Suzuki/Consumer Union lawsuit dismissed

I believe there was a long thread on this several months ago in this group.
Both sides agreed to disagree regarding the validitiy of the CU rollover
test and to dismiss the case. No money changed hands (except to, their
respective lawyers, I am sure). Suzuki said they were happy to clean the
slate and Consumer Reports said that once again no one has been successful
sueing them over the published results of one of their tests. (Though I
believe CU once settled with Bose who did not think their review of their
speakers was fair.)

 

That lawsuit was stupid anyway. When CU wrote about it in April I sent GM
and Suzuki my reply about it. I basically told them that that Samurai was
junk and that was why sales plummented. Not because of some CU response.
It was easy to see that it was a cheaply built (and crappy) SUV (if you can
even call it that). I got a nice "keep your mind open" letter back from
their lawyers which I promptly threw out.
In the press article about the dismiss they mentioned that Suzuki has 2
new SUV's coming out. In my letter to them I said that it would be
inappropriate to buy a SUV from them if they are sueing the press over a
demeaning article. Why would anyone trust them if it is true and the press
is being forced to comply by lawsuits. I'm glad to see it's over.

 

What I thought was interesting is that, if I understood the press release
properly, Suzuki did not sue at the initial report but years later when
Consumer Reports put the unacceptable rating on a time line they published.

 

True story: I had heard about the failed test in CU on the radio while
driving on the interstate in NY and there on the side of the road was a
rolled over Suzuki SUV. What are the odds?

Richard.

 

FWIW the Samurai is actually a pretty decent low-cost off-roader, for
all values of off-roader which equal "driving trails off-road for
pleasure", not for those which equal "driving 80mph on the freeway and
planning an off-road excursion some time in the next twenty years."
I have seen them accomplish some very difficult climbs, particuarly
once fitted with the proper wheels and tires.

On-road, yeah, they're a menace, and they *do* tend to rust out before
their time.