SUZUKI SAMURAI: How Fake News Killed Suzuki | Up To Speed

- Wolverine, M80 fireworks. They are all small, powerful, and banned in the United States, just like the current car. This 4*4 packed a big punch in a small package. Today we'll look at where it came from and why one of the prettiest cars to ever come out of Japan is actually perfect for gobbling up terrain. (engine roaring) We're also going to talk about the fraudulent report of the internal accident that

killed

him in North America. This is everything you need to know to get up to

speed

with a Suzuki Samurai. (upbeat music) Thanks again to our friends at Omaze for sponsoring this episode.

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speed

. Chapter one, A new hope. Our story begins with Hope Motor Company. No, not the used car dealership in Arkansas. Hope Auto is not the same as Hope Motor. Today I'm talking about the Japanese automaker that started in the 1950s with three-wheeled Kei cars.

That's right, Kei cars, not to be confused with K cars, okay. Now these Kei cars are an ultra mini class that became popular in Japanese cities. One, they are easy to park and maneuver and two, their owners would be exempt from certain taxes as long as their engine and body met specific size requirements. That is, both became very small. Now Hope Motor Company did well with the Kei and in the mid-60s Hope burst into their workshop with an idea. "Guys, I have an idea, but it doesn't matter, it's stupid." "Oh come on, tell us, no idea is stupid, tell us." “No, no, you guys are just going to laugh at me” “No, buddy, come on, just baby blue sky, “no judging, let's hear it out.” “I don't know, what if we?” Add like a fourth wheel? "Dude, you're twisted, but I love it." So they put in a fourth wheel and launched the Hope Star ON360.

Look at this little thing, it looks like a grown-up Power Wheels truck. It drove like one, too, considering it had a blistering top speed of. 43 miles/hour. It used the Mitsubishi air-cooled two-stroke engine, which generated 20 horsepower. But what it lacked in power, honey, it made up for in surprising 4*4 capability, honey. Well a concept car. They only made 15 of them, but between that and their three-wheelers, a lot of people had hopes for the company. In 1968, Suzuki bought Hope Motor Company because the lightweight bodies and engines were in line with what they were looking for. Suzuki was, being small but innovative.

They saw potential in the Hope Star and changed the body, they even changed the Mitsubishi engine for a two-cylinder Suzuki FB, which increased from 20 horses to an absolutely enormous 25. And in 1970, Suzuki launched its new version of the Hope. Star, now called Jimny. What, how is a Jimny like a cricket? A Jimny is the same as a Samurai. Oh my god, you have to cut this part out, I don't need any more trouble with Samurai. This was Suzuki's first global success. When the Jimny was launched, it was the only 4*4 Kei car and it instantly gained the reputation of being the perfect vehicle.

It had canvas doors that zipped shut like any proper froder should. And in 1979, outside of Japan, it came with a soft top, hard top and down below, you could find my adopted kangaroo Nolan 2 behind the wheel of Jimny Stockman. Oh, do you think I adopted a baby kangaroo? No, everyone loves babies, Nolan 2 is a middle-aged adult kangaroo who was down on his luck. I actually adopted a kangaroo and got receipts. Now, this Stockman featured a truck that had 42 free Roman Brumbies, now a four-cylinder, four-stroke engine. And when the second generation was released in 1981, it was more refreshing than an ice-cold Shasta.

The styling took a number of cues from Jeep CJ models of the era, Suzuki knew who its demographic was. And just like in the 70s, there were Kei and non-Kei car models. This way you can find all kinds of configurations. You hate your windshield, lower it, you hate your roof, remove it. I could go anywhere and do anything. Meanwhile, we were here in the States and people were looking at the rest of the world having fun, going to restaurants and stuff in their cute little 4*4s and we were saying, hey, we'd like to have fun. also.

And in 1986, the Jimny stopped, finally looked us straight in the eye and said: -Suzuki Samurai 4*4. - Hello. - Chapter two, American Samurai Warrior. The adorable off-roaders debut in some adorable commercials. The Jimny was renamed the Samurai in the United States to emphasize its agility and light weight and, well, its Japanese heritage. For us here in the US, it's all about surface level references. You can get the American model as a convertible or a hardtop complete with a 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine that made a staggering 63 horsepower, which was a pretty sizable increase considering the former. The model only made 20.

And the initial plan was to import approximately 14,000

samurai

in the first year. That sounds scary. But when off-road enthusiasts saw how much dirt these little things could kick, 14,000 turned into 47,000 by the end of the year. Hello, yes, I need to update my life insurance. Which made it such a good all-rounder. Where do I start? (upbeat music) For starters, it was a true 4*4, which really should be a given when talking about trail cars, but the Samurai had excellent low-end torque. When you're trying to get over an obstacle, it's nice to not have to climb the red line just to get there.

Gearing is also very important when you're climbing all those boulders. Samurai had a transfer case that multiplies torque to make it even more powerful in low gears. It also had killer angles. When driving off-road, there are three angles you worry about: approach, braking and departure. The Samurai achieved all three thanks to its high ground clearance and short overhangs. The Samurai also used a solid axle instead of an independent suspension. This meant better articulation of the wheels, literally keeping them on the ground. That articulation was also helped by its ladder-frame chassis. Ladder frames are a very simple type of body on chassis that have been around for as long as automobiles have been around.

There are probably horse-drawn carriages with stairs. They're old-fashioned now, but they can handle a lot of torque, which also means more wheel contact and wheel contact means traction. (engine roaring) Are there more capable SUVs? Yes, sure, but there's rarely so much available in such a small, mass-produced package. As well as being good for off-roading, it's incredibly affordable, just like our Buff Horses sticker pack. What's up, guys? We have new LowCar Pins in stock. - I know we also have new HiCar Pins back in stock. These are different, they are super limited, they have a beautiful black nickel finish.

So if you want one, don't sleep on it. We are only making 800 of each. Each one of them will be individually numbered. Make sure you buy it from us, because it will be cheaper than buying it on eBay when they are out of stock. - Not only do we have new pins, but we also have new keychains for LowCar and HiCar, which are the ones that come off the flight textiles, so get those too. - These are really cool, they will sell out soon, just like Nolan did. (laughs) Up to date. I mean, a $6,500 Suzuki Samurai is only 2/3 of a 1987 Jeep Wrangler.

Yes, it only weighs 2100 pounds and went from 0 to 60 in almost 17 seconds. But none of that matters for an off-roader. In fact, the Samurai outsold the Wrangler 2:1 in 1987. Then in 1988, Suzuki introduced the 88 1/2 model, which had a softer suspension, a better interior, a larger roll bar, and a fifth gear. lower to make it better for street driving. . Yes, sure, they didn't increase the power, but their lack of speed wasn't what started to reduce sales of the Samurai. Chapter Three, Suzuki Motor Corp versus the Consumers Union of America. In the criminal justice system, people are represented by two separate but equally important groups.

These are their stories about real criminal investigators and James Pumphrey, who makes Internet car videos about them years later. This is crazy, okay, I'm just warning you. Alright, in 1988, a young driver suffered minor injuries after rolling his Suzuki Samurai to avoid an object in the road. Now, that wouldn't have been an accident worth mentioning, except that the driver was an employee of the Consumers Union of America, the same organization that publishes Consumer Reports, a magazine that reviews the safety and quality of products, the Most older people read it. Now, this accident led Consumer Reports to take a closer look at

samurai

leaning tendencies.

They subjected the car to swerving tests at 40 miles per hour and, according to its summary, Consumer Reports found that the car rolled over easily. This led Consumer Reports to give it its first unacceptable rating in 10 years. "This is a car that we consider dangerous." said David Berliner, deputy director of Consumer Unions. Berliner means donut in German. "The design is inherently flawed. "It's not something they can make a tweak to" or put in some hardware to make a difference. "The only solution is to take it off the market." And so, sales of the Samurai collapsed - That's it. , it looked very good - The report was published at the same time that the Japanese yen rose against the US dollar, which had already forced Suzuki to raise prices for the Samurai by 30% This helps Americans be prepared for. believe Consumer Reports.

There were numerous findings that SUVs were involved in a higher number of rollover accidents. It was a perfect storm of bad

news

, but Suzuki, you see, had been foolish at this point, for almost 20 years. , but not in the US and there had been extensive testing both internally and by federal regulators that showed the Jimny was safe to drive. Something didn't add up, so they hired their lawyers. And after almost a decade. In 1996, Suzuki Motor Corporation filed a $60 million defamation lawsuit against the Consumers Union for intentionally fraudulent testing. In the course of its investigation, Suzuki discovered that consumer reports had manipulated evidence and changed its testing criteria for the express purpose of rolling the Samurai.

They uncovered documents from the first time Consumer Reports tested the Samurai in which the researcher said, "The car responds well and corrects quickly," leans normally and realigns itself, "reliability, pretty high, no real problem." It even rated it as one of the best vehicles tested and gave it the highest safety rating. And if that wasn't enough, Suzuki had access to video of the second round of testing, in which testers performed the swerve 47 times before rolling over. In the video, a Consumer Union executive can be heard telling testers, "If you can't find anyone to roll this car, I'll do it." And it was another executive named R David Pittle, of course, who finally received the tip from Samurai.

And when he leans in, you can hear another tester shout with excitement. - It's okay, Ricky baby. - They then improvised a more difficult test that, according to the employees who were there, was set up for the express purpose of filming an accident. And even in that test, it took 15 attempts for the car to roll over. - Don't you see it? We can't get off the ground. (laughs) oh God. - A witness said: "From what I heard" and saw during the Samurai test, "the goal of the test" was not to simulate normal evasive driving, "but to turn the Samurai around." All the samurai I have known could easily turn the first time. - Those tests demonstrate that the Suzuki Samurai has an unusually high propensity to roll over for any driver during routine driving. - Consumer Reports settled out of court because they got a lot of money and that's what rich people do.

And they issued a public correction, but the damage to the brand had already been done. Suzuki's automotive reputation would never be fully recovered. And the perception that they made unsafe cars extended to the Suzuki Sidekick and even the Geo Tracker. It just worksto show you what can happen when a magazine has too much power. Chapter four, The last samurai. Suzuki did everything it could to hold on to the US market, but when the roll cage mandate came in 1994 the end was near, rather than redesign the car's design Suzuki simply removed the rear seats to make room for the roll cage. new.

And then in 1995, they took the samurai out of the United States completely. But that's not the end of the story. Jimnys are still produced and are very popular wherever there is a market for Kei style trucks. Suzuki presented the third generation in 1997 at the Tokyo Motor Show with a much more modern design and a 1.3-liter Suzuki M engine that raised power to 83 horsepower. The third generation was sold around the world under different names. Maruti sold a version in India that was perfect for parts of the country where less capable vehicles were in practice. Mazda sold a version called AZ-Offroad, where AZ stands for Autozam, Mazda's small car.

In New Zealand, it was sold as the Farm Worker 4*4. Although he was strictly assigned to work there and it is not legal to drive on the streets, he is like a friendly alligator. And of course, it did well as a Kei car in his homeland of Japan. It currently holds the record for the highest altitude driven by a four-wheeled vehicle. On April 21, 2007, Gonzalo Bravo and Eduardo Canales were driving a Jimny at 21,942 feet, Ojos Del Salado, in the Andes Mountains. And on the way they pass the sign left by the previous record holder that said: "Parking for jeeps only, others can't get here anyway." They brought the sign with them, which is just a flex.

In 2018, Suzuki launched a fourth generation called the Jimny Sierra. Like all other Jimnys, it remains an excellent off-road vehicle; It is currently available in Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. But unfortunately, we probably won't see it here in the state. So we'll have to settle for trucks that are much less pretty. Thank you all for watching this video and everything else on Donut Media. Hit the subscribe button and the bell so you don't miss anything. We publish a video almost every day. If you want to learn more about small trucks that aren't designed to go off-road, but are very, very fast and have 83+ horsepower, check out this episode of Wheelhouse hosted by Nolan Sykes.

Bye bye.