Consumer Reports: Put to the test
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- Опубликовано: 26 окт 2024
- The non-profit organization behind Consumer Reports magazine and website has been testing products since 1936, and today, with an annual testing budget well over $30 million, their 60 labs and teams of engineers put thousands of consumer goods through their paces. "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl talks with some of Consumer Reports' investigators, whose testing of products has affected everything from car safety to recalls of potentially deadly infant seats.
@consumerreports
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I’m a CR member. I rely on CR’s reviews for many purchases. Have saved a lot of money and been very happy with products they have steered me to.
Consumer Reports is a fine company that helps consumers make informed choices when making purchases. Many of the items they test are high priced goods (cars, appliances, electronics, etc.) that most people really can't afford to make a bad decision about. Their testing focuses more on durability, longevity and every day usage than on brute performance. It's a pragmatic and no-nonsense approach that speaks to people who want to get the most for their money. Being non-profit means they are not in it for the money and cannot be influenced by manufacturers with big checks. Kudos to Consumer Reports for providing this invaluable service to consumers for the better part of a century. May they continue to do their important work for another century.
@innagottadavida8538
I was waiting for a "but" from you in your statement, but am glad I didn't get one.
They also have a great last page with weird signs and packaging that is always funny.
Could you imagine there was a law that prosecuted and executed the company’s officers who knowingly sold products that killed? That would be the day consumers knew they bought a good and safe product every time.
@@nocancelcultureaccepted9316
Like guns and cigarettes.
That’s BS. They depend on ad dollars. Tesla won’t pay for ads.
I've been a member, subscriber to their magazine, for more than 40 years. My mother recommended them to me, and she was right. Thanks Mom! Never been disappointed with my purchases of cars, washing machines & dryers, kitchen appliances, and so much more thanks to C.R.
Consumer Reports is the best product review company out there. I wish they had the capacity to test more things: every day things like toilet paper, phone cases, etc, but they get all the big ticket things.
Project farm has got you covered!
I’m so glad to hear that Consumer Reports has adapted to modern times and is going strong.
Consumer Reports is EVERYTHING. "Bait and Switch" is everywhere. In tiny print under FORBES' "Top 10" lists, the magazine admits advertisers pay for inclusion. ROTTEN TOMATOES used to be the movie bible reviewing all films past present (studio and independent), then Warner Bros. Pictures bought it. There's a slimy element to unregulated American capitalism. VOTE for candidates looking to keep things honest and serve you, not themselves.
I’m a CR fan, but don’t always agree. Still, I’m always better informed when I finish reading an article or watching a review.
For about 40 years I've subscribed to CR. The online edition is also very helpful. It is amazing to me that they have been able to keep their independence, that some corporation hasn't found a way to pay politicians to outlaw CU (the company behind CR).
I used to read this magazine when I was a kid. I learned a lot about products and how to properly research a major purchase early in life.
2:07 The chipped helmet is not safe? According to actual doctors, you want a helmet to give in a bit during an accident. If it is perfectly rigid, then the squishy brain inside the helmet gets compressed instead of the helmet, causing more concussions and injuries. Cars are similarly designed to basically fall apart during an accident and bring the vehicle to a slower stop that is far better than just hitting a brick wall or tree and stopping instantly sending the squishy humans inside flying forward at the original speed.
Pretty much thought the same thing. A bike helmet is designed to absorb the energy of an impact -- one time only. A helmet that shows damage after an impact could actually be a design thing to prevent someone from continuing to use it.
Look at the top donors to consumer reports. Ford foundation and another foundation tied to gm. So much for being unbiased.
Years ago, I purchased Consumer Reports #1 top rated Vacuum Cleaner and the motor failed within 5 years of very light use, I still like Consumer Reports but they are not perfect.
thank you so much to CR for all the work you do to keep us informed and safe !
I had been a fan of CR for a long time but find that more often than not I can research reviews of most items on my own, i.e., RUclips reviews, Google, people's posts, etc., and find the relevant information. My go to source when researching a product is seldom CR.
That guy from Project Farm kicks CR's a*s all day everyday. CR's stupid little dots don't tell me what I want to know. PF tests and shows you the tests and gives numerical results . So much better than CR. I've saved a lot of money by purchasing things CR turned their noses up on but suited me perfectly and gave me decades of trouble free use.
I used to be a long-time subscriber to CR until I started realizing that their auto ratings were not to be trusted. They send out questionnaires to subscribers, asking people to give ratings on different products, including cars. What turned me away from trusting their ratings was the fact that they never state how many replies they receive for any one car. They would rate a car as being unreliable but what if only ONE person sent that rating in? That would unfairly skew the numbers. As far as I know they still do it.
Another item that they get wrong.
Totally agree!
Thanks for posting this. Most people are blissfully unaware how unreliable CR's reliability ratings are. Of course 60 mins just bought into the hype instead of doing their job.
Love them, use them all the time when I purchase products. Nothings perfect but they sure help out. Family has been a subscriber for decades.
Plus just testing one of a particular model does not mean that all of those models have a flaw. Must test many to get a true statistical picture of reliability. Subjective evaluations of features are just that: Subjective.
Bicycle helmet cracks to absorb the shock and save your head. They are like the crumple zones in a car. CR often has terrible tests and misinterpretation of results.
I love consumer reports. I’ve been a member for about a decade. They’ve never steered me wrong. But beware of people in appliance stores and online who misrepresent what CR says. Lying with statistics is still live and well. I had a somewhat intense exchange with a appliance dealer about what CR says about Speed Queen.
I subscribed to the magazine for 20 years, but when the new CEO took over, she ruined the magazine and I cancelled my subscription. I still have my old magazines. In addition, they sold out to the car companies. You can see it in their ratings. They can no longer be trusted to provide unbiased data.
I've been disappointed by CR's recommendations more than a few times.
A statistic I would like to see is how many rear end accidents are caused by the collision avoidance system when it automatically brakes to a stop for non emergency stops. I disabled a 2015 Chrysler 300 C collision avoidance feature because of several unnecessary full stops in traffic, caused by merging traffic from driveways that were not a threat. I got the middle finger and the horn several times but was never rear ended.
I’m a lifelong member of a household that subscribes to the Consumer Reports Magazine.
Over the decades, we’ve always turned to CR for our first line of research when preparing to make a purchase of any significance or value to any of us.
And for many years it was all we had to really, safely arm ourselves as consumers.
But with time, inevitably came other resources.
And none of the other resources have come close to earning the level of trust that Comsumer Reprts holds with my family.
It’s a real American Institution. 🇺🇸
Public libraries all subscribe to CR, and so do many high school libraries!
@@veramae4098I’m aware. Thanks.
Lots of flawed Automotive data over the years…
Great story. Thank you for letting the public know about this company
Been watching this show since day 1 I'm 55 years old Eugene Oregon
I lived in Eugene for 25 years. Miss it.
Yeah I grew up here class of 1986 Churchill High home of the Lancers
Thanks for this report! I've always trusted CR reviews and I trust them even more after your report!!
Great segment CBS - a pleasure meeting and speaking with Leslie.
I watch you all the time!
We obviously ❤ this!
We?
I used to be a big advocate of CR. After reading their car reviews for decades I realized they were way off the mark.
Their reliability testing was probably fairly accurate but when it came to ride quality and creature comforts, they were either on the take from the mfg. or totally out of touch with reality.
Up until the 2000's they rated ride quality, handling, and comfort in Honda and Toyota as excellent. Prior to the 2000's seats in both felt like you were sitting on a cement park bench with some fabric stretched across it. Both Honda and Toyota both rode horrible and you could feel every lump and bump in the road and road noise was so high you could hardly hear the person sitting next to you. There was no leg room at all unless you were 5'5" tall or shorter. It was in late 90's that Toyota started making a more 'Amercanized" car that had leg room, a decent suspension, and comfortable seats. Guess what? Cr hated it. Go figure
CR lied about the Suzuki Samari so I dont trust them
Interestingly enough, the United Kingdom has a similar magazine, expert testing, and consumer website, as well. No, it's not called Consumer Reports, it is called 'Which?'. Such as, "Which is the best products to purchase?" and "Which will last the longest?" The 'Which?' concept is exactly the same as Consumer Reports, but just a different name.
❤ CR! Thank you, and keep on testing! 🙏
Thanks for the video. I have used it for most purchases. Keep up the great work.
I remember, in the mid 1970s, when drip coffee makers first came out and Mr. Coffee was far and away the national best seller, Consumer Reports didn't even rate the Mr. Coffee brand.
This is what troubles me.They don't test all brands of a product, even the best selling brands.
Nice report Leslie and interesting as well.
Fascinating👏
I’ve always appreciated their reports but you should always consider the evaluations with respect to your needs and use. The best item doesn’t always fit your needs.
I'm so excited for this investigation on electric car ranges! I did hear about Tesla getting in trouble for exaggerating their ranges. I'd like to know more.
Tesla does not make ranges.
Miss Jane should be awarded an O.B.E. for cultural class and education. She is so lovely
I love how Lynne’s “mom hand” came up to protect the younger driver when the brakes slammed on.
Don’t you think it is EXTREMELY dangerous that a media company believes THEY are the “defacto regulator”, enforcing features and DRIVING UP PRODUCT COSTS!?
Electric vehicle range varies (as do gas vehicles). We’ve actually averaged better range than the manufacturers calculated EPA range. That’s averaged over 18 months and 18,000 miles of driving.
Crash avoidance system doesn’t work well on model 3 or Y. There’s a blind spot and I couldn’t see pedestrians crossing but thank goodness my passenger can and I stopped in time. I didn’t even get a warning sound.
I am a huge advocate of this company…I wonder though, does CBS have an affiliate with them? Kinda looks like an ad to me.
It is. CR is facing competition from many online reviewers. A few of them are much better than CR and people are noticing.
CR … do an entire issue on ‘non-profit’. Thank you in advance.
You can research on your own. A couple of decades back, CR purged some of their best employees.
Do you think they resell these items after testing? They could likely recoup 70% of the costs by doing so.
Buying so many cars per year, they must resell...perhaps employees get 1st option to buy at fair value. // great report, we need 3rd party verification to weed thru all the marketing BS.
I stopped trusting them in 1996 when it came to light it's most famous "unsafe vehicle article" when they were sued by Suzuki for deliberately changing the testing course to ensure the Suzuki would fail. But the joke was on them, even with the changed course they still had a hard time to get it to tip. Originally the test drivers reports said it was the best of the SUV's tested (before they changed the course). And even though they only got it to tip just a couple times with the new more violent course they still rated it as unsafe. And for nearly 8 years heavily used that article to try to get subscribers. There is a youtube video showing the before and new course runs of it. And at the end you can see how hard and fast they had to turn the wheel to sometimes to get it to go up on two wheels. When the main CU director said they were just benign everyday type maneuvers. Which in trial he admitted that was not true. I won't ever trust them for anything in the future!!!!
Think the CR auto reviewer is high on himself?! lolll
Everything they buy for testing is auctioned off to the employees. I got a great refrigerator when I worked there. Top rated.
In an online world of bogus reviews and ratings, Consumer Reports is trustworthy. I've been a subscriber most of my life.
I trusted CR for decades. Then, it began to appear that they had begun taking kickbacks in order to push products. They were endorsing products that were in direct opposition to which ones the men in the local Costco said were being brought back due to failure or defects.
Do you have proof of that?
One of their largest financial contributors is the Ford Foundation. The CR CEO is the ex CEO from Ford Foundation. I can’t help but think that they will favor Ford in their tests since a large proof their finding and leadership is from Ford.
Totally agree! CR sold out and cannot be trusted.
Where is CR's proof of conclusions ??? They give you a stupid little dot on a chart and expect that to mean something vs. absolute measurements. @@nycalien
consumer reports has terrible car reviews.
In recent years Consumer Reports has made some significant blunders in their testing, hopefully they can fix the problems going forward.
I've been a CR member for decades. I believr in them. However, their Ap is mostly useless. The rankings are there, but there isnt much in terms of details about why the products rank where they do like the printed magazine use to. This has caused me to re-think my membership and small donations.
Exactly , gives the numerical results and let us decide.
CR does a lot of good, but they frequently miss the mark in the use-cases they test. I was a member for a few years, but dropped it because so often their emphasis is on cases that are easy to quantify rather than on cases that are (speaking for myself) less important. I often felt the articles were missing bits, perhaps in a rush to publish? Hard to test the complete picture, I get it, but from the perspective of an engineer, I couldn't support the BS side anymore. Kind of like the title of this video "put to the test" but all you really did was promote their propaganda. Where is the opposing point of view?
Good points. So many review videos on RUclips today (and magazine/webzine articles) do exactly that: act as a long-form commercial rather than a critical analysis of the product/service under discussion. Human beings love being able to nod their heads sagely while not doing any actual thinking whatsoever, and these videos cater to that.
But if the car stops before you hit the pedestrian .... do you get rear-ended? Are there specific parameters to when the car will stop for a pedestrian?
Are you suggesting that the car should decide to hit a pedestrian instead of getting rear-ended?
Project farm does it by himself and shares it on RUclips. Most of his stuff is tool related.
That being said, keep up the good work CR.
Great story about CR... that said, for each area, such as cars, how does CR compare with other services?
This is why I buy CR membership every year even I don't ise it often.
I appreciate CR, always choose and buy things based on their reviews.
I've got an ewheels-11 electric handicapped transport. It ran for 15 min. They have no warranty.
I wasted several grand for nothing. l'll subscribe tomorrow, before I buy a laptop.
By the time their report gets out the product is no longer available. Total puff piece, no criticism of Consumer Reports who allowed 100 babies to die before they bothered to test.
CR received dollars from the auto makers, which affects their reviews. CR presented a hit piece of Tesla FSD by bypassing the safety features. Tesla doesn’t pay any money for ads and competes with CR’s primary donors. MSM also gets ad dollars from car manufacturers. Ad dollar influence on stories should be the real story. The last comment of the story was “ look out Elon Musk!” Unreal!
When it comes to power tools and workshop gear/equipment, I rely on the outcome of the brutal tests done by the guy behind Project Farm. The Project Farm RUclips channel destroys all kinds of equipment with far better physical tests than Consumer Reports has ever come up with. Some of his tests take months to setup and run.
Great video!
Two very important things.
1- If you want a REAL review then check out consumer report.
2- Never gift or buy anything used for babies or toddlers
CR is total baloney I don't believe any of those reviews all are run by corporate advertising.
I think they talk up their own influence! Auto companies won't change anything because of CR, they have much better testing, validation and market research than this after the fact testing.
Yes, this is basically an infomercial. No one except their 84 yr old subscribers, uses CR
CR has a bit of an advantage in the marketing department. I think at least for the pedestrian avoidance part, the IIHS-HLDI had more influence. For the IIHS awards, you can't get their top award without including certain features. Auto companies want to tout that award, so they will do what minimum they need to to qualify for it.
If I was an automotive engineer I would welcome their input. Engineers are often more focused on performance instead of practicality and durability. The testers at CR are more focused on every day usage and if the car is worth the cost. I don't doubt that all auto manufacturers look over CR articles about their cars and weigh the options on how to address any problems that CR found with the vehicle.
I bought a computer over 20 yrs ago based souly on consumer reports? It was one of the worst purchases I ever made?
I stopped subscribing to Consumer Reports when I discovered that their writings are not necessarily science-based, especially on the subject of food.
No worries on EV range here. Leased a 2021 BMW i3 and the claimed range is around 155-160. Fact is range is closer to 180…210 in summer. At least BMW is way conservative. Why? They guarantee battery life and if the EV has way more range than stated to begin with, they’ll easily keep that guarantee.
At least in California and other CARB states, every EV manufacturer has to guarantee the battery for at least 8 years or 100,000 mi, whichever comes first.
One question I always ask electric car owners is this, what happens to range when you use the heater? In the north, heat is a must! For comfort but also for a frost free windows! Generating heat from batteries seriously depletes them! And so goes mileage.
Take the tinfoil hat off. You have HUNDREDS of miles with the heat on. Hundreds. It will take you 20minutes, or enough time to pee and get a coffee, to refill. It costs 1/10th of gas. These are FACTS.
Modern EVs have heat pumps which are very efficient. Basically the same as an air conditioner, but in reverse. They also have circa 300 miles of range which is many hours of driving. Once the cabin warms up, it uses much less energy to heat. So, for daily commuting, it’s not an issue, nor is it much of an issue on long trips. EVs are very popular in Nordic countries so, apparently they work fine. Also, heated seats help a lot. They only use about 50 watts and can help keep you warm without needing to crank up the cabin temperature too high.
@@lemongavine EVs are popular in Nordic countries because of tax credits and public views on the environment, not because they are well-suited to the cold. EVs suffer mightily in frigid temperatures. It's a question for each consumer whether the disability is worth enduring or not.
EVs do suffer range loss in the cold, whether or not the heater is being used, but people also forget that gas powered vehicles also suffer a range loss in the cold, it's just less obvious because usually a gas vehicle has much more stored energy on board, so the effects are less obvious. For example, a gas vehicle might lose 10 mpg in the winter, sometimes until they warm up, and that aligns approximately with other vehicles.
Never have experienced anything that close to mileage loss in winter! Unless you’re letting it sit running to warm up! Not buying this counter argument.
When I watch these reports I know its a miracle that me, my siblings & kids are still here; Whew the dangers of the past🫤
We used to subscribe every year, but then after buying a few of their recommended products (that ended up being very poor) we haven't subscribed for quite a while. Any claim that they influence industries or markets I would take with a grain of salt. It's just their marketing in order to sway people to subscribe.
CR is awesome 👍
I see no problem with killing Craig’s Bond in no time to die it was a different universe than the original bonds. The producers could easily reboot it with the new generation. If the new movie is good, people will not worry about the minor details of continuity.
For an organization that sells itself on not being biased, they definitely have their "favorite brands" which is a bias. I was a subscriber years ago and could clearly see this in the editing of their articles. In fact, I made purchases based on their recommendations and found that at least half of those purchases didn't meet my expectations. I found more helpful information looking at reviews for products on other web sites and recommendations from family and friends.
Consumer Reports has lost credibility by advocating for political priorities in product reviews instead of sticking to the facts of durability, economy, and performance. In fact, by implicitly or explicitly endorsing almost every proposed regulation from the nanny state, CR has helped to make vehicles and appliances less durable through ever-increasing complexity. In their eyes, it's more important that a car eke out another MPG instead of lasting an additional 5 years because of a more robust powertrain design. It's more important that a car be designed to not launch a pedestrian who runs out in front of it, even if the higher beltline of the vehicle harms driver visibility and makes crashes more likely.
CR's world is one where we compromise products for everyone because of stupid people doing stupid things. It is definitely not a world where quality is the first priority.
"The range claims" of electric vehicles. It turns out that all of the manufacturers exaggerate them, but Tesla is the worst offender going as far as programming their vehicles to give false indications of the level of charge when above 50 percent.
I had a bad experience as a consumer reports client and a bad experience communicating with that to consumer reports. The secret to understanding this is that they area business and draw on the same culture for their staff as other businesses do. The same is even more true with 60 minutes and news-agencies. It's a game of find the other person's dirty laundry, while mis-directing people away from our own. If the news company told about all the incompetencies within their organizations and consumer reports did the same, they would be worse than many of the companies they report on. As long as we understand that, there is no great harm done. However, they might not survive as businesses if everything was known by all their clients.
CR is a joke
They sold out, I do not trust them anymore. Specially on car matters, they truly sold out to the automakers
Consumer Reports went away from buying & testing products and depending on public feedback. They also strayed into leftwing opinion.
Consistently crap past 50,000 miles.
CONSUMER REPORTS IS A FEEL GOOD COMPANY that doesn't do any hard hitting research. They have so much credibility, they could single handingly stop consumers from buying inferior Chinese products in the US market by showing how terrible they are. Yet, they barely review them, if at all, and when they do, they sugarcoat everything. THEN you have the car manufacturer reviews for new cars. They love to report the specs of the car and how it drives but NEVER speak to mechanics or dealers about all the inferior parts these car manufacturers are installing on these shiny brand new cars. Plastic components that fail regularly for critical parts of the car. Intakes to even oil filter housing assemblies. They never dig deep to show you what is junk because their investors are the ones they are reviewing. Follow the money.
So it seems like government regulation works when it has teeth. CR could never handle the job of the CPSC. I still like their articles and trust their reviews. But choosing a good bike helmet is not as important as having a safe place to ride a bike.
They are doing God’s work
If everybody read and followed the recommendations of Consumer Reports the US auto makers would all go out of business within a year. Or they would have to start making reliable vehicles.
Hey, name someone who was washed up and uninteresting many years ago.
Next questions: Are they unionized? Are their employees treated fairly and payed well for their dedication and innovation? Somebody's got to watch over the watch dogs. I don't know the answers to these questions, but they are still valid questions to ask.
Why do they have to be unionized to be protected? If you don't like the working conditions of a company or business quit and go somewhere else.
@@warrenlind2005 He says, as if everyone can just get another job, any time they want. You are nothing but a shill for the wealthy and business owners.
Yes they are unionized under news guild of New York, cwa
@@pugmug72 Thank you. That is good to know.
I will never forgive them for ruining car gauges.
In the '80s, we had digital gauges in our cars, and they were beautiful. Then the utter fools at Consumer Reports came out against them. We were then again cursed with analog gauges in the '90s. And it's taken decades to get back to having digital again, sadly some cars even today still have analog gauges, though they are fortunately in the process of disappearing into history's dustbin forever.
Watching Now Broadcasting 📺 WMBD PEoRiA Illinois... Bueno 💡 👀 Merci ⚓ ⛵
Consumer reports is a joke. RUclips reviewers are free and more effective.
A dying relic of the past.
It too bad since most of them take money from companies they review and don't disclose them.
Like CR is not biased. They rigged their testing of the Suzuki Samurai, and who knows what else
@@davidjernigan7576 exactly. Anyone offering reviews in a service like this is absolutely taking kickbacks. How do you think they survive, from the $50 a month that a handful of blue hairs send them? Come on
Hello dinosaurs!
Leslie Stahl, a supposed professional and seasoned journalist, started her report with a GLARING grammatical error! "There's any number..." Really, Leslie? You had NO idea to use there ARE when referring to MULTIPLE websites instead of using there IS?
they seem to favor foreign brands for fear of being called "biased"
devout CR subscriber back in the 20th century. Today, with online reviews, online shopping, liberal return policies, and user ratings, their paywall style of reporting is a non-starter. surprised they're still talked about. TV Guide, Readers Digest generation I guess.
"To avoid any CONFLICT OF INTEREST..." UNHEARD OF in today's capitalist plutocracy corrupt dystopia. 🇺🇸