I was thinking about this as I read the latest issue of Consumer Reports. I think the CU’s methods are generally sound and the fact that they don’t accept advertising enhances their credibility.
Has any study ever shown, though, that when they slam a product (eg. the tipover prone Mitsubishi Montero), that a measurable effect on consumer behavior results?
Well, I have some personal experiance with this, since I happen to work for Mitsubishi (home of the tipover Montero 
) I won’t be able to tell you what affect CU has on our sales until the end of this month, since last months sales reports did not differ substancially for the full size Montero from May, but the report did not come out until the end of the June .
But I can tell you that our management takes the report seriously, and have issued several consumer and dealer incentives for the full size montero. Now, while the upper ups say that they don’t believe the CU report, I don’t know if I believe them, since executives are known to lie once in a while 
. But they certainly do seem to fear that the CU report is going to seriously hurt sales.
That is of course just my personal experiance, and since don't work in marketing or sales, (computer geek here) I won't know the sales figures until the end of the month. I am looking fwd, purely out of curiosity , to seeing how much the CU report affects us, but I have no doubt that it will lower sales.
Jeeves
I frequently check out CR before making a purchase. I can’t afford to test all that stuff myself.
I’m sure, though, that there are many folks out there who will purchase a product simply because CR slams it.
Peace,
mangeorge
Forgot the e-mail doohicky. 
Mangeorge
You should ask Suzuki. They discontinued the notorious Samurai after sales dived when CU gave a warning it tended to roll over.
I also note that CU’s testing procedures have tended to lead the way, and have an impact on Government testing standards.
I like to read Consumer Reports, but a lot of their reports seem to be about things that middle-class married people would buy, so I won’t be buying a lot of that stuff for a few more years. I did check CR Online before buying my walkman, and I buy the dishsoap that got the highest rating. I was going to renew my online subscription to see what type of vcr to buy, but I got a used one for $20
I can’t imagine not checking CR when I have to buy my first car. I have no idea how much a car should cost, and I know I’ll get ripped off if I’m not careful. CR has some sort of service that tells you how much the dealer paid, and gives advice on the maximum that a customer should pay. Also, their articles include little details, such as if the car will be really uncomfortable for a short driver, or if the trunk is tiny. And if CR says that a car is unsafe, why waste money when there are so many other, safer, cars to buy instead?
Oh, and there was an article one month that suggested calling your credit card company and asking them to waive your yearly fee. I took that advice, and saved $50 Consumer Reports is so great.
For certain items like cars, insurance, dishwashers, toilet paper, house paint etc that that for reasons of expense or well… to put it bluntly, their mundane nature, are not reviewed for their bourgeois virtues elsewhere, CU is the best (and sometimes the only) forum for these comparisons.
With respect to comparing things that have devoted interest groups that are reviewed to death elsewhere like computer equipment, sound equipment, sports equipment etc., the reviews are much less useful and are sometimes weirdly clueless about what the important features really are of the equipment in question.
I suppose if you were an insurance/dishwasher/toilet paper or house paint geek you might feel the same way about any CU review that, in your opinion, did not pay attention to the *really[/] important differences between products.
CU serves a function and serves it well of warning people away from the trash end of the spectrum, the differences between “better” and “best”, however, are a lot more dicey and fall more along personal preference lines than inherent product “quality”.
I’m an on-line subscriber and read the articles regularly. I also like the recalls feature.
I have one little problen with the ratings pages, though.
The header across the top of the list moves up with the list, making it awkward to read the column titles as you scroll down. I e-mailed them last year, and got a nice reply, but it still does the same thing. Imagine that!
Anyway, do any of you webpage geeks (I mean genius’) know if fixing this would be a big problem?
I’m mostly just curious.
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, this consumer, for one, is gonna start drinking a helluva lotta Stroh’s after this issue… wait… hic… I already do…
I grew up reading the magazine and subscribe to it, so this is another “me too” answer.
It and Mad magazine taught me everything I needed to know about American businesses.