carried out by various magazines just prior to the launch of the car outside of Germany.
I can still remember seeing a picture of an A-class on its boot on a German autobahn at the time this issue came to light. This was not a magazine or testing shot, but an owners car that had fliped while trying to avoid an accident on a public road.
The entire issue was a hard lesson for M-B and the revised suspension changes and fittment of stability control to all A-class models was both very expensive and totaly ruined the ride of the car.
Had this made the mainstream press in a big way and Merc not handled the PR so well it would have been an almost certain killer to M-B's first front wheel drive model.
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