The Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld became world-famous when it showed how a first-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class dealt with a moose test: it flipped without electronic assistance. Our colleagues from Sweden continue to carry out these evaluations, which are very important in their country’s roads. The last car to fail these tests was the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Curiously, it did so for pursuing a sports car behavior: its tail was considered very unstable. The Tesla Model Y did much better.
According to the journalist Linus Pröjtz, the ESC (Electronic Stability Control) is to blame. It should act much earlier and in a much more aggressive way than it does. By allowing the driver to have a tail-happy SUV, Ford would have made it underperform in this evaluation. The maximum speed it managed to achieve was 68 kph (42.3 mph).
Teknikens Värld established that a car must reach at least 72 kph (44.7 mph) to pass the test. The magazine evaluated four EVs. Apart from the Mach-E and the Model Y, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Skoda Enyaq iV were also on the list. Only the Ford failed the test.
The Swedish magazine said that the Mach-E starts struggling to keep its trajectory at 65 kph (40.5 mph) and that the ESC is too permissive. At 68 kph, it reaches its limits. With an entry speed of 70 kph (43.5 mph), the tail already escapes in “a very unsafe way.” At 72 kph (44.7 mph), the Ford fails to keep on the road.
According to Teknikens Värld, the Tesla Model Y performed the test “smoothly” at 75 kph (46.6 mph). The Ioniq 5 and the Enyaq iV passed it at the minimum required speed and that's the limit the Swedish magazine achieved with them, as the Website Editor Mattias Rabe kindly told us.
Being the heaviest vehicle on the test would not have caused the bad behavior, according to the article the magazine also wrote about it. That is somewhat good news: it is much easier to fix the ESC behavior than to reduce mass. The question is if Ford will do that: it seems the Mach-E behaves like this to prove it is an actual Mustang. However, with the concerns Teknikens Värld phrased with its test, perhaps the American automaker should find other ways to demonstrate it deserves that badge.
Editor's note:
We got in touch with Teknikens Värld to ask permission to use their YouTube thumbnail and clarify some doubts. The text was updated to include these explanations.
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