The editorial team of Auto Motor und Sport has carried out around 25,000 car tests since the magazine was founded in 1946. Every year, the editorial team of Germany's most traditional car magazine tests around 350 cars and covers 1.1 million test kilometers in the process. That is the proud record of "Auto Motor und Sport" on its 75th anniversary. "We still claim to be the most critical car editorial team in Germany," says Editor-in-Chief Birgit Priemer.
Stepping onto new shores
Car, tire, light, emissions and fuel consumption tests by car magazines are taken for granted today. But when Auto Motor und Sport was founded in 1946 under the name Das Auto, they were completely new territory. In the current issue of the magazine, long-time editor-in-chief Bernd Ostmann recalls how the first test samples were created and how Auto Motor und Sport made an important contribution to making cars and accessories better and, above all, safer.
The invention of the comparison test was a milestone for car buyers and car manufacturers alike: "It started in 1962 with the Ford 12 M, Opel Kadett and VW 1200 comparison test. We later introduced the characteristics and overall ratings. Consumption has always played a very important role for us. And of course the brakes, for which we developed special tests. Winning comparative tests was very, very important for the industry," Ostmann recalls in the current issue.
The introduction of child seat tests was also a revolution. "Back then, some toy manufacturers built child seats," says Ostmann. And as a result, the child seats were not safe enough. "That's why we applied stricter criteria than were necessary for approval. The results were fatal, child seats collapsed and some of the dummies flew through the car. The manufacturers ran amok at the time, wanting to accuse us of faulty testing. But they didn't succeed." The success was that many seats were improved.
An international comparative test of the same car types in 16 countries also had a spectacular effect. While practically all newly registered cars in Germany in the early 2000s had an airbag, the models in Italy were delivered without airbags - for cost reasons. "The safety standards in the individual European countries were very different," says Ostmann. The comparative test appeared in 16 car magazines at the same time. And together, Ostmann and the heads of the European car magazines made representations to the then EU Transport Commissioner Ignacia de Loyola de Palacio in Brussels. "Today, different safety features are no longer conceivable in Europe. We have certainly made our contribution to this."
Everything must be tested
This also applies to the introduction of crash tests, which were not a matter of course in the past. "When TÜV Bayern sought cooperation with us in the 1990s, we immediately entered into it. We crashed around 100 cars, sometimes with spectacular results," says Ostmann. "There were cars like the Opel Sintra that caught fire and then even had to be withdrawn from the market. I think we can also claim that we have contributed to significantly improving vehicle structures and that we have made the airbag socially acceptable." Auto Motor und Sport achieved this with crash tests in which the cars were tested with and without airbags.
Thanks to the Euro NCAP crash tests, it is no longer necessary for magazines to simulate accidents in the laboratory in order to test the safety of cars. Nevertheless, standardized comparative tests of cars, accessories and add-on parts remain indispensable. Even one of the founding fathers, racing driver Paul Pietsch, pushed the then current cars of the 1940s and 1950s to their performance limits and expertly described engine performance, road holding and technology. However, it was years before Auto Motor und Sport developed its own standardized tests to check acceleration, performance, braking distances and crash behavior.
Since 1964, 151 test series of summer and winter tires and since 1992 a total of 24 crash tests with child seats have been carried out. The editorial team also tests headlight technology, roof boxes and bicycle racks, compares consumption and emission values and was the first magazine to independently determine and analyze NOx and particle values while driving together with the specialists from Emissions Dynamics in the UK. "We continue to claim to be the most critical car editorial team in Germany," promises Editor-in-Chief Birgit Priemer. "This not only costs a lot of money, but also leads to many discussions with the manufacturers. But we also owe it to consumer and road safety for our 75th birthday, in keeping with tradition."
To mark its 75th birthday, the magazine Auto Motor und Sport has launched the major road safety campaign "Rücksicht hat Vorfahrt!" (Consideration has right of way!). Together with numerous partners - magazines, associations and companies - Auto Motor und Sport and a total of ten Motor Presse sister magazines are devoting themselves to the topic of safety throughout the anniversary year and highlighting the respective problems of cars, motorcycles, trucks, motorhomes, bicycles and pedestrians. More understanding for each other prevents accidents.
Everything on intermediate throttle
If you would like to read a few historical articles from Auto Motor und Sport, you can find all issues from 1952 to 2000 online at zwischengas.com in the magazine archive.
We from the Zwischengas team congratulate "auto motor und sport" on its anniversary, keep up the good work!