For years it has been a fixture in the testing program of the technical magazine Auto, Motor und Sport: the brake test under extreme conditions. Apart from the standard brake tests on identical and differing surfaces, the cars must also prove their mettle on the twelve kilometer descent from Grossglockner pass, immediately followed by drastic braking from a speed of 100 km/h. In addition there is a simulated autobahn journey in which the vehicles brake from their top speed to 70 km/h, and then to a full stop.

Ten cars were put through this tough test, six were rated good – and the first three places were taken by cars with brake systems from ATE. The results were published in issue No. 1 of the magazine for 2007.

The test shows: good brakes are neither a matter of price nor of vehicle category Placing 1 to 3 were the Audi Q7, the Toyota Yaris and the Eos from VW – cars which hardly could be less alike, but which do have one essential feature in common: their brake equipment comes from ATE.

Heavy SUVs do not necessarily brake poorly – and small cars surprise

Large vehicles like vans or SUVs often are suspected of being correspondingly sluggish brakers. Yet the Audi Q7 proves the opposite, obtaining the best results in this year’s test by Auto, Motor und Sport. Close runner-up was the Toyota Yaris, a small car: “It passed all tests with flying colors and turned in stopping distances which a few years ago would have done credit to a sports car,” the magazine comments. With well-balanced results the VW Eos completes the trio of winners equipped by ATE.