Press Release
Consumer Reports Publisher Responds to Isuzu Press Conference
09/16/96
Consumers Union Response to Isuzu News Conference September 12, 1996 Statement by R. David Pittle, Ph.D. Vice President and Technical Director YONKERS, N.Y., Sept. 12 -- The following statement was issued today by R. David Pittle, Ph.D., Vice President and Technical Director of Consumers Union: The statements and documentation provided by Isuzu at its news conference this morning were seriously flawed and just plain wrong. We stand firmly behind our test and results. We have more than 60 years experience as an independent tester of consumer products. The emergency handling test, like all of our tests, is scientific, reliable, and entirely appropriate for the performance we are evaluating. The same basic test has been used by members of the auto industry, auto researchers, and such prestigious organizations as the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. Isuzu and the auto industry know that we have used this basic test for more than 20 years. To date, the only auto manufacturers that have voiced criticism of this test to us have been Suzuki and Isuzu. A word about independence: Because we buy our test vehicles anonymously on the open market with cash, because we do not take advertising from any outside entity, and because we have absolutely no business connection with any company whose products we test, we are completely independent from sellers of consumer products. We have no special interest in how any manufacturer's product does in our tests -- we have no stake in the outcome of our evaluation. Therefore, there is no reason for CU to have tested the Trooper any differently than the others -- and in fact, the Trooper was tested under the same conditions, by the same drivers as the other vehicles in the group. The reason the Trooper performed poorly in our test is because the Trooper has an inherent propensity for rollover in emergency maneuvers. That is what the tests show. A word about Isuzu's claims regarding steering inputs: The steering inputs Isuzu and its industry consultant calculated from the video of our tests of the Trooper are clearly wrong and virtually impossible. They should have known this. Our test data for numerous test runs clearly show that all four of the tested vehicles were driven with essentially the same steering input, but in the case of the Trooper, with dramatically different results. A word about the 1988 NHTSA memo referred to by Isuzu: In denying the Center for Auto Safety's 1988 petition to recall the Suzuki Samurai because of its propensity for rollover, NHTSA made passing mention that CU's test was "unscientific." This was an unsupported conclusion, made without any basis whatsoever. NHTSA had no firsthand knowledge. It never visited our track to observe our tests. It never asked us to submit any information. It never did its own testing. Although Consumers Union did not participate in the proceeding, Suzuki did, and, we believe misled NHTSA. It is entirely likely that had Suzuki not withheld from NHTSA information vital to the proper disposition of the petition -- such as the fact that General Motors tested the Samurai equivalent in 1982 and refused to market the vehicle in the U.S. because of a perceived rollover tendency -- NHTSA may well have granted the petition and not had to conjure up a list of reasons to justify the denial. A word about meeting with Isuzu: On three occasions we have invited Isuzu staff to visit our auto test track in Connecticut to inspect the vehicles, inspect the track, question our engineers, discuss our test protocols and test results, and anything else that would help them to fully understand our testing experience. Those often have been ignored. Instead, Isuzu proposed on September 10 that we meet with them at the National Press Club on Friday, September 13. We regard the meeting as an exchange of test information and a serious discussion of auto safety issues -- and not a press event. We offered, instead, our Yonkers headquarters or any other mutually agreeable site. Isuzu has declined.