Come On Now: Do You Really Trust Consumer Reports After Black Listing The Lexus GX460?
Let me go on record and be the first to say I am no fan of Toyota. With that being said I will be the first to say I also feel that to a large degree that lately they are also being treated unfairly in the press as well. Yes, we have posted our fair share of scathing posts concerning Toyota over the years, but when it comes down to it, we also harbor a respect for the Japanese automaker as well.
I guess you can call it a love, hate relationship if you want. Although they represent many things we loathe about companies that have generic appeal. However, you have to admit that they got to where they are for a reason. To put it bluntly, over the years they have done a better job of delivering a better end product to the market, and by doing so they justly deserve to reap the rewards that came to them.
But were these rewards totally justified? It is becoming abundantly clear now that Toyota has had its issues, and has even engaged in cover up politics to preserve their image. To be honest this is what I would have expected from the Detroit three, but Toyota was always held in higher esteem. So was it such a shocker to see that Toyota was “just” another automaker? Did you feel betrayed or justified?
The end effect in all of this has exceeded my widest dreams or nightmares. Who could have imagined that the tables could have been turned so quickly on such a spotless reputation? At the height of the crisis the media reporting became so bad that we actually stopped covering it altogether. Yes the “Toyota Bashers” as we have been called, decided that it simply was not productive to simply rehash half truths and pure speculation in time of crisis. To us it had gotten out of control. Step back and take a breath people.
I’m not going to play the “we are better than them” card here, simply because we aren’t. Yes we speculate just as anyone else does and will continue to do so. But you need to look at all of the facts and make judgment for yourself. In these cases
The point of all of this is for you to take a look as the latest fiasco to hit the automaker the declaration by Consumer Reports that the Lexus GX460 is unsafe.
Wow, now that has a haunting ring now doesn’t it? So much so that Lexus has stopped selling the vehicle simply based on what a magazine reported! You know the editors at CR have to be patting themselves on the back this morning. Talk about the little guy carrying some clout!
So what are the facts? I have viewed the Consumer Reports video of the incident. Yep the GX460 took a lazy slide sideways, however that could easily be said about a large number of SUV’s out there on the road. Face it people it is a TRUCK, and by design, trucks don’t handle like sedans. You simply need to realize the limits and drive with in them.
Now Consumer Reports (CR) has an enviable reputation, but just like Toyota they simply are not above reproach. My case in point, is that CR has a history of doing this before, and will probably do it again. I do however find it particularly interesting as to the timing of this declaration though.
To be blunt CR currently has a credibility issue. They all too readily bought into the Toyota bandwagon, and for years threw their support behind name, not necessarily the individual products. CR failed to read the writing on the wall for the last few years, and continued to blindly support all Toyota products even with mounting evidence to the contrary.
The end result of this Pied Piper policy was to stop and reevaluate and take a step back, and finally change their original Toyota recommendations. Make no mistake, this meant that millions of readers now have cause to question the entire CR vehicle rating process. A tough blow when you are the defacto standard of automotive ratings for many American consumers.
But what about the history CR of unsafe declarations? If you look into it we see an interesting trend.
Starting in 1967 CR deemed the AMC Ambassador as unsafe for fuel spillage. Eleven years later, the media was buzzing over their declaration that the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon were rollover risks. Ten years after that, the Suzuki the Samurai branded as a rollover risk as well. The new century brought us the Mitsubishi Montero in 2001 as unfit to drive, and now the Lexus GX460 has been branded as unsafe.
Do you find it odd that these major declarations which garner mass media attention are occurring on ten to eleven year cycles? Were we simply overdue for a regularly timed event? Is CR trying to clean up their battered reputation by lashing out at the very source of their embarrassment? Connect the dots if you will, but keep in mind, this sort of activity has to boost CR’s circulation revenues substantially, so it isn’t like they have nothing to gain with these revelations.
So who is the real victim here? The consumer, the media, or Toyota?
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