Lexus GX460 U.S. sales halted over safety nonsense
U.S. magazine Consumer Reports, a respected publication that has no advertising and buys their own test vehicles, has come out with a scathing report saying that the Lexus GX 460 is a “safety risk” and put it on their “do not buy” list. They came up with the recommendation because they believe the electronic stability control does not react in time during loss of control at high speeds. As a result, Toyota has temporarily stopped sales of the GX 460 in the United States. We believe the story is being blown out of proportion.
Consumer Reports is not biased by advertising, but their criteria for recommending cars is a bit stringent. For example, they value stability control systems highly in their tests. The video of their test already shows that the Lexus lost control while speeding down a slight incline and slowing down suddenly, thereby inducing a slide. The midsize 4×4 behaved exactly as any other heavy 4×4 would behave, only that the computer nannies interfered later than it should have, compared to 4x4s of other brands.
We drove the 2010 Toyota Prado VX-L, sister model of the Lexus GX, and pulled off similarly stupid manoeuvres that the electronic nannies kept readily in check. Yet, we were never dumb enough to enter a turn at 100 kph while expecting a 2.5-tonne to behave itself even with stability control. There are limits to what a computer can do, and we had actually found the truck’s electronics to be too interfering. We said we were “going into off-ramps a bit quickly, which is where it got a bit shaky, as the tyres started squealing and the stability control kicked in to induce understeer, sending us towards the outside of the turn when what we really wanted was to mildly slide out the rear. Still, it was just doing what inexperienced drivers would find more comforting…”
In general, an electronic stability control system generally applies different amounts of braking to each wheel as soon as a slide starts, to bring the car back in control. However, these systems were not even available in most GCC-spec Toyota models until only the last couple of years, and people managed fine without them. Most people here still don’t understand the functionality of ESP, ESC, VSA or whatever these systems are branded as, so they drive as they normally do, which means they don’t intentionally dive into sharp turns at breakneck speeds. As such, reporting the GX 460 as a “safety risk” is simply sensationalism.
Update: Sales of the Lexus GX460 has now been stopped worldwide, including the UAE and other GCC countries, until Toyota figures out what is going on.
Comments
Sahmed
I think it’s ‘screw the japs’ season in the US…
royer
Yes quite true, they are hell bent on doing it.
Zao
lol its high time toyota see a good astrologer…in the earlier days they changed their name from toyoda to toyota becuz the toyoda was bad luck for the co. ..
Hassan
This is a commercial war against Toyota in the U.S.
The Americans are trying to protect their Auto industry in a dirty way.
Samer
I think part of what is going on to toyota is already planned, americans want to save their companies and this campaign against toyota is aimed to drive customers toyota to other cars like ford, dodge, and GM. i know some people dont believe in the conspirecy theory but this may apply here because it is very clear that all media have been exaggerating anything related to toyota.
Hassan
It is a commercial war on Toyota!!
This is all driven by the American Car industry.
America has very little cars who can compete with Toyota cars.
paul
I think all this is definitely made up. I was once in a Toyota Land Cruiser, which is pretty close to the Lexus GS model, going at about 120 kmph when the car in front of us braked suddenly making my friend swerve to the right and he lost control of the car. But the car did not topple over pretty much saving us from any physical injury what so ever. So i think in normal circumstances the car’s mechanism will kick in soon enough to prevent the car from toppling over. I guess this is a ploy for consumers to stop buying Japanese cars. But I always wondered why the land cruiser was never introduced in the U.S. as it is quite a beautiful car.
aaamohamad
with all my respect…what i can see right now..shows that its true…toyota have many issues…but they used to say shut in US media…and mag…now…they took the chance to hit toyota as hard as they could…and its toyota’s fault to allow them to attack in this way….
there is one sentence you said is very important:
“only that the computer nannies interfered later than it should have, compared to 4×4s of other brands”…
milliseconds are very important …ask a guy who did an accident 😉
mark
why is this non sense. three separate testings came with the same result.
the danger of a flip over at higher speeds is definitely a risk and must be recognized as such.
this is absolute right.
fantastic car, but this should be amended (which shouldnt be an issue as it is simply a reprogramming of the computer systems..
i really agree with most the articles here, but calling this ‘safety nonsense’ is ridiculous!!
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
If you flip this thing, you shouldn’t be driving one.
The Lexus Prado handles just like every other truckish 4×4 out there. Just because you have stability control doesn’t mean you should test its limits with stupid driving. ESP wasn’t even around 10 years ago, and no one called 4x4s a “safety risk” then. Even my Jeep has no ESP. Is that a “safety risk” too? Or am I just a better driver than everyone else for not ever crashing it?
mark
that argument doesnt make sense at all dear author..
to use your analogy: when no airbags were around some 30 years ago, people considered their cars save! so, only because of that perception at the time, you doubt that airbags aren’t making cars any safer?
lol..
i agree that only ESP, etc. do not make cars any safer. the driving defines it. nevertheless, if toyota screwed up the programming of their systems, why don’t you consider this an issue??
but then again, ESP wasn’t around 10 years ago, right..?! omg..
anyways,
mo
lol.. that is rubbish Mashfique.
using your analogy, only because no airbags were around 30 years ago, ppl considered their cars being safe, right? so, using your logic you say that airbags are useless as ppl fekt safe already in the past..
sorry my friend, lexus should address this asap, although your jeep hasnt got ESP..
omg..
mig
Toyota go baby ….. American Cars still cannot Stand the Market pep. afterall it’s a Machine(Lexus) it may have or may not have tec. irreguality that is not the point the media is dusting the brand toyota . toyota go baby….
Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100414/NATIONAL/100419850/1678/yourview
hsn
The car is Very Slim and high, i said this before it is just a camel in desert no body is listining, it is really stupidity to buy such car and consider it SPORTY UTILITY VEHICLE with such shape, coz priority is always and always “”safety”” i can call this car CUV (Camel Utility vehicle
Asad
haha .. Mash .. you’ve become a celeb dude with that ‘Safety Nonsense’ comment of yours
Hassan
At extreme conditions the ESP does not response well…
This seems to be a technology problem, and with time new inventions will evolve and the technology will improve.
It does not mean at all that the car is unsafe!!
Maybe the Germans have a better technology but this is part of the competition and the trend
in car idustry.
The whole issue is over blown in this particular case.
Zao
american market had similar issues of rollover for suzuki samurai yrs back and it was taken off the market…same issue was there with pajero (monteiro) in american market….anyways both the above models didnt have ESP…
vivek
well..i guess what Mash was trying to say is about the dependability factor on such electronic crap!!…probably, they are giving too much attention than required to this so called issue when these electronic aids are defenitely not meant to make any car accident-proof!! They are only present to “reduce” the possibility of losing control during an emergency manoeuvre – and again, these things may not always react in the right manner in case of an actual emergency. There are instances where my car, which comes with ESP, has gone crazy and all over the road and what saved me was my road skills while the ESP did not evn engage – however in test environments it was doing all fine..
Rahul Jones
I don’t mind buying it even now. Till now I didn’t drive safely just because of this features. These features do help at an unexpected event of an unseen sharp turns or sharp lane changes. But I think it is the skill or responsibility of the driver to park the car back home safely.
Salman
I’m pretty sure that this is just to trash Toyota. I would be VERY shocked to find out if similar tests done on American SUVs would show that they are safer than Toyota. I would think doing such tests on American SUVs would be a risk to human life! I agree with the author its total Nonsense.
chris
seems like al futtaim also have stopped gx460 sales, im shocked as i never thought they would, being the greedy &*(^&E*%#$ they normally are.
vivek
^^^ Salman: i disagree with you there..drive a Ford Explorer or a Chevy Trailblazer and you’ll disagree with your own points 🙂
Musa
Al Futtaim says even the Prado is affected and have suspended sales for 2 trims of the 2010 Prado!
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/586402-new-toyota-prado-model-is-to-face-uae-sales-suspension