NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports is an American magazine published monthly by Consumers Union. It publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory. It has approximately 4 million subscribers^[1] and an annual testing budget of approximately $21 million U.S.^[2] The annual Consumer Reports new car issue, released every April, is typically the magazine's best-selling issue and is thought to influence millions of automobile purchases^{[citation needed]}. The equivalent to Consumer Reports in the UK is Which? magazine. In the UK a consumer report is a generic phrase referring to any document informing the consumer about products. It can simply give product descriptions or extend to ethical matters. ... Most circulated periodical magazines in the U.S. as of 2003. ... Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, is an independent, nonprofit testing and information organization serving only consumers. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ISSN, or International Standard Serial Number, is the unique eight-digit number applied to a periodical publication including electronic serials. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, is an independent, nonprofit testing and information organization serving only consumers. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Which? is a subscription-only magazine and website run by Consumers Association in the UK. It campaigns on various consumer issues and aims to promote informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services, by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, and raising awareness of consumer rights. ...

Claims of objectivity

Consumer Reports advertises its objectivity and freedom from bias, although a few companies have challenged this in court [1].

Consumer Reports does not print outside advertising or permit the commercial use of its reviews for selling products, and it claims that this eliminates one possible source of bias. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Consumer Reports claims that all tested products are purchased at retail by its staff, that no free samples are accepted from manufacturers, and that this avoids the possibility of bias from bribery, or from being given "better than average" samples.

Ancillary publications

ConsumerReports.org, the related website, claims more paid subscribers than any other publication-based Web site.^{[citation needed]} Most of its information is only available to paid subscribers.

With short life-cycle products such as electronics, the reviewed product has often been replaced or discontinued prior to publication.^{[citation needed]} ConsumerReports.org provides updates on product availability, and adds new products to previously published test results.

In 2002, Consumers Union launched the grant-funded project Consumer Reports WebWatch, which aims to improve the credibility of Web sites through investigative reporting, publicizing best-practices standards, and publishing a list of sites that comply with the standards. Its content is free.

In 2005 Consumers Union launched the service Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs, which takes publicly available (but difficult to comprehend) studies on pharmaceutical effectiveness and combines them with pricing information in an easy-to-read format.

Also in 2005 Consumers Union launched the service Greener Choices, which is meant to "inform, engage, and empower consumers about environmentally-friendly products and practices." It contains information about conservation, electronics recycling and conservation with the goal or providing an "accessible, reliable, and practical source of information on buying “greener” products that have minimal environmental impact and meet personal needs."

Lawsuits vs. Consumers Union

In 1981 the Bose Corporation sued Consumer Reports (CR) magazine for libel. CR reported in a review that the sound from the system that they reviewed "tended to wander about the room". The District Court found that CR "had published the false statement with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of its truth or falsity," changing what the original reviewer stated about the speakers. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's ruling, and the United States Supreme Court affirmed, finding that that CR's statement was made without actual malice, and therefore was not libelous.^[3]^[4]^[5] The Bose Corporation is a privately held American company based in Framingham, Massachusetts that specializes in audio equipment. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Holding The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, protected a newspaper from being sued for libel in state court for making false defamatory statements about the official conduct of a public official, because the statements were not made with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth. ...

In 1996, Consumers Union (CU) published a report indicating that the 1995-96 Isuzu Trooper sport utility vehicle had demonstrated a "tendency to roll over in certain situations" in its tests, and that it had determined that this was "not acceptable". In a press conference, it called on Isuzu to discontinue sales and recall Troopers already sold, and continued to issue warnings about the Trooper, advising the public not to buy the vehicle, and suggesting that federal officials should launch an investigation into possible product defects. Isuzu filed a lawsuit against CU as a result of the article; the court ruled that CR had made "numerous false statements" and had put the Isuzu through tests that competitors were not subjected to, but though eight of ten jurors wanted to assign punitive damages, they did not find enough evidence of malicious intent and did not assign Isuzu cash damages.^[6]^[7] The Isuzu Trooper was a full-size Luxury SUV produced by the Japanese automaker Isuzu between 1981 and 2002. ... A fourth-generation (2006-) Ford Explorer, the best-selling mid-size SUV in the United States. ... A joint press conference by U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House. ... This article is confusing for some readers, and needs to be edited for clarity. ...

In December 1997, however, the Trooper distributor in Puerto Rico sued CU, alleging that it had lost sales as a result of CU's disparagement of the Trooper. But the trial court granted CU's motion for summary judgment, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the favorable judgment, on the grounds that CU had only mentioned Isuzu and the Trooper, not the distributor specifically; since the challenged statements were not "of and concerning" the distributor, they would be precluded from suing for any injuries suffered as a result of the statements.^[8] Summary judgment is a legal term which means that a court has made a determination (a judgment) without a full trial. ... The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States District Courts: District of Maine District of Massachusetts District of New Hampshire District of Puerto Rico District of Rhode Island The court is based at the John Joseph...

Related to this suit, in 1988, CU published that the Suzuki Samurai had demonstrated the same tendency to roll and deemed it "not acceptable." In July 2004, this suit was settled and dismissed with no money changing hands.^[9]^[10] The SJ413, known as the Suzuki Samurai in North America, was an updated version of the SJ410. ...

In 2003, Sharper Image sued CR in California for product disparagement, over negative reviews of its Ionic Breeze Quadra air purifier. CR moved for dismissal on October 31, 2003, under California's Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) law, and the case was dismissed in November 2004, on the grounds that the Sharper Image "has not shown that the test protocol used by Consumers Union was scientifically, or otherwise, invalid," and had not "demonstrated a reasonable probability that any of the challenged statements were false." The decision also awarded CU $525,000 in legal fees and costs.^[11]^[12] The Sharper Image is a store and mail-order company that sells high-tech gadgets. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 kmÂ²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ... A Sharp FU-888SV Plasmacluster air purifier. ... is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Strategic lawsuits against public participation, (SLAPP) refers to litigation filed by a large corporation (or in some cases, a wealthy individual) to silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism. ...

Controversy over child safety seats

The February 2007 issue of Consumer Reports stated that only two of the child safety seats it tested for that issue passed the magazine's side impact tests. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which subsequently retested the seats, found that all those seats passed the corresponding NHTSA tests at the speeds described in the magazine report. The CR article reported that the tests simulated the effects of collisions at 38.5 mph. However, the tests that were completed in fact simulated collisions at 70 mph.^[13] CR stated in a letter from its president Jim Guest to its subscribers that it would retest the seats. The magazine issue with erroneous findings has not been recalled, but the letter states that after the seats are retested, the results of that test will be published. The article was removed from the CR website, and on January 18 2007 the organization posted a note on its home page about the misleading tests. Subscribers were also sent a postcard apologizing for the error. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, often pronounced nit-suh) is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, part of the Department of Transportation. ...

On January 28, 2007, Joan Claybrook, who served on the board of CU from 1982 to 2006 (and was the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1977 to 1981), discussed the sequence of events leading to the publishing of the erroneous information. The magazine contracted with Calspan to do the actual testing; due to miscommunication, the tests were conducted (using test sleds) at an actual speed of 38 miles per hour. In fact, since automobiles in a crash continue to move after the crash—rather than absorbing all the energy of impact as a test sled does—a test sled impact of 38 miles per hour is considered equivalent to an automobile crash of 70 miles per hour; to replicate an automobile crash of 38 miles per hour, as was intended, the test sled crash should have been carried out at 20 miles per hour. is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Joan Claybrook is an American lawyer who has served as President of Public Citizen since 1982. ... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, often pronounced nit-suh) is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, part of the Department of Transportation. ... Scene from winter nearly anywhere snow may fall on a handy hillâ€”Children at play sledding. ...

Claybrook admitted that the magazine should have been motivated to double-check the surprising results; however, she also pointed out that CR was attempting to execute what should have been NHTSA's work. "Consumer Reports does not conduct crash tests save for low-speed bumper-impact tests," she stated. "It has limited expertise in designing such [crash] tests." She further noted that in 2000 Congress had mandated NHTSA to define a set of tests and issue a set of safety standards for child restraints within two years, but that NHTSA still had not yet done so, "though it took less than ten days to evaluate Consumer Reports’ testing and find the error." ^[14]

Other errors or issues

In 2006, Consumer Reports said six hybrid vehicles would probably not save owners money. The magazine later discovered that they had miscalculated depreciation, and released an update saying that four of the seven vehicles would save the buyer money, if the vehicle was kept for five years (including the federal tax credit for hybrid vehicles, which expires after each manufacturer sells 60,000 hybrid vehicles). ^[15] A hybrid vehicle (HV) is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power or fuel sources such as: An on-board rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) and a fueled power source (internal combustion engine) for vehicle propulsion Human or sail powered bicycle with battery assist A human-powered or... Declining-balance depreciation of a $50,000 asset with $6,500 salvage value over 20 years. ... Within the Australian, Canadian, United Kingdom, and United States tax systems, a tax credit is an item which is treated as a payment already made towards taxes owed. ...

In February 1998, the magazine tested pet food and claimed that Iams dog food was nutritionally deficient. They later retracted the report claiming that there had been "a systemic error in the measurements of various minerals we tested – potassium, calcium and magnesium." They stated they would conduct the study again and publish the results but have yet to do so. ^[16] Articles in category Pet foods There are 16 articles in this section of this category. ... Iams is the brand name for dog food and cat food manufactured by Procter & Gamble. ... General Name, Symbol, Number potassium, K, 19 Chemical series alkali metals Group, Period, Block 1, 4, s Appearance silvery white Standard atomic weight 39. ... General Name, Symbol, Number calcium, Ca, 20 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 4, s Appearance silvery white Standard atomic weight 40. ... General Name, symbol, number magnesium, Mg, 12 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, period, block 2, 3, s Appearance silvery white solid at room temp Standard atomic weight 24. ...

In July 1996, Consumer Reports tested motor oils in a fleet of taxi cabs. In their article, they noted that "Big-city cabs don't see many cold start-ups or long periods of high speed driving in extreme heat. But our test results relate to the most common type of severe service - stop-and-go city driving." They were unable to see a "meaningful" difference between any brands of oil which carried the API starburst symbol, but suggested that synthetic oil is "worth considering for extreme driving conditions high ambient temperatures and high engine load or very cold temperatures." ^[17] This research was criticized by some because most engine damage appears to be caused by cold starts, and their research method did not include any cold starts; in addition, if their research could not see a difference between natural oils and synthetic oils, it could not be expected to differentiate between various qualities of natural oils.^[18] A typical container of motor oil, with some in a glass. ... Alternative meaning: taxicab geometry. ... A typical container of motor oil, with some in a glass. ... Mobil 1 oil Synthetic oil is oil consisting of chemical compounds which were not originally present in crude oil (petroleum) but were artificially made (synthesized) from other compounds. ...

Contents

Claims of objectivity

Ancillary publications

Lawsuits vs. Consumers Union

Controversy over child safety seats

Other errors or issues

See also

References

External links

Contents

Claims of objectivity GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Ancillary publications

Lawsuits vs. Consumers Union

Controversy over child safety seats

Other errors or issues

See also

References

External links

Claims of objectivity