One again CR successfully sells old wine in a new bottle

Consumer Reports announced its Annual Auto Issue today. As in past years, the press treats the reliability ratings in it as news, even though they’re the same ratings that have been around since the New Car Preview reached newsstands last October. And are based on a survey that was sent out nearly a year ago, in April 2009. For some… More →

Consumer Reports recommends only the AWD Lambda crossovers–why?

Consumer Reports released their latest results today, based on a survey that went out last April. TrueDelta’s results are currently two months ahead of CR’s latest, and will soon be five months ahead. Looking through the latest results, I see largely confirmation of some results we first released over a year ago, such as that for the Jaguar XF. But… More →

Consumer Reports’ results misinterpreted to Chrysler’s detriment

Operating TrueDelta, it would be in my interest to assert that Consumer Reports’ results are incorrect. But I’ve never made this argument, nor do I believe that their results are generally incorrect. Instead, I’ve repeatedly found that people’s interpretations of Consumer Reports’ results are often incorrect. A current example could have serious consquences… In a recent Detroit Free Press article,… More →

Consumer Reports buys The Consumerist: implications of media consolidation

A few weeks ago it was rumored that Consumer’s Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, would purchase The Consumerist, a blog covering consumer issues and giving voice to consumer complaints. Now these rumors have proven accurate, and this purchase has been completed.  Operating TrueDelta.com, I’ve learned quite a bit about the media. One of the most difficult lessons: journalists often won’t write… More →

Above critique vs. below notice

We’ve got the system in place to provide the most up-to-date, most “real world” vehicle reliability information. Now we just need more participants. The 35,700 vehicles signed up so far are a great start. But 100,000 would be better. How to get there? Well, media coverage would help. But it has proved surprisingly difficult to obtain this coverage. A major source of this difficulty: much… More →

The numbers behind Consumer Reports’ reliability ratings

In Consumer Reports, a 3 percent problem rate can count as “much worse than average” at the system level (electrical, cooling, etc.). That’s the lowest problem rate for which they’ll assign a solid black dot, if it also happens to be 45 percent worse than the average. In the case of a 3 percent black dot, the average problem rate for the system would have to… More →

Consumer Reports’ secret scoring system strikes again

Got my latest issue of Consumer Reports today, and they tested the Toyota Highlander, Buick Enclave, Ford Taurus X, and Subaru Tribeca. I’ve discussed before how Consumer Reports refuses to divulge how scores are calculated as a matter of “policy.” Well, while their detailed impressions of these models generally match my own, their secret scoring system yields a top place finish for the Toyota,… More →

What’s a serious rattle?

TrueDelta’s results currently include all shop trips that included a successful repair (unless this repair was a simple reflash). We don’t yet distinguish between “serious” repairs and minor ones. Often this is suggested. But doing this can be very tricky. As I first reported back in June of 2006, Consumer Reports’ method contains a serious flaw: they ask that only… More →

“Declining reliability” in Consumer Reports

Each year Consumer Reports posts a list of models whose reliability has declined. But in some cases this “declining reliability” is a sign that they really didn’t have enough data a year ago. Many times with models that were introduced in the winter or spring they report a “better than average” result, only to report a year later that reliability… More →