Comment by dripton
Consumer Reports buys all the items they review, anonymously.
Consumer Reports buys all the items they review, anonymously.
The vehicle proved to be equal or less rollover prone than the competition (especially the Bronco II which IIRC holds the record for the most rolled over vehicle) in actual service and per the stats compiled over the years by the NHTSA
So it really kind of begs the question what axe CR was grinding. In the lawsuit it came out that one of the writers managed to put it on two wheels incidentally not part of the tests and that they monkeyed with the tests they were running to try and replicate that.
We're talking about the Bronco 2 here, not the normal Bronco. Rollovers compared to production numbers. Someone crunched the numbers and IIRC it comes out to 20-something percent of Bronco 2s were rolled. I can't find those numbers but I did find that the fatality rate almost doubles the Samarui.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/ford-bronco-ii-history-e...
And I found this hilarious gem:
https://www.broncocorral.com/articles/ford-bronco-ii-rollove...
I don't think anyone would expect to do a 30mph J turn in anything except the most car-like of modern SUVs and expect to maintain upright. Perhaps getting away with that sort of stuff is a reflection of the kind of tires they had at the time.
That doesn't stop them from doing questionable stuff and playing favorites. All this was aired publicly in the lawsuit Suzuki filed.