Consumer Reports® and ConsumerReports.org® are published by Consumers Union, an expert, independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To achieve this mission, we test, inform, and protect. To maintain our independence and impartiality, CU accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers. CU supports itself through the sale of our information products and services, individual contributions, and a few noncommercial grants. Consumers Union is governed by a board of 18 directors, who are elected by CU members and meet three times a year. CU's President, James Guest, oversees a staff of more than 450.


Interesting, millions thrown at them....I kind of doubt that.

 

Why are you here?

 

"CU supports itself through the sale of our information products and services, individual contributions, and a few noncommercial grants."

Scrapper, you are soooo gullible.

 

To be a TROLL.....

 

Just because someone disagrees with you guys does not make them a Troll. I prefer Ford trucks, but that does not mean that I think Ford builds the best everything or that their trucks could not be better. You guys should allow someone to disagree with you- or else come up with better reasons for why Ford and GM stocks are rated "junk bond" status and both are losing market share fast.

-Mike

 

Thanks MS, I am all for Ford trucks, but some people take it too far. Ford as a company is far from perfect, and this includes design and engineering and economics. Whether or not you can see that there might be better options is up to yourself, personally, I dont let any name make up my mind.

 

Let's put this in perspective.

Consumer Reports sends out surveys to their customers that ask people the number of problems they've had with their vehicle and things like that.

For surveys, the way that the questions or the survey is designed can actually bias the data obtained from the surveys. Also, the demographics of people who are surveyed can inherently bias the survey results.

There is no such thing as an unbiased survey. All surveys are essentially compromises in terms of:

1) What questions are asked.
2) How the questions are asked.
3) Who actually is surveyed.
4) The statistics used when the data is analyzed.

While I'm not knocking Consumer Reports, I'm glad that they are around, I've never seen an explanation of the demographics of the people they survey. I think that would be very interesting. To say that they just survey their subscribers means that they are essentially already biasing their survey sampling.

I think all surveys need to be taken with a grain of salt. People need to look at all data about vehicles from Consumer Reports, JD Power and others. I dont think you can count on just one source. (Forget the dealer though).

 

did you happen to see any of his other posts?

 

To go a little further with what powerdude had to say:

http://www.allpar.com/cr.html

I particularly agree with this paragraph:

"Consumer Reports' ads imply that they have no bias. Their articles prove otherwise. When they say they are unbiased because they do not accept advertising, think about their logic for a moment. Is the Toyota Corolla enthusiast page unbiased because it does not have advertising? Our ideas on reducing bias are shown up front - essentially, try to make sure testers do not know which car they are testing (to avoid self-fulfilling test results) and also to keep an eye out for bias. Our friends at Consumers Guide could do that better, too - they seem to have a need to write "but not up to the best of the European/Japanese imports" at the end of every American review. Well, some of the imports aren't up to the best of the Americans - but we never read that. (If you still believe Consumer Reports, take a look at Mercedes quality ratings, and tell me about "the best of the imports!")"

My sister fanatically adheres to CR advice. But when I read CR I can't help but get the feeling they are somewhat less than impartial, at least when it comes to cars.

 

Powerdude- I like it....a survey of how they do surveys......

 

Good points. Customer satisfaction is only one set of information that they use when rating vehicles. CR also does actual testing of the vehicles they rate.