YONKERS, New York — In yet another blow to Toyota's once-sterling image, Consumer Reports has temporarily suspended its coveted "recommended" status for eight Toyota vehicles, including the 2007-'10 Camry and 2009-'10 Corolla, in the wake of the massive recall for faulty accelerator pedals that can stick and cause unintended acceleration.
The affected models also include the 2009-'10 Pontiac Vibe, which was built through August 2009 at the New United Motor Manufacturing (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, California, which was a joint venture of GM and Toyota. Other models include the 2005-'10 Toyota Avalon, 2010 Highlander, 2009-'10 Matrix, 2009-'10 RAV4, 2007-'10 Tundra and 2008-'10 Sequoia.
"Although incidents of sudden acceleration are rare, we are taking this action because the vehicles have been identified as potentially unsafe without a fix yet being available to consumers, and in general our position is you shouldn't compromise on safety," said Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.
The consumer watchdog said it is urging the owners of the estimated 2.3 million vehicles involved in the recall to become familiar with the warning signs of trouble, "which may include the accelerator pedal being harder to depress, slower to return to its upper position, or simply not operating smoothly."
Inside Line says: A major warning for consumers from one of the most highly regarded consumer watchdogs. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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kirbyjohnson says:
12:07 PM, 02/05/2010
I pretty much have to agree with everyone else here about Consumer Reports. They are especially goofy when it comes to cars. But even on everyday things like washers, air conditioners, and other household and consumer things they across the board just recommend the most expensive item. I have an understanding of the number system in use on this planet, (IE: $120 is more than $100, etc.) so I decided long ago that I could reach the same conclusions as CR without their help.
In their product ratings, even if one washer is $1400 and the next most highly rated is $275. they still rate the $1400 one as the one to buy. That said, their recommendations and advice is utterly worthless. However, for just looking to see what is available, the specifications of different models, and general pricing data, they are almost as useful as say...Amazon or something.
tbone85 says:
08:11 PM, 02/02/2010
Toyota and Honda never missed an opportunity to tout their perceived quality when the perceived quality of the domestics were in question. I'm not sure why the domestics should now be held to a different standard.
old_cars_rock says:
03:12 PM, 02/02/2010
Consumer Reports
April 2009: Annual Auto Issue
Guess which car is the top scorer...
The Lexus LS 460, with a score of 99 out of 100! The lowest scorer is the Jeep Wrangler, with a score of 17 out of 100. Being the top scorer with a nearly perfect score, the Lexus LS 460 sets the standard for all other cars. That said, this car qualified for CR's top honor: Best Overall Vehicle. CR included a short writeup that describes why this car recieved this top honor. This writeup states that this car "provides a luxurious, uncompromising driving envronment, with a supremely comfortable ride and a roomy, well-finished, and exceptionally quiet interior." It is also "brimming with eletronic ammenities, yet the controls are easy to use. Its 4.6-liter V8 and eight-speed automatic transimission deliver smooth, quick acceleration and relatively good fuel economy." CR rated the gas-mileage at 21 mpg, which isn't to bad for the class. The prices range from $64,000 to $77,000.
Considering that CR tests ALL cars against the same criteria, I conclude, in the words of icecubefosho, that "Consumer Reports is trash." It appears that CR feels that ALL cars should be extremely luxurious, extremely quiet and comfortable, well made (at least they got one thing right), difficult to service (due to the excessive electronics), fast, overpriced, and Japanese (that's just a hunch).
By the way, CR says that the Jeep Wrangler "makes compromises for its off-road ability", a quality that obviously caused them to lower its score. As with almost any vehicle, the Jeep Wrangler is built with a purpose in mind, which just so happens to be off-road ability. Therefore, with its great off-road ability, the Jeep Wrangler should have a high score!
For the past fifteen years or so, CR has recommended new Honda and Toyota models that are to new to have a reliability report. That is not the case for other manufacturers' new cars. Think about that one, CR lovers!
Finally, CR needs new editors. I have found many spelling errors and improperly structured sentences in every one of their publications I have ever read.
jray4 says:
07:39 AM, 02/02/2010
If Consumer Reports gets off Toyota's payroll, where will it go to replace it's income? Surely not from GM, Ford or Chrysler after crucifying them for decades.
isaacl says:
06:11 AM, 02/02/2010
ocramid with the best comment I've read on here in a long time....wow good stuff brother!
".....But GM, Ford and the rest of the auto industry who currently looks to capitalize on Toyota's misfortune should be careful. This is a classic example of how people in glass houses should not throw the first stone. IMO...."
dg0472 says:
05:41 AM, 02/02/2010
First, CR doesn't recommend Toyota blindly. Several models score too low to be recommended and the magazine no longer recommends models without survey data. While CR's survey certainly may not meet all standard statistical criteria, that certainly doesn't mean it's of no value. And a big reason the FJ, Wrangler, and H3 score so low is their poor mileage and in the case of the Toyota the crappy view out. Neither is required for a vehicle to be capable off-road. And it also needs to be remembered that for years imported cars weren't even considered by the magazine as in the same class as domestics and excepting the smallest ones weren't even tested in the same report with domestics.
CR has also not pulled recommendations before because there's never been a case where the suspect car was still on new car dealers' lots with no fix underway.
It will be quite interesting to see how the April Auto Issue handles this as it should be in the mail within a few weeks and there's no way all the cars will be fixed by then. With their having a website now, it won't be as big a deal as in the past, but it will still mean that many car shoppers who go to their library doing research will be reminded of this for a whole year. Yikes.
jepontiac says:
03:31 AM, 02/02/2010
Let me be straight I don't like CR and I don't like Toyota. Both are overhyped. CR relies on surveys submitted by its own subscribers. The pool of info they are drawing from is too small and too biased to an effective tool for meaningful comparison. Toyota has been CR's darling brand for over a decade now. They pretty much recommended it blindly for the last decade. That is why CR is jumping ship so fast. They are trying to save face. Watch Toyota's used car evaluations fall in CR after this too. I do feel sorry for anyone who bought a Toyota at near sticker for its resale value because they just got hosed.
charlesb says:
10:43 PM, 02/01/2010
Generally, Consumer Reports makes recommendations on reliability culled from reader response surveys for reliability. The fact that Toyota recalled a whole bunch of cars can't be ignored, irrespective, the fact that the surveys show better than average reliability. I'll buy somebody having a problem with CR's testing procedures and how they generate the seeming arbitrary "scores" presented in the magazine but the reliability stuff is pretty transparent.
atenza94546 says:
07:01 PM, 02/01/2010
To ocramidajzj,
Remember Consumer Report recommanded all the above modeld. Plus NHTSA had found similar problem dated back from 1999. GM had been partners with Toyota for more than a decade. IF Toyota are hidding it GM could be hero to uncover it.
They all didn't report it, so it consider as Willful Blindness.
Source provided by "bjerke"
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-pedal30-2010jan30,0,4401302.story?page=2
icecubefosho says:
06:25 PM, 02/01/2010
After reading their report on Dells being the second most reliable laptops to Apple, I realized how awry their reviews are. Plus their reviews on tech support with Dell being in the middle... Seriously? They're terrible.
Their reliability rankings are to be taken with a grain of salt because people treat their cars differently, so you need to read personal reviews for the cars.
You can see someone in a Range Rover having problems at under 30K miles and find out they dealer maintain it - that means its unreliable or a lemon.
Then you can see someone who owns a new Malibu and claims its unreliable to find out hes never looked under his hood and didn't realize he has to maintain fluids. - Thats where statistical errors flourish with cars, and most electronics. A friend of mine owns a computer shop and a man brought his computer in claiming it won't stay on (overheating). Turns out the guy never cleaned it, and he was a heavy smoker, so there was literally a coating of ash and nicotine all over in, including some dead weevils stuck in the gunk. The fans that were in that system could've handled the heat easily if it weren't for the intake and exhaust ports getting clogged with goop.
Anyone who bothers with subscribing to CReports pretty much wastes their money because they're too lazy to actively research something. Their 11 worst cars list is comprised of an H3, FJ Cruiser, Jeep Wrangler, etc. Most of them being offroad oriented SUV's. They knock things off for engine noise and ride comfort. When your average non-car oriented person hears "worst car", they'll shy away for it for quite some time. Its BS because car-oriented people would purchase a Jeep Wrangler or an FJ for their offroading prowess and the ride gives them a sharp edge over docile vehicles offroad.
Heres a test to include (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/how-we-test/introduction/how-we-test-introduction.htm). Ease of maintenance. They never mention anything about build quality of the components unless it breaks. If it does, everyone should know if its a DIY maintenance vehicle, or Dealer Mandatory. Simple things like quality of plastics in engine bay, quality of workmanship such as not tightened screws here and there, consistency between vehicles, etc, aren't tested. I don't need them to tell me how good the headlights are, I can see them for myself and if they're great, people will rave about them. If not, people will bash them. Anything substantial can be found in personal reviews.
They're trash because they sway the average blue collar or housewife into thinking like them. When said persons watch the 6 o' clock news and a Consumer Reports report claims something that shouldn't be deemed "worst" or "bad", is. Then something that is reported as "great" or "good" should really be rated as "Mediocre, or Bad". They are immediately thinking just as Consumer Reports does. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people quote these reports that are wrong, or don't tell the full story behind anything.
Computers, Cars, Vacuums, etc. Consumer Reports is trash for brainwashing our people.