Let's Crucify Toyota

Once again, the media is jumping on the Crucify Toyota bandwagon. This time, they have OMG shockingly discovered that a tall, heavy SUV (the Lexus GX 460) can actually be induced to oversteer and possibly roll over when driver stupidity/incompetence is engaged.

First, let's get one thing out of the way: I have never owned a Toyota, and it's been quite a few years since they've produced anything in which I would be even remotely interested. I am not by any stretch of the imagination a Toyota fanboy. However, the state of pseudoscience and deliberately biased "research" in the world today has me wondering where the human race is headed. It can't be any place good.

I have a friend who has always owned at least one Mercedes in the time I have known him. He currently owns two. One or two vehicles ago, he had an E500 that experienced the sudden unintended acceleration issue. It happened while he was running errands around town. He managed to get it home, even with the consistent problem, without crashing or so much as causing a scratch on either his vehicle or anything else. That's because he's not a complete incompetent moron. He certainly was scared, and after the car was repaired he sold it in short order, but that was that. Have you heard about that issue regarding Mercedes? I haven't. Gee, I guess that means it doesn't exist in anything other than Toyotas, and it's all the car's fault when something malfunctions and the driver is too incompetent to deal with it.

Back to the current issue: Do you really think that electronic stability controls are capable of saving your derriere in every possible situation? Do you think that trucks and SUVs handle just like cars? Do you often make stupid errors in judgment while driving? Then perhaps you deserve to roll your vehicle, and hopefully take yourself out of the gene pool!

Bottom Line: All SUVs and trucks are prone to handling issues and rollovers. Even if they passed Consumer Report's tests, those are under controlled conditions with professional drivers. In the real world, it's unlikely that any of the vehicles that passed their test would be much if any better if they were put into a similar situation with uncontrolled variables, such as other traffic and inconsistent surface conditions. If you disagree, it's because you are an incompetent driver who has never driven any vehicle at its limits, and should not.

The Real Dope: There's a very good reason why I have never subscribed to Consumer Reports. They are not nearly as unbiased, professional and scientific as they want you to believe. I have consulted them many times over the years, and every time I come away with a sense of incredulity that anyone would trust them to the extent that they apparently do. If you look carefully at the charts and tables and read the text critically, you'll see that their conclusions are often not supported by their own published data and more a result of subjective opinion than actual fact.

By the same token, the last bastion of mostly unbiased automotive journalism, Motor Trend, has fallen prey to the same egomaniacal and emotional (if not fiscal...) faults as the rest of the automotive magazines. Several years ago the old staff was phased out (retired? encouraged to retire?) and replaced by a younger and much less professional crew who have devised new tests with state-of-the-art gear that while sounding reasonable are actually proof that they don't really understand handling dynamics, much less what makes one vehicle worthwhile and another not. There are obvious agendas and propaganda. They constantly contradict themselves, and the motif running through the whole publication is: "the facts and numbers may lead you to believe that (insert incontrovertible test winner here) would win, but due to (insert list of totally subjective opinions here) we pick (insert 2nd to 5th place model here) as the winner." They've also changed their criteria, definitions and classifications regarding their vehicle Of The Year awards to the point that they are worthless. Meh, I wish my subscription would hurry up and run out. Unfortunately, due to their tactic of sending out renewal notices long before the subscription runs out (and relying on people not to know how to find their expiration date), I'm paid up for another 4 years, even though I can't remember when I last renewed. (That may have been exacerbated by gift subscriptions/renewals, I'm afraid.) I'm thinking about canceling, even if I don't get a refund.