Is Suzuki as Its Own Worst Enemy, Tarnishing Its Own Image by Dredging Up Negative Past?
Exactly what American Suzuki Motors Corp is attempting to accomplish by continuing its tri-decade lawsuit with consumer goods testers Consumer Reports (CR) is difficult to comprehend. Unless the execs at the Japanese automaker truly believe the age-old adage that any publicity is good publicity, dredging up the high-probability that its 1980s era 4x4s suffered from a tendency to tip over during accident avoidance maneuvers isn't very good for its brand image.
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| In a battle that has dragged on for nearly two decade, American Suzuki will once again take Consumer Reports to court over the magazine's critical report of its 1988 Samurai. (Photo: truckworld.com) |
The reality is, Suzuki wasn't the only SUV manufacturer that faced negative press after independent testing raised concerns over high-speed stability, with Isuzu's Trooper, for one, shown on TV repeatedly rolling over onto its "training wheels," the contraptions automotive testers use to make sure when a vehicle pops up on two wheels it gets a shove back onto all four.
According to CR a similar occurrence happened to a Suzuki Samurai being tested, prompting the magazine to critique that the sport utility "easily rolls over in turns." American Suzuki claims that CR set the vehicle up to fail rollover tests; a ploy the automaker believes was designed for publicity purposes, with an end to increase newsstand sales and membership revenue.
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| The Samurai, which was introduced in 1985, sold well over its first three years but according to American Suzuki, never recovered after the Consumer Reports article. (Photo: zukiworld.com) |
The automaker claims that CR set up a slalom course more difficult to negotiate than the vehicle's rival SUVs, and then tested it on its own. Suzuki goes further to state a belief that the competitive vehicles were not tested on the same circuit, but one that was easier to maneuver around.
CR claims that only one slalom course was used for all four SUVs tested in this instance, and that each ran at exactly the same speed multiple times. The magazine initially reported that its tests resulted in the Samurai tipping "up briefly and severely." According to CR the rival SUVs did not display any severe stability problems.