VDA Lane Change Test
This test proceedure has now been published as ISO 3888-2.
In November 1997, the German automotive industry launched a safety initiative. One aim of this initiative was to simplify the criteria for testing the active safety of vehicles (driving dynamics tests). Uniform tests should provide comparable test results, thereby preventing possible uncertainty for consumers. The team of experts included representatives of the seven German car manufacturers, the insurance sector and the Automobile Club and also independent scientists and representatives of test organisations and motoring journalists. In the driving dynamics test now made famous as the "moose avoidance test" especially in Scandinavia, the ad hoc "Vehicle Safety" Working Group was of the opinion that a trained driver could have a determining effect on the test result by the choice of driving strategy in tackling the test track. The main reason for this conclusion is the width of three metres for the stretch leading up to the first lane change.
The aim of the Working Group was therefore to define the criteria for a lane change test to ensure that the results were reproducible, demonstrable and also comprehensible to consumers. The requirement level of the VDA lane change test had to be at least as demanding in all phases as the "moose avoidance test", especially in the fields of steering effort, vehicle control and tendency to overturn.
The VDA lane change test has now been implemented and is used by a number of big-name motoring magazines.
The VDA lane change test developed by the ad hoc Working Group differs from the "moose avoidance test" in the following main aspects:
- The width of the run-up section is calculated as a function of the vehicle width, by the following formula: 1.1 times the vehicle width plus 25 centimetres. This change considerably reduces driver influence and is therefore an essential precondition for the demanded reproducibility of the test
- Die Breite der Ausweichgasse wird ebenfalls in Abhängigkeit von der Fahrzeugbreite definiert, und zwar nach der Formel: Fahrzeugbreite plus 1 Meter.
- The width of the swerve section is also calculated as a function of the vehicle width, by the following formula: vehicle width plus 1 metre.
- The distance between the last cones of the swerve section and the first cones of the exit section - the width of the exit section remains unchanged at 3 metres - has been shortened from 13.5 to 12.5 metres in order to retain the dynamics of the test.
- The cone sections must be handled in overrun conditions, i.e. the accelerator pedal must be released on entering the section. The car must be in top gear at this moment (or position "D" for vehicles with automatic transmission) and must have an engine speed of at least 2000 rpm. This condition also significantly reduces the possibility of driver influence.
- The entrance speed of the vehicle is measured.
- The test is considered to be passed if no cones are knocked over.
The Working Group agreed on the following criteria for a lane change test, and the
Committee is convinced that this VDA Lane Change Test satisfies the same demands for reproducibility and comparable
rigidity:
