Thread: Hi-Lux

If you think swerving in a 4WD ute is smart you're a few sheep short in the top paddock...

I've done a considerable amount of late night country driving between our farms and never hit anything, glanced plenty of kangaroos but none has done any damage. Nor have I ever had to swerve. It's called driving to conditions... and I'm no slow driver...

If you're stupid enough to crest a hill at 100km/h to find a mob of cattle in the middle of the road you are driving too fast. Stay in the city...

Swerving for a kangaroo shouldn't even be a consideration. Some people have NFI.

Very interesting country driving experience you have. Can understand why you think everyone else is an idiot when you have had little to no animal strikes.

Compared to others who have hit over 18 Kangaroos within 3 years just from driving from Esperence to Perth quite often. Of course not swerving because you never have enough time to wash off speed.

Saying someone has NFI because they know their vehicle can handle a swerve (by definition an abrupt change of direction) after they have washed off enough speed to safely do so doesn't make much sense to me though.

What are you trying to say exactly? That even at 50 to 60 kmh in a capable vehicle you shouldn't attempt to avoid hitting a wild bull or cow?

If you think the only cause of hitting a wild bull is not driving to conditions or due to a crest, then you have obviously never come across one. They can change direction faster than you can blink. Can leap down or up embankments and you never see them coming through shrub.

Originally Posted by MR LR

If you think swerving in a 4WD ute is smart you're a few sheep short in the top paddock...

I've done a considerable amount of late night country driving between our farms and never hit anything, glanced plenty of kangaroos but none has done any damage. Nor have I ever had to swerve. It's called driving to conditions... and I'm no slow driver...

If you're stupid enough to crest a hill at 100km/h to find a mob of cattle in the middle of the road you are driving too fast. Stay in the city...

Swerving for a kangaroo shouldn't even be a consideration. Some people have NFI.

I'm glad I've got NFI,I've been avoiding animals,people,detached trailers other vehicles and a drunk driver for almost 3 decades by swerving and have only crashed once after being hit by said drunk driver,if I didn't swerve it would have been a head on with me doing 80 and him over 100. Pat

Of course I've swerved... I've swerved with a loaded car trailer several times so I didn't slam up the back of the car in front when everyone stopped on the freeway. But not at the speeds you people have been suggesting in this thread. And by that time it's more of a change in direction.

You should always be able to see three seconds in front, a lot of people blindly fly over crests and around corners with nowhere near that much time (I encounter them every time I drive something oversize, good thing for escorts hey...).

I could hit 18 Roos in a night if I wanted to, it's easy, I'd just sit on 120 and not brake. But as yet I've never had a reason to swerve like in the moose test while driving a 4WD. I have a bull bar and good lights, and like I said I've managed to pull it up and only glanced kangaroos so far. Never saw my father swerve in a car growing up either.

The moose test has no braking component, and in industry is not even used on 4WD's for that reason. Only journalists use it on anything but passenger cars.

When I got taught to drive, on the track and on the road, the idea is to brake until it's safe to change direction, or hit it. I've had two slow speed roll overs (buggy and race car) and the last thing I want to do is tempt fate at higher speeds. Having never had an at fault accident in 7 years and traveling 300,000km (a lot of that on country roads) in that time I must be doing something right. I've never been inclined by reflex to swerve either, if you make it a non-option then it becomes second nature. I call it driving with my eyes open.

If you crash, it's your fault, not being aware of your surroundings and reacting to them correctly. Even the best driver can have a lapse in judgement, but it's still an error. There's a hell of a lot of bad drivers out there who claim otherwise.

Originally Posted by PAT303

I'm glad I've got NFI,I've been avoiding animals,people,detached trailers other vehicles and a drunk driver for almost 3 decades by swerving and have only crashed once after being hit by said drunk driver,if I didn't swerve it would have been a head on with me doing 80 and him over 100. Pat

What part of kangaroo did you miss? (Extends to most things non-metallic)

The last time I checked it was called the moose test not the drunk driver test!

For the old diesel add carboning up of engine and resulting engine failure if not detected. Checking the oil pickup every oil change is now part of service at Toyota dealerships. Change diesel copper seals every 40k.

Can we keep it nice please. Everyone's opinion is valid here but things are getting a bit close to line IMO. Play nice please and refrain from telling people they have NFI, that's a borderline personal attack.

I don't want to have to delete anything or close the thread on a Saturday night - I've just opened a really nice bottle of red from McLaren Vale and I want to enjoy it SWMBO is out so it's nice and quiet around here at the moment.

Originally Posted by MR LR

What part of kangaroo did you miss? (Extends to most things non-metallic)

The last time I checked it was called the moose test not the drunk driver test!

It is called the crash avoidance/dynamic stability/swerve test depending on what country you live in,it got called the moose test because some Scandinavian journo's used Styrofoam cut outs of moose instead of witches hats for a laugh.I'm a bit ****ed off personally about the negativity the moose test gets,I followed a couple of threads in other forums when the new Hilux failed it and the normal reply was like yours,we don't have moose here so why do we bother with it.IMHO every single new vehicle sold here should pass the European standards regarding vehicle control,the cold brake test,the emergency brake test and the stability(moose) test,if they don't pass they can't be sold,simple.One incident I did not mention happened to me in Sydney,I was driving through Rockdale when the vehicles in front of me swerved left and right avoiding something on the road,that something was an infant wearing nothing but a nappy.People might think swerving through some witches hats and being able to stay in control under heavy braking is pointless,but that day I'm glad my Defender was competent in both area's. Pat