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I gave up a long time ago on anything coming from Consumer Reports because by and large, as the name truly indicates, the data comes from .. consumer reports. N

I gave up a long time ago on anything coming from Consumer Reports because by and large, as the name truly indicates, the data comes from .. consumer reports. Not actual data, but surveys of people's thoughts. If, for instance, I wanted to judge how reliable a brand of car is, I would want the data: how often they have major failures, how many miles they can go between major service issues, how many are still on the road etc., the actual data about reliability. However, the only data that consumer reports usually uses is what random polled people THINK about the reliability of the brand. Even worse, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. They publish reports saying, for example, brand X is the most reliable brand of truck. People read those articles, and it influences their belief of which brand of truck is most reliable. Then Consumer Reports ask them next year what brand of truck they think is most reliable, and now they're more likely to say brand X, and so it's published that brand X is still the most reliable. Its an ouroboros with no actual data underneath it all.

teachrdan 3y ago
Your thinking here seems to be a bit confused. You said, "the data comes from .. consumer reports. Not actual data, but surveys of people's thoughts." But that is incorrect. It's not a survey of people's "thoughts." Survey participants: "are asked to identify problems that they considered serious (because of cost, failure, safety, or downtime). We ask them to include problems covered by warranty, but not the ones resulting from accident damage or due solely to recall. Respondents check off problems from a list of trouble areas, ranging from the engine and transmission to climate system, brakes, electrical system, and electrical accessories..."[0] Can you explain how this is "not actual data"? If it isn't, what would you expect instead -- that Consumer Reports buy a statistically significant number of all cars by all manufacturers every year and drive every single one thousands of miles and then calculate the reliability of each one? 0. https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/consumer-reports-car-reliability-faq-a1099917197/ https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-s...

teachrdan 3y ago

Your thinking here seems to be a bit confused. You said, "the data comes from .. consumer reports. Not actual data, but surveys of people's thoughts." But that is incorrect. It's not a survey of people's "thoughts." Survey participants: "are asked to identify problems that they considered serious (because of cost, failure, safety, or downtime). We ask them to include problems covered by warranty, but not the ones resulting from accident damage or due solely to recall. Respondents check off problems from a list of trouble areas, ranging from the engine and transmission to climate system, brakes, electrical system, and electrical accessories..."[0] Can you explain how this is "not actual data"? If it isn't, what would you expect instead -- that Consumer Reports buy a statistically significant number of all cars by all manufacturers every year and drive every single one thousands of miles and then calculate the reliability of each one? 0. https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/consumer-reports-car-reliability-faq-a1099917197/ https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-reliability-owner-s...