Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

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Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

January 19, 2007, 10:11:57 AM

http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/18/autos/car_seat/index.htm?postversion=2007011821

Why does anybody read that POS magazine anyway? They set up tests, then change the methods to make sure they get the results they wanted. They did it with the 73-87 Chevy truck and the Suzuki Samurai, and I'm sure there were many others. They have a hard-on for puppiesanese vehicles, so no US vehicle can ever meet their "standards". The most recent fraud: Child seats. We all heard the recent headlines: "Most child seats fail safety tests".

Turns out those "safety tests" performed by Consumer Reports involved side impact tests in which the projectile was travelling at over 70MPH - double the speed the magazine claimed.

A snippet:

Quote

"Our initial review of the Consumer Reports testing procedures showed a significant error in the manner in which it conducted and reported on its side-impact tests," said NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason in a statement posted on the agency's Web site.
"The organization's data show its side-impact tests were actually conducted under conditions that would represent being struck in excess of 70 mph, twice as fast as the group claimed," said Nason.
"When NHTSA tested the same child seats in conditions representing the 38.5 mph conditions claimed by Consumer Reports, the seats stayed in their bases as they should, instead of failing dramatically," she reported.

I dunno, I think doubling the speed to 70, then lying and saying they performed the test at 38.5 MPH, goes beyond "error" - it's outright fraud. I'd love to see seat manufacturers sue the pants off them. And to think many people take that magazine's word as gospel. How many lies do they have to be caught in before people catch on?

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #1 – January 19, 2007, 10:45:26 AM

Don't you just love it when smug people/organizations screw up?

There's the Consumer Reports fiasco...

plus Toyota's recall of 533,000 vehicles...

plus another steaming pile of from the always hilarious Steve Ballmer of Micro$oft...

I think it's going to be a HAPPY FRIDAY! Woohooooo!!!

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #2 – January 19, 2007, 10:59:34 AM

Yea, I just saw the news about the C.R. screwup. Makes you wonder how accurate their other "tests" are.

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #3 – January 19, 2007, 11:20:32 AM

We all know consumer reports is just a conspiracy of the puppiesanese. Most reviews are total , and not just in the automotive categories, appliances, building products, computers all seem heavily biased in there attempts to "preach to the choir" that funds them.

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #4 – January 19, 2007, 07:40:27 PM

While I understand your points, I must say that even though the tests weren't at the speed they originally said they were, it makes me wonder how safe the seats are if a vehicle is hit at 70 mph.

If they tested them at 70 mph and they failed that miserably, it should make one wonder how safe they really are under normal driving conditions (freeway).

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #5 – January 19, 2007, 08:23:01 PM

the original report really wrecked my wife. we are expecting our newest baby at the end of february. jus prior to the release of that report we purchased a discovery seat and ordered a second base for my truck. she was set to take the seat back and eat the cost of the base plus buyin a more expensive seat and second base before i even got home from work, lol

after i read the report, and told her what i thought about it, i went about installin the evenflo seat and bases in our vehicles. now this! she is calm again....

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #6 – January 19, 2007, 09:42:07 PM

this is sort of off topic, but related. my dad had a 00 hyundai elantra. Hyundai said it came stock with 140hp. well it actually came with 133hp stock. he ended up getting a 300 dollar check b/c of a class action lawsuit (everyone who bought that car from the dealership got one).

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #7 – January 19, 2007, 10:49:59 PM

Quote from: LittleAngel1198;124605

While I understand your points, I must say that even though the tests weren't at the speed they originally said they were, it makes me wonder how safe the seats are if a vehicle is hit at 70 mph.

If they tested them at 70 mph and they failed that miserably, it should make one wonder how safe they really are under normal driving conditions (freeway).

The thing is, everything inside a vehicle that'shiznit broadside at 70MPH, including baby seats, is going to be obliterated. There simply is no way to be safe in a car that's T-boned at that speed (the fraud-i-fied tests were side impact). No seats anywhere at any price would guarantee survival in a 70MPH side impact. The government tests these seats at 38.5 MPH, which is the high side of the average T-bone collision speed. The seats all passed. Consumer Reports took it upon themselves to second guess the NHTSA. The seats all passed. Not satisfied ("They were right" doesn't make great headlines) they ran the tests at a speed that no reasonable person could expect the seats to survive at (70 MPH), and of course, they didn't survive. They then released a false news release stating that the seats failed at the government mandated 38.5 MPH. This headline pretty much guaranteed increased sales of the magazine as concerned parents everywhere would buy the thing to see how their seats fared. It also undoubtedly hurt the sales of the child seats in question, causing the manufacturers millions of dollars. And it hurt their reputation as well, as your newfound doubts about the integrity of these seats, that up until this CR fraud didn't exist, prove.

This is very much like the 73-87 Chev truck side impact fraud. Consumer Reports got it into their heads that the fuel tank mounting location on these trucks was dangerous and would explode in a side-impact collision. They were determined that GM recall these trucks for this (imaginary) problem. They crashed several trucks from all different angles and at different speeds trying to make an explosion. They failed. Failure doesn't sell magazines either, so they rigged a truck with explosives (model rocket engines, IIRC) mounted to the fuel tank and filler neck, crashed the truck, detonated the explosives, and took lots of pictures of the resulting fireball. They were caught in this lie, too. GM sued, but not for as much as they should have. Consumer reports printed a retraction, but of course the retraction wasn't as sensational as the original headline (which will undoubtedly be the case with this child seat fiasco, too).

I'm just wondering why CR didn't blow up a bunch of police cars after the Crown Vic rear-end fire allegations (that were proven unfounded by the NHTSA). Maybe they used up all their explosives in the Chevy truck "tests"...

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #8 – January 19, 2007, 11:04:06 PM

Quote from: Autocat;124635

this is sort of off topic, but related. my dad had a 00 hyundai elantra. Hyundai said it came stock with 140hp. well it actually came with 133hp stock. he ended up getting a 300 dollar check b/c of a class action lawsuit (everyone who bought that car from the dealership got one).

I remember that. They did it with the Tiburon as well as a few others. Horsepower ratings were bumped for advertising and then had to pay out the rear for it once everyone caught on.

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #9 – January 20, 2007, 12:31:27 AM

the power of lobbyist in congress,,, i say lets sweep up the mess and start over.
im done.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/01/nhtsa_chief.html

Consumer Reports once again caught rigging product testing to skew results

Reply #10 – January 20, 2007, 10:44:49 AM

I bought an issue that was touting who had the best cutomer service/ return policy for electronics once, and in it they also reviewed drills. They had mentioned that the Milwakee 24v cordless drill was melting itself because it ran too hot, and I believe that even one "caught fire" I wonder how true this is. And this was supposed to be after limited use. I remember reading it and thinking BS, I know these companies test these things to high hell, then in this case, I'm sure like at least one other gov't sponsored group i.e. whoever does like all the electronic devices... FCC I think, has to test them. No one in their right mind would release a product that destroys itself litteraly after a few hours of using it.