The Lexus GX460 has received an extremely rare "Don't Buy" warning from the influential Consumer Reports magazine.
The influential Consumer Reports magazine has issued an extremely rare “Don’t Buy” warning on the new Lexus GX460 sport-utility vehicle, noting that the luxury SUV could be prone to rolling over.
The warning is rare enough for the magazine but even more so for Lexus and its sibling Toyota and Scion brands, which have routinely received “Best Buy” ratings from the non-profit organization. The news thus comes as another black eye for the Japanese maker which, as TheDetroitBureau.com has reported, is facing a record $16.4 million fine from the government for allegedly hiding information about safety defects.
Consumer Reports noted that during handling tests performed on the Lexus GX460 the vehicle was prone to become unstable under certain circumstances.
Specifically, a test driver approaches a turn too fast and releases the accelerator pedal, something real world motorists are prone to do. This normally will lead the rear of a vehicle to slide. But on other vehicles, the stability control system kicks in and helps keep the vehicle under control. With the GX460, however, that didn’t happen in time, leading to a rollover risk.
“In a real world situation, by that time, the car can hit the curb or the side of the road and that’s the situation where, in a vehicle like that, it could cause it to roll over,” said Gabriel Shenhar, senior auto test engineer at Consumer Reports.
A “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” warning is extremely rare, and the last time Consumer Reports issued one was for the 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Limited. The Lexus GX460, the magazine said, was the worst, in terms of rollover potential among the 95 SUVs in its current automotive ratings.
Consumer Reports said it validated its concerns by testing two Lexus GX460 models, each repeating the problem, though neither rolled over. And the magazine cautioned that it is not aware of any specific reports of GX rollovers in the real world.
Toyota has, however, come under fire for rollover problems with other SUV and crossover models.
Consumer Reports officials have notified Toyota, which is investigating the problem. It could revise the stability control system to improve the system’s response rate and ask to be retested.
“We’re concerned with the results of Consumer Reports testing on the Lexus GX 460 and their suggested buyer recommendation,” Lexus officials responded, on the maker’s media news site.
Noting that the GX460 meets all federal safety requirements, the statement added that, “Our engineers conduct similar tests and we feel these procedures provide a good indication of how our vehicles will perform in the real-world; however, we will try to duplicate the Consumer Reports’ test to determine if appropriate steps need to be taken.”