| abstract | - Euro EggCAP was originally a set of tests performed by French firm Citroen and other automakers on their prototypes. Since 1931, they did test runs on bumpy country roads in France to test how well the cars absorbed bumps. Each car tested had 60 eggs on 2 cartons laid on the back seat, and number of eggs broken would be recorded after the test. The score indicated the number of eggs left intact after the completion of the test run. For example, if 15 of 60 eggs were cracked, the car rated EggCAP 45. Citroen and Peugeot cars were ranked the best while other French cars such as Renault and Dacia were ranked much lower because eggs bounced off their cartons during the test runs. By 1940, other carmakers all over Europe came to the test track to test out their cars' suspension systems. Mercedes Benz was one of the most well-known carmakers to use the test track to help improve their suspension systems. Problems soon developed. So many automakers from all over the world sought the test track to discover why their own cars were outperformed by French cars that securing time on the test track in France became increasingly difficult. To solve this issue, carmakers developed their own bumpy test tracks for their prototypes. By 1973, testing at the French bumpy roads had ended, and many car makers agreed that the tests were obsolete. That changed in 1994 when a car quality investigator discovered that the manufacturing quality of many cars deteriorated such that they delivered a bumpy ride even a straight, smooth highway made of glass. Outraged car owners campaigned for the Euro EggCAP standard to return, and, one by one, governments around the world brought back the tests in a modified form.
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