[alvbazan]

First Actual Rollover Tests Single Out Sport Trac

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) new rollover test for vehicles produced some surprising results, with generally better ratings for SUVs and a two-star ranking for Ford's Explorer Sport Trac. The Sport Trac 4x2, in fact, lifted a wheel during the rollover test, as did the four-wheel-drive version of the Toyota Tacoma (though that vehicle earned three stars overall). The Sport Trac performance by NHTSA's tests indicates that its rollover risk in an accident ranges between 30 and 40 percent. Other vehicles fared betted: the Volvo XC90 and the Chevrolet TrailBlazer 4X4 earned four stars, as did the Ford Focus and Subaru Outback wagons, the Chevrolet Silverado 4X4 and 4X2 trucks and the Toyota Echo.

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So much for the "great" japanese engineering, the Tacoma got a bad score, do you guys think that will be on the news??? I doubt it, japanese kiss asses.

 

[BigAls87Z28]

See, this is what Im talking about. The Toyota lifted the tires, as did the ford, but the Toyota got a better rating why? WHY?!?

over all, nice to see GM cars getting top rankings.

 

[R.E Sanchez]

Originally posted by bigals87z28@Feb 6 2004, 06:56 AM
See, this is what Im talking about. The Toyota lifted the tires, as did the ford, but the Toyota got a better rating why? WHY?!?

over all, nice to see GM cars getting top rankings.

Biased A$$holes....thats why.

 

[Rex Raider]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a non paid, non profit, no reason to be biased institution.

How come whenever an American car fails a safety test, or gets a bad review in one way or another, you guys all pounce on the "paid-off" and "biased" testers.

Did any of you actually read the study? It might explain why the Toyota got 3 stars and the Ford did not.

How anti-American can they be? The Trailblazer got 4 stars.

 

[SteveWallace]

Originally posted by bigals87z28@Feb 6 2004, 01:56 AM
See, this is what Im talking about. The Toyota lifted the tires, as did the ford, but the Toyota got a better rating why? WHY?!?

over all, nice to see GM cars getting top rankings.

There is more to the ranking than just lifting the tire. They aren't biased in my opinion. Remember the Sport Trac is on the old Explorer chasis which had a habit of rolling over.

 

[tgagneguam]

Originally posted by Rex Raider@Feb 6 2004, 12:41 PM
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a non paid, non profit, no reason to be biased institution.

How come whenever an American car fails a safety test, or gets a bad review in one way or another, you guys all pounce on the "paid-off" and "biased" testers.

Did any of you actually read the study? It might explain why the Toyota got 3 stars and the Ford did not.

How anti-American can they be? The Trailblazer got 4 stars.

No, the NHTSA is not biased, and I think that their reports reflect that. But they're not the agency disseminating the information, either. The NHTSA hand their reports over to MSNBC and the like, and they're the ones who will reflect their pro-Japanese bias. Do you think ANY story will present Chevy's success in a positive light? No, I predict it will just be mentioned in passing. But you can damn well rest assured that Ford' poor showing will be the focus of any article.

And sometimes, like in the case of NBC, journalists aren't satisfied with the truth, so they *MAKE* poor results occur. Remember the GM pickup/incendiary fiasco? Yah, right. Journalists aren't biased. And I've got a bridge to sell you, too!

 

[Rex Raider]

I do agree in terms of the journalists, but that still doesn't change the fact that the NHTSA gave the Toyota 3 stars despite a wheel leaving the ground. I'm sure that reading the full report from the NHTSA (instead of the newspaper's summary) will paint a better picture.

 

[39255]

I am also one sick of Domestic cars getting a bad rep. Ford , GM. - My faverotes
all I read about them both is negitive it would seem.

The Explorer is a Cheeply priced (you get what you pay for) vehicle.

I dont doubt it had roolover tendencys. IRS or some under Chasy upgrade may help.

Ford has made their intention clear on how they will engenere their cars in the future with the (like it or not) well-regarded 04 f-150s. I think (I Hope) 05 and 06 will be Fords year for Comback. - If not, they are doomed for sure.

 

[awalbert88]

The current Explorer is pretty damn safe. The Sport Trac is still built on the old chassis, which as has been said, was prone to rollovers. The current Explorer is not exactly low priced -- from $27k up to $43k -- so I'm not sure where you got the impression that it's a cheap vehicle. It also has IRS standard, which wasn't available on the old chassis. The Sport Trac starts at $24k and goes up to almost $34k.

NHSTA isn't biased, but the media that reports upon it most often is.

 

[39255]

I ment Explorer Sport was cheap although I put just Explorer.

 

[NewMexico_Sunset_On_RT66_Yep]

Hmm, good to see I am not alone in my thinking. Which is usually the case.

I would expand the 'anti-business' bias to an 'anti-American business' bias. Or just an anti-American bias. Remember, the generation in charge now grew up in the 1960's when everything America did was bad. Remember them burning the flag? The Port Huron Statement (look it up)? This generation hated America then, and they hate America now.

The numbers are coming out now that American auto manufactures', namely Ford, GM and Mopar, are building higher quality vehicles. In some cases higher quality than those BLASTED Japanese. BUT, we don't hear the press talking about the better American vehicles (i.e. the GMC Envoy, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Rainier, Ford Focus, Chrysler Pacifica, Ford F-150, Cadillac SRX, Cadillac CTS, etc). Because they want to re-distribute our wealth, namely overseas. Which weakens the US in the long run. **** I remember when Toyota first started to make an impact in the US auto market, and the press just oggled over them. They were the best thing since SLICED BREAD.

The best advertising is sitting next to one at a stoplight.

Hopefully the Amercan consumer will return to the US auto makers, and stop buying the cheap foreign knock-offs. I reiterate cheap. Becase they are cheap looking and cheap feeling. When ever I see a Nissan Altima or Toyota Corolla. I think of a Bic lighter, you know you use it for a few weeks then throw it in the trash.

P*ssed. Yea. I'm p*ssed. <_<

 

[SteveWallace]

Originally posted by NewMexico_Sunset_On_RT66_Yep@Feb 6 2004, 08:01 PM
BUT, we don't hear the press talking about the better American vehicles (i.e. the GMC Envoy, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Rainier, Ford Focus, Chrysler Pacifica, Ford F-150, Cadillac SRX, Cadillac CTS, etc).

I wouldn't put the GM SUV's and the Focus in your statement there. The Focus had something like 10 recalls early on. One of which was for fires in the engine bay. The GM SUV's, again early on, had serious quality probs. These models may be better now, but failures early on tarnish a brands image. The same can be said for the American car companies in general. They USED to create substandard products. In some cases they still do (GM's interiors are God aweful, with only a few exceptions). If any of you expect the world's image of the American car companies to change over night your kidding yourself. It's gonna take years now that they have finally caught up. It's easy to blame a conspearacy on the whole issue, it's much harder to look at the deeper problems that plagued these companies for years. Advertising can only do so much, as in the case of VW, their reputation is catching up with them and sales are way down. The Koreans on the other hand were nearly shutout out of the market years ago and are now making a big comeback. Why? In large part because of the big warranties that they offer. I honestly think that if GM is something similar (or even matched Toyota and Nissan's 5/60k Powertrain) it would go a long way toward helping the turn around.

And if you haven't noticed Cadillac is getting a ton of press these days, mainly good.

Oh ya, and dump the incentives which don't do jack because you have shot the prices up that much in the past 2 years!!

 

[awalbert88]

Originally posted by SteveWallace+Feb 7 2004, 01:13 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SteveWallace @ Feb 7 2004, 01:13 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-NewMexico_Sunset_On_RT66_Yep@Feb 6 2004, 08:01 PM
BUT, we don't hear the press talking about the better American vehicles (i.e. the GMC Envoy, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Rainier, Ford Focus, Chrysler Pacifica, Ford F-150, Cadillac SRX, Cadillac CTS, etc).

I wouldn't put the GM SUV's and the Focus in your statement there. The Focus had something like 10 recalls early on. One of which was for fires in the engine bay. The GM SUV's, again early on, had serious quality probs. These models may be better now, but failures early on tarnish a brands image. The same can be said for the American car companies in general. They USED to create substandard products. In some cases they still do (GM's interiors are God aweful, with only a few exceptions). If any of you expect the world's image of the American car companies to change over night your kidding yourself. It's gonna take years now that they have finally caught up. It's easy to blame a conspearacy on the whole issue, it's much harder to look at the deeper problems that plagued these companies for years. Advertising can only do so much, as in the case of VW, their reputation is catching up with them and sales are way down. The Koreans on the other hand were nearly shutout out of the market years ago and are now making a big comeback. Why? In large part because of the big warranties that they offer. I honestly think that if GM is something similar (or even matched Toyota and Nissan's 5/60k Powertrain) it would go a long way toward helping the turn around.

And if you haven't noticed Cadillac is getting a ton of press these days, mainly good.

Oh ya, and dump the incentives which don't do jack because you have shot the prices up that much in the past 2 years!! [/b][/quote]
Considering how well the Focus is selling, I think a lot of consumers are realizing that this is not the same car that got recalled to hell and back a few years ago. Explorer sales have hardly suffered as a result of the Firestone/rollover fiasco, either. Consumers tend to educate themselves a little bit before dropping five digits on a product. Of course, those who would consider an American car are not really the buyers that GM/Ford need to focus on (no pun intended). GM's ad campaign for the Malibu ("if everybody in America could test-drive one...") is very good, and I think might actually be the first effective commercial for a GM product that I've seen in years. I think most of the buyers of Toyota, Honda, etc don't even test-drive competing domestic models because they operate under the assumption that American cars are low quality. Get these people into dealerships and have them test-drive one of America's finest. Maybe they'll realize that they were wrong about American quality. If not, then they're just kidding themselves.

That said, there are some vehicles that both GM and Ford produce that aren't quite world-class, but those are all being replaced or heavily upgraded in the next few years. I think by the end of the decade, the "hip thing to do" will be buying American, rather than a low-end, over-priced Honda or Toyota.