Earlier in July, a Swedish car magazine
performed a test involving a collision avoidance maneuver to miss a virtual moose or elk, during which the SUV nearly rolled over, teetering dangerously on two wheels. Now, German publication
Auto Motor und Sport performed the same test and found the Grand Cherokee to be perfectly safe when loaded to its maximum stated capacity.
During the
second test, all four wheels of the Grand Cherokee remained on the ground. Chrysler has sent its own team of engineers to Sweden to investigate the first test and reproduce it with the engineers present. It found that the SUV was intentionally overloaded, hence the dangerous behavior.
The German test was done at a dedicated, ADAC-sanctioned test facility. It met ISO standards and the test was performed at higher speeds. None of the wheels lost contact with the ground during the test,
Auto Motor und Sport reported. The same magazine performed a similar test before this fiasco, where a similar avoidance test was done but the gas pedal released in order to shift weight to further invoke dangerous behavior.
The Grand Cherokee holds a Top Safety Pick rating by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and also has a high safety rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
