NEW WET DOG TEST

CHINESE-OWNED British car brand MG has developed a new demister test to simulate the window fog caused by a wet dog.

The company brought prototypes of its new GS SUV to Australia as part of a rigorous 1.2 million kilometre shakedown regime that exposed the car to 46-degree heat in Alice Springs and a deep freeze in Sweden where temperatures dropped to 30 degrees below zero.

Almost all cars are subject to similar extremes, but the wet dog test, as far as we know, is new.

MG engineers used wet cloths to replicate the amount of moisture carried by a post-dip dog, then allowed the windows to become covered in ‘dog fog’ before testing various demister calibrations to arrive at “optimum performance”.

Whether engineers also tested the resistance of interior fabrics to unpleasant wet dog smells has not been revealed.

MG head of sales and marketing Matthew Cheyne said the extreme testing “demonstrates the effort that goes into ensuring the car is the best it can possibly be”.