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Moose History 101: When the XC90 debuted in 2002, Volvo organized several test drive events, where quite a few Volvo fans came out to see and drive the new SUVs on cone slalom courses. Volvo was showing off their new and advanced Dynamic Stability Traction Control (DSTC), a first for an SUV. One of the courses was a special slalom, where a professional driver would take a carload of folks, accelerate to a high speed (60 mph if I recall correctly), keep his foot firmly planted on the gas to the floor, and crank the wheel as hard as he could one direction, then the other, simulating the avoidance of an object in the road, such as a moose (really just some cones). The DSTC was truly an amazing feature. Many other tall vehicles would have certainly become very unstable and possibly lost control, spun out or even rolled over during such an extreme maneuver, but the Volvo's DSTC took over and kept the SUV in perfect form without a hint of trouble. Volvo was calling this course the "Moose Avoidance Test," which seems to be a fairly common test in places that might actually have mooses running out in front of cars.

Later, when Volvo began showing their new SUV at various places, such as car expos, it was sporting a pair of moose stickers on its fenders (although it was a cartoon-like standing moose profile, not a prancing moose). This concept inspired the Volvo Prancing Moose. So if you own a Volvo AND have a sense of humor, these stickers are a must. And as you can see, they are also available for our SAAB cousins. And the plain moose stickers are turning up on other cars too and 4WD vehicles. We hope the moose will bring world peace one day.

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