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American organization and magazine

Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded in 1936, CR was created to serve as a source of information that consumers could use to help assess the safety and performance of products. Since that time, CR has continued its testing and analysis of products and services, and attempted to advocate for the consumer in legislative and rule making areas. Among the reforms in which CR played a role were the advent of seat belt laws, exposure of the dangers of cigarettes, and more recently, the enhancement of consumer finance protection and the increase of consumer access to quality health care. The organization has also expanded its reach to a suite of digital platforms. Consumer Reports Advocacy frequently supports environmental causes, including heightened regulations on auto manufacturers. The organization's headquarters, including its 50 testing labs, are located in Yonkers, New York, while its automotive testing track is in East Haddam, Connecticut. CR is funded by subscriptions to its magazine and website, as well as through independent grants and donations. Marta L. Tellado is the current CEO of Consumer Reports. She joined the organization in 2014, following her work with the Ford Foundation, with the goal of expanding its engagement and advocacy efforts. Consumer Reports' flagship website and magazine publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in house testing laboratory and survey research center. CR accepts no advertising, pays for all the products it tests, and as a nonprofit organization has no shareholders. It also publishes general and targeted product/service buying guides.

In 1927, F. J. Schlink and Stuart Chase published their best selling novel, Your Money's Worth, which saw massive readership due to the consumer movement. The demand for brand research led to Schlink to found the company Consumers' Research in 1927. The company was responsible for publishing Consumers’ Research Bulletin (previously named Consumer Club Commodity List). The subscriber count in 1933 was reported to be over 42,000. It was in this year, that Consumer Research moved its operations to New York City. Following this move, employees began to unionize, citing unfair pay. Schlink proceeded to fire the strikers. The former Consumers' Research employees, teamed up with "journalists, engineers, academics, and scientists" to found the company Consumers Union presently known as Consumer Reports—in February 1936. Consumers Union differentiated themselves from Consumers' Research by establishing a community amongst readers. Within the overall mission of creating more informed consumers, Consumers Union united with women's clubs and citizen groups, creating a progressive message. Consumers Union would surpass Schlink's Consumers' Research in subscribers by 1940, accumulating a readership of 71,000.

Numerous business and corporations set out to suppress the actions of Consumers Union. In an effort to suppress the critiques of Consumers' Union, The New York Herald Tribune established an institute with the goal of demonstrating that the efforts of consumers groups were futile, in that businesses already conducted extensive product testing. The Crowell Institute on Consumer Relations founded in 1937, sprouted from the forum Woman's Home Companion, which had a readership of 2 million. The institute suppressed the efforts of consumer groups by giving business and advertisers the platform to putdown the consumers' pursuit of "lower distribution costs, grade labeling, and regulation," asserting that these businesses were already taking these factors into account. The New York Times proved to be an obstacle for Consumers Union, refusing CU's requests to advertise. Other major publications would follow suit. In the year 1938, CU would find itself at the center of The Dies Committee's investigation into "unpatriotic propaganda". The committee brought on former member of Consumers' Research' board, J. B. Matthews as its research director. In Matthews' official report, he accused CU and its CEO Arthur Kallet of holding Communist ideals, and going as far as to label CU as "Communist front". The smear campaign was criticized by Consumers Union for its lack of legitimacy. The allegations proved fruitless, and rather served to delegitimize CR and Congressman Dies. In part due to actions of Consumers' Research, the House Un American Activities Committee placed Consumers Union on a list of subversive organizations, only to remove it in 1954.

Consumers Union established themselves as an advocate for consumer rights during the interwar years. The rise of Consumers Union happened simultaneously with women's groups interest in consumption. Despite the mobilization of citizens interested in consumption, the pursuit of consumer rights were not validated until the New Deal. The programs represented an acknowledgment of the consumer movement, by actively working to improve consumer purchaser power. In World War II, Consumer Union took a stance in support of the war effort. The urged their supporters to put aside their personal interest by consuming less, and following the government ordered policies of consumption. They were also critical of businesses who saw the war period as an opportunity to advertise their products and as a result were wasting paper. The government's vested interest in the politics of consumption would escalate in the postwar period. Government would encourage to consume both through propaganda as well as the protections instituted to promote individual consumption. Consumer Reports has helped start several consumer groups and publications, in 1960 helping create global consumer group Consumers International and in 1974 providing financial assistance to Consumers' Checkbook which is considered akin to Consumer Reports for local services in the seven metropolitan areas they serve.

Prominent consumer advocate Ralph Nader was on the board of directors, but left in 1975 due to a "division of philosophy" with new Executive Director Rhoda Karpatkin. Nader wanted Consumer Reports to focus on policy and product advocacy, while Karpatkin focused on product testing. Karpatkin was appointed executive director in 1974 and retired as president in the early 2000s. At the start of 2009, Consumer Reports acquired The Consumerist blog from Gawker Media for approximately $600,000. Prior to 2012, the organization did business as Consumers Union. The reason for the name change was that the name of "Consumer Reports" was more familiar to the public than the name of "Consumers Union". The Consumerist was subsequently closed in December 2017, when its content was folded into the Consumer Reports website.

In the July 1978 issue, Consumer Reports rated the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon automobile "not acceptable", the first car it had judged such since the AMC Ambassador in 1968. In its testing they found the possibility of these models' developing an oscillatory yaw as a result of a sudden violent input to the steering; the manufacturer claimed: "Some do, some don't" show this behavior, but it has no "validity in the real world of driving". Nevertheless, the next year, these models included a lighter weight steering wheel rim and a steering damper, and Consumer Reports reported that the previous instability was no longer present. In a 2003 issue of CR, the magazine tested the Nissan Murano crossover utility vehicle and did not recommend the vehicle because of a problem with its power steering, even though the vehicle had above average reliability. The specific problem was that the steering would stiffen substantially on hard turning. CR recommended the 2005 model, which had addressed this problem. BMW changed the software for the stability control in its X5 SUV after replicating a potential rollover problem discovered during a CR test. In 2010, CR rated the 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV unsafe after the vehicle failed one of the magazine's emergency safety tests. Toyota temporarily suspended sales of the vehicle, and after conducting its own test acknowledged the problem and issued a recall for the vehicle, which later passed a CR re test. In 2016, CR found wildly inconsistent battery life in its testing of Apple's 2016 MacBook Pro. This led to the discovery of a bug in the Safari web browser, which Apple promptly fixed via a software update. In May 2018, CR said it could not recommend the Tesla Model 3 due to concerns about the car's long stopping distance. Within days, Tesla issued a remote software update. CR retested the car's brakes, then gave the Model 3 a "recommended" rating.

Consumer Reports has been sued several times by companies unhappy with reviews of their products. Consumer Reports has fought these cases vigorously. As of October 2000, Consumer Reports had been sued by 13 manufacturers and never lost a case.

In 1971, Bose Corporation sued Consumer Reports (CR) for libel after CR reported in a review that the sound from the system it reviewed "tended to wander about the room". The case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, which affirmed in Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. that CR statement was made without actual malice and therefore was not libelous.

In 1988, Consumer Reports announced during a press conference that the Suzuki Samurai had demonstrated a tendency to roll and deemed it "not acceptable". Suzuki sued in 1996 after the Samurai was again mentioned in a CR anniversary issue. In July 2004, after eight years in court, the suit was settled and dismissed with no money changing hands and no retraction issued, but Consumers Union did agree to no longer refer to the 16 year old test results of the 1988 Samurai in its advertising or promotional materials.

In December 1997, the Isuzu Trooper distributor in Puerto Rico sued CR, alleging that it had lost sales as a result of disparagement of the Trooper by the Consumers Union of the United States (CU). A trial court granted the motion for summary judgment by the CU, and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the favorable judgment.

In 2003, Sharper Image sued CR in California for product disparagement over negative reviews of its Ionic Breeze Quadra air purifier. CR moved for dismissal on October 31, 2003, and the case was dismissed in November 2004. The decision also awarded CR $525,000 in legal fees and costs.

The February 2007 issue of Consumer Reports stated that only two of the child safety seats it tested for that issue passed the organization's side impact tests. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which subsequently retested the seats, found that all those seats passed the corresponding NHTSA tests at the speeds described in the magazine report. The CR article reported that the tests simulated the effects of collisions at 38.5 mph. However, the tests that were completed in fact simulated collisions at 70 mph. CR stated in a letter from its president Jim Guest to its subscribers that it would retest the seats. The article was removed from the CR website, and on January 18, 2007, the organization posted a note on its home page about the misleading tests. Subscribers were also sent a postcard apologizing for the error. On January 28, 2007, The New York Times published an op ed from Joan Claybrook, who served on the board of CR from 1982 to 2006 and was the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1977 to 1981, where she discussed the sequence of events leading to the publishing of the erroneous information.

In February 1998, the organization tested pet food and claimed that Iams dog food was nutritionally deficient. It later retracted the report claiming that there had been "a systemic error in the measurements of various minerals we tested – potassium, calcium and magnesium". In 2006, Consumer Reports said six hybrid vehicles would probably not save owners money. The organization later discovered that it had miscalculated depreciation and released an update stating that four of the seven vehicles would save the buyers money if the vehicles were kept for five years (and received the federal tax credit for hybrid vehicles, which expired after each manufacturer sold 60,000 hybrid vehicles).

Consumer Reports graphs formerly used a modified form of Harvey balls for qualitative comparison. The round ideograms were arranged from best to worst. On the left of the diagram, the red circle indicated the highest rating, the half red and white circle was the second highest rating, the white circle was neutral, the half black circle was the second lowest rating, and the entirely black circle was the lowest rating possible. As part of a wider rebranding of Consumer Reports in September 2016, the appearance of the magazine's rating system was significantly revamped. The Harvey balls were replaced with new color coded circles: green for excellent; lime green for very good; yellow for good; orange for fair; and red for poor. It was stated that this new system will help improve the clarity of ratings tables by using a "universally understood" metaphor.