Consumer Reports Stuns Everyone By Rating The GX460 As "UNSAFE"!

Unsafe and ungainly

I never really found the first generation one safe at all and this second one I was assuming that they would correct the ride height but I guess I bet the wrong way..... But either ways I would take the RX350 over any other Lexus SUV all the way because I think that is the bombest Lexus ever made

New rule of thumb: If toyota builds it, it ain't safe!

Maybe the illusion of toylex quality is finally coming to an end. The propaganda miracle that is lexus has run its course and the truth is coming out.

It is obviously toyota/lexus' fault for building unsafe, low quality cars.

And, it was their PR machine that perpetuated the LIES of 'high quality' and 'excellence' to a trusting American public.

guess toyota believe the propaganda you speak of...you miserable anti-american moron. toyota repeated the test at THEIR own facility in japan and had THE SAME results. yet another quality fuck up from the manufacturer that sacrificed it's reputation for quality for volume.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/toyota-admits-lexus-safety-problem/

Love the irony that SUV owners are always insecure about their safety and count on their big vehicle to make up for lack of driving skills.

They think they are safer when getting hit, but totally discount the notion that it might have been avoidable from the beginning.

vladyxa- In a way yes. Many people believe that size is a key factor in crash worthiness. Yes if all things are equal, size will help.

But as we have seen in the past a SUV really isn't that safe when it comes to AVOIDING the crash in the first place. The high mass doesn't lend it well to the transient responses needed to avoid many situations. In many cases you simply become part of the accident rather than avoiding it in the first place.

I have never been a fan of Consumer Reports and their reviews of cars (I feel like their staff hates cars, especially trucks). I think their coverage of the Trooper roll overs back in the 90's was over hyped and unfair and this is probably more of the same.

That being said, I have never understood the appeal of the Lexus GX. It has and continues to be ungainly, unstylish, and just plain ugly. Plus, most consumers don't need a true truck. I don't get why Lexus continues to build it instead of creating a stretched RX.

1967 - CR Reports AMC Ambassador as UNSAFE! - Circulation boost
1978 - CR Reports Omni & Horizon as UNSAFE! - Circulation boost
1988 - CR Reports Suzuki Samurai as UNSAFE! - Circulation boost
2008 - ?????
2009 - ?????
2010 - CR Report GX460 as UNSAFE! - Circulation Boost

Were we merely overdue on a planned event and Lexus was the patsy?

Badgewhore - Wow I never thought I would be ratted out as part of a conspiracy master plan! But THANK YOU! and props to you for figuring that out.

BTW you might want to rat out, CNN, ABC News, MSNBC, and the countless blogs and media outlets that reported as well while you are at it. (they are all in it too)

I commend you for shedding light on such an obvious scam that duped the mindless media.

But, while you are at it, can you enlighten all of us just how CR faked us all out, on not one but two GX460's? Also don't forget that CNN got the same results when they did it. I really want to know.

Can't wait for your response.

thanks to this article, i think i will now go buy a Lexus GX460

For your wife or mother-in-law?

and hopefully yours will roll over.

enthusiastx11

i cant believe im saying this....but i was merely mocking autospies with my previous comment like always. like badgewhore said, any vehicle can rollover.....duh??

the media has not effected my opinion about toyota at all. no company is perfect and toyota had to do something right if it has such a strong reputation. i would buy one if it suited my needs. screw the media.

Lexoyota = Kill machines.

That's what they get for fooling the public with "Luxury" and rebadging Camry's and Prado's.

Huu - Well at least was awake this morning.

Guess Japan will have to do more manipulating of their currency to overcome this one.

Funny how you deflect the real issue and bring up GM which isn't even relevant to this article. Typical Huu. So predictable.

Not ot mention that all I have seen in Large Lexus SUV's is women drivers. That scares me even more when you combine those two.

I have driven the Toyota version (Prado) on ice and on snow. Frankly speaking I never experienced such kind of problems.
There can be drift if the tyre pressure is low. In that case the stability controll cannot have proper information about the driving conditions and the stability control computer operates the brakes and ECU with delay.
I think publishing these kind of articles required publishing the measurment conditions as well. (Factory std. tire or optional, tire pressure, speed...) Without knowing the exact measurment methode this article is only "chit-chat" ab out something.

I agree it seems a bit overhyped the older body on frame suvs that had roll over issues would have actually flipped in such a test of course this vehicle could tip if pushed hard enough it has a high center of gravity but so could a sports car in the right situation. The 4runner is the same truck yet its not unsafe latest news bash or not I doubt Lexus would go through more in the way of safety and detail with the Gx than the 4runner.......foolish

I would rather a Ford F-150 it's roomier, cheaper, more comfortable can toe more stuff, won't roll over,cheaper to fix and the engine is just as durable, looks better, has a nav system with a larger 8 inch screen with better bluetooth from SYNC.
Oh it doesn't have as nice of a wood trimmed interior or adaptive hydrolic shocks or soccer mommy snob....darn!

It's a good thing it's cheaper to repair....you have to repair it a lot more often.

The car looks like Homer Simpson's head from behind. Tall and awkward. No surprise here - just another ugly Toyota Kill Machine.

So what rating did they give the new 4Runner since that is what this is based on.

Great Point! People need to avoid the 4Runner as well. It is probably just as unsafe as the lexus rebadged version.

Good catch.

Why don't you just type the words "I don't feel like reading the article....someone please spoon feed me all the info." All the answers are above unless your finger is too tired to click the link.

This is hilarious, but I thought Lexus is so much more reliable than the Germans?

I mean toyota made this car. What can u say. Just go buy a 2011 Infiniti QX

yikes, why? That SUV is God awful as well!

this truck is the same as the new 2010 toyota 4-runner..why did you guys not mention this ??

"Toyota builds the best cars in the world"

- Haven't been hearing that a lot lately, even from the fanbois.

But I digress, this is starting to look more and more like a witch hunt. Now were expecting Toyota to build SUVs that handle like cars?

how come you're putting CR down? is it because the stabbed your favorite company in the back?

You are making hysterical conspiracy claims without a shred of evidence. What evidence is there that the US government is involved in Toyota's safety problems? None. You weaken all of the insightful things you say when you make cynical and unfounded claims such as this one.

Huu- You are correct I forgot the Montero, which now completes the scenario. It seems about every decade CR finds a car to call unsafe!

Now a conspiracy theorist might say that sounds like a 10 year or so itch, or even a timed event?


1967 - Ambassador
1978 - Omni & Horizon
1988 - Samurai
2001 - Montero
2010 - CR Report GX460

that was the 70s. and who's manipulating their currencies today huu?!? please do respond. even though we all know the answer.

badgewhore:

don't comment on matters which you haven't a primitive understanding of. the global imbalances caused by china pegging to the dollar need to stop. why can't they let their currency float if they're so economically mighty? why do they need to cling to the dollar?

Huu...if anyone sees the Koreans and Chinese as threats, it's the Japanese. Latest Sonata trounced the Accord and Legacy in C&D.

Typical Japanese fanatic response - blame all of Toyota's problems on the consumers, media, governments. I hear Santa's sleigh is made by GM, so Santa Claus and his reindeer are in on your conspiracy too? Or maybe you are too Japanese to know who Santa is.

Maybe there was something wrong with that one Lexus and before Consumer Reports gives a rating they should contact Lexus and have them see for themselves what is wrong and give the car company a cjance tro correct it before CR gives them that bad rating.

lol

Actually the article states they did that, and both GX460's fell victim to the same fate.

Actually... 'america'... CR states it did not happen on the 4Runner.

The Montero was the mitsu that got the unsafe rating.

I'd like to see what the GX does w/o ESC activated and the same 'turn' made.. it looked to me like they were trying to drift the damned thing.



Further........ to say by that time the vehicle could have hit a curb, it could have hit an effing brick wall 2 feet after it went sideways, and ESC wouldn't have helped.


ESC is there as an aide to keep the vehicle upright and prevent it from spinning out; it's not there to drive the car for some idiot who didn't plan a turn correctly or is driving like a jackass.


In my opinion this is a load of crap from CR, for some reason I always have a hard time believing what they say because it usually seems like generalized BS, not to the mention the fact that you only hear about things when someone bitches about a problem... not when something has gone right.

Thank You.

There are M5s and E63 Amgs that have also Rolled because of Idiotic Drivers, I guess BMW and MB should pull those vehicles off the showrooms until they sort out the problems.

GX460(Prado) suspension is all new. It's called KDSS and is very advanced. I have a lot of experience of previous Prado whose suspension was obviously inferior but never encountered this problem.
And i drive very aggressively and push SUVs a lot both on and off road.
Don't know what happened here but i think it is likely to do with the new KDSS suspension. Maybe they dialled unsuitable settings and pushed GX like say a Cayenne or X5.

JUGNU

NPR just reported the Toyota has suspended sales of the Lexus GX460 till the problem is resolved.

The level of Stupidity in America is Frightening.

When the Merc A-Class was launched, more than one auto journalist was able to put the vehicle on 2 wheels just by steering aggressively at medium speeds, this was shown on video and claims were made {Correctly} about its instability. Thus Merc went back to the drawing board and made some changes.

In this case, some clowns managed to make the rear wheels slide, Not get ANY WHEELS AIRBORNE and yet made claims of what might happen and people take them seriously.

At this rate i am confident America will never get a man on Mars or any other Planet, I even seriously doubt you could put a man on the Moon again.

Stupidity at its worst.

what's with your anti-americanism? the car has a DANGEROUS flaw that happened with FOUR drivers from consumer reports. would you let your kids drive in it? see my post below.

badgewhore: so consumer reports is genius when they give toyota great ratings for years and years? and then toyota quality goes to shit and they shouldn't share that info?

you're blinded by your perverse loyalty to toylex. they are a money-hungry corporation (like many others) and have done everything they can do pay off/hide/deceive consumers. now they're finally learning with this GX problem and acting quickly and decisively to address the issue. finally they're getting smart. you, on the other hand, remain a blind cult member.

this is the FIRST time since 2001 that consumer reports has said "don't buy" a vehicle. they don't do this lightly. and they were right to do it this time.

thankfully, toyota has pulled the car off the market as of this afternoon. at least they're not burying the problem as they did with previous recalls. they're learning how to behave responsibly.

Cut the BS

This same magazine lowered the Ratings they gave other toyota vehicles AFTER the Accel issues were headline news thus showing they just follow the herd not actually investigate.

I guess you think there is no link between Toyota's recent Media Drubbing and these new Claims.

Go away Toyota.

Here's kind of a dumb question..

What if they test an SUV in the same exact setup, except it didn't have ESC at all? Would it still be dangerous? Or would it be "well there's no ESC so you better not drive it like that"


.. interesting.

No SUV should be pushed to the limits and be expected to handle like a sports car. The scenerio created here by the CR people would be VERY difficult to repeat in a real world situation.

Toyota is becoming a laughing stock, a joke of self-inflicted wounds. They did this to themselves. All the recent recalls and years of excuses given for their quality lapses, now the worm has turned.

If I was a 'yota fan boy I would run from the of these flames. 'Cause it's gonna get a lot hotter as this brand flames out!

btw which of you douche bags votes my comments down even though it's completely relevant?

oh yes...it's the evil media, the evil US government, the stupid americans....certainly not money hungry, racist japanese corporations who behave unethically and hide negative information from consumers, pay off their own former employees to shut up about it and then spend so much on advertising that the media usually bows to them. that couldn't be it...no...not possible.

Huu

Just watch how quickly you get deboosted by the Retards that troll this site.

Common Sense is Extremely Rare these days.

This doesn't appear to be a safety hazard to me at all, all that electronic stuff is for people that can't drive anyways, I have never had that electronic skid control and I don't ever want it. My 1993 4 Runner was unsafe, I still remember driving it with the stock spring rate and the under dampened shocks on the highway at 130kph, I was white knuckling it on my trip, If I had to turn sharp at that speed I would have been doing kart wheels for a long time, now that was truly scary, this Lex performed great! And I am no longer a Toy or Lex fan, that is when there quality began to slip 15 years ago.

I hate the GX, but seriously.. who would want to drive that fast around a corner in a truck-based SUV? It was not built for that.. it was built for offroaders who want a bit of luxury ( the GX ).

I don't think that this is ready to tackle any serious off road, and you are right, why would they be driving so fast around a corner? Although I think it did great, although it is no sports car, but for a suv it didn't even lift a wheel.

All of these iisues are on American Built Toyotas. We don't care nor take pride in what we build. I have been to the GM plant in Shreveport. I was a heavy equipment mechanic and let me tell you If you saw what I saw in that plant you would never consider any GM product. My wife was a plant inspector and told me a few things. We want big money but only put forth little money effort. Toyotas decline came when they started building cars here in America, home of the Auto worker that doesn't care or take pride in their work. I am a proud American but it is what it is. It's embarrasing.