Litigation

Lexus SUVs...Luxurious or Lethal?

By Angel Reyes

Lexus may have to change their slogan, as 'The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection' seems absurd in light of recent events.  Consumer Reports really did a number on the 2010 Lexus GX 460 with its video showing it skidding sideways.  Boldly, the magazine also denounced it for being unsafe.  Toyota, the Lexus manufacturer, recalled 9,400 GX 460 models for reprogramming of their stability control systems.
 
This isn't the first time an SUV has come under scrutiny.  Contrary to popular belief, SUVs are not safer vehicles to drive due to potential rollover hazards.  Auto manufacturers have great PR and advertising agencies which are proficient at spewing propaganda about SUV convenience and safety.  But for 30 years, safety tests have proven SUVs not only guzzle gas, they endanger lives. Maybe soon we'll all be driving Smart Cars.  Or maybe not.  This is America, after all.  We generally don't learn until it's too late.
 
See the full Wall Street Journal by selecting "CONTINUE READING" below.

Eyes on the Road
Why Toyota Rolled Over for Its SUVs
By JOSEPH B. WHITE

Toyota Motor Corp.'s latest recall has put the issue of sport-utility vehicle rollovers back on the front burner.

A video released earlier this month by Consumer Reports showed a 2010 Lexus GX 460 skidding sideways during a handling test. In an unusual move, the magazine then declared that the Toyota-built SUV wasn't safe to buy. Toyota immediately halted sales of the vehicle and, on Monday, recalled all 9,400 GX 460s to reprogram their stability-control systems so that they kick in more quickly to prevent dangerous sideways skids.

Affected Models

Despite this latest setback for Toyota's image, SUVs have actually been getting much safer in recent years, thanks to more-advanced technology, improved designs and tougher testing. A decade ago, Toyota's relatively low-cost Lexus fix probably wouldn't have been available. It is today because consumer demand, government pressure and attitudes among auto makers toward safety technology have all changed—and consumers are better off.

The Lexus GX is an old-school sport-utility vehicle, built on a truck frame. This architecture affords a commanding view of the road, high ground clearance and the capability to haul a 6,500-pound boat or utility trailer. The tradeoff is that such vehicles can be more prone to flipping over in certain maneuvers than a conventional sedan.

But the Lexus GX and similar SUVs, such as the Ford Explorer and Hummer H3, are members of a dying breed. Auto makers have been applying a significant amount of money and technology to reducing SUV rollover risks, and in the process evolving most of what are sold as SUVs into vehicles that are more like big cars than pickup trucks.

The SUV industry takes another hit with Toyota forced to recall its 2010 Lexus GX460. WSJ's Joseph B. White reports on the safety test by Consumer Reports that found the vehicle was at risk of rolling.

On top of that fundamental change, auto makers have equipped SUVs with electronic stability control, and increasingly, airbags that deploy along the side windows to reduce the chances that occupants will be thrown from a tumbling vehicle.

The mainstreaming of this technology has coincided with a decline in SUV rollover fatalities—but not a dramatic one. Deaths linked to SUV rollover accidents peaked in 2004 at 2,929, according to government figures. In 2008, deaths in SUV rollover accidents declined to 2,414. In both years, SUV rollover deaths amounted to about 9% of all occupants killed in vehicle accidents.

Concern about SUV rollovers has ebbed and flowed in the auto industry for 30 years.

In the early 1980s, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research arm of the insurance industry, called out the Jeep CJ-5 for having a high propensity to roll over. Later in the 1980s, controversy swirled around the Suzuki Samurai, a rival to the Jeep that Consumer Reports branded unsafe after a rollover test. Suzuki Motor Corp. countered that Consumer Reports' tests were biased, and sued. The litigation was settled long after the Samurai had been phased out.

Until about 10 years ago, auto makers tended to downplay the rollover risks associated with truck-frame SUVs. That changed starting in 2000, when a highly publicized surge of rollover accidents ultimately linked to defective Firestone tires devastated Ford Motor Co.'s once hugely profitable Explorer brand and led Congress to enact sweeping new auto-safety rules that included tougher federal standards aimed at reducing rollover accidents.

The tests administered by different groups can differ, sometimes markedly. The NHTSA's SUV stability test includes a so-called "fish hook" maneuver—patterned after a test used by Toyota, according to government documents. The vehicle, controlled by a robotic steering system, heads down a straightaway at 50 miles per hour. The steering machine then turns the wheel left and then right, and holds the right turn for half a second before straightening out. The maneuver is repeated with more severe steering angles.

This test will cause the wheels to lift off the ground if the vehicle is top-heavy or has a poorly designed suspension system. The NHTSA considers the vehicle to have "tipped up" in an unsafe manner if instruments detect that the inside wheels (the right hand side in a vehicle turning right) have lifted two inches or more off the ground.

Government agencies, automotive magazines and auto makers elsewhere in the world evaluate vehicle stability using tests designed to simulate the panicky steering that can get motorists into trouble. An automotive magazine in Sweden flipped over a Mercedes-Benz A-class in 1997 with a fast lane-change test dubbed the "moose test," so named because it simulated the maneuvers required to evade a moose (or elk) in the road. A chastened Mercedes redesigned the car and installed stability control, and the revamped A-Class passed.

Consumer Reports caught the problem with the Lexus GX using a different test. The magazines puts vehicles through what it calls a track handling test, essentially running the vehicle at progressively higher speeds around a serpentine course, says David Champion, head of its vehicle-testing operation.

Roll Control
Tests by government agencies and independent groups have driven concern about rollover risks:

• 1980: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds "serious rollover problems" after testing the Jeep CJ-5. Government later requires warning stickers on SUVs
• 1988: Consumer Reports calls the Suzuki Samurai unsafe after the vehicle tips in testing. Suzuki takes the magazine to court. Case settles after the Samurai is retired.
• 1997: A Mercedes A Class small car rolls during a "moose test" by a Swedish car magazine. Mercedes redesigns the car, and it passes.
• 2010: Consumer Reports tells readers not to buy the 2010 Lexus GX 460 after it skids in a handling test. Toyota recalls the vehicle to reprogram stability control system.
• Source: WSJ research

As part of the test, Consumer Reports' drivers put a vehicle into a long, sweeping decreasing radius turn—similar to a freeway cloverleaf in which the corner keeps getting tighter. The driver goes into the turn at speed—about 60 mph in the case of the Lexus—and then lifts off the accelerator, says Mr. Champion. He says a fish-hook test might not have triggered the skid that caused the editors to issue their "don't buy" warning.

The problem with both the NHTSA and Consumer Reports tests is that about 95% of rollover accidents happen under circumstances that they don't cover. Such accidents occur when a vehicle hits a curb or ditch or some other obstacle and "trips" over the obstruction. Even vehicles with a low center of gravity can and do roll when tripped up. In 2008, 69% of all rollover accidents involved cars.

The key to avoiding a rollover is to avoid a sideways slide—and that's why properly functioning electronic stability control is critical.

Consumers interested in assessing a vehicle's rollover risk can check out www.safercar.gov for the government's rollover ratings. Those are derived from a combination of measurements to determine the vehicle's center of gravity and the results of live-action rollover tests.

Full post as published by Angel Reyes Blog on April 22, 2010 (boomark / email).