Monster Testing Center
The Consumer Report National Testing and Research Center, located in Yonkers, N.Y., is the largest nonprofit education and consumer product test center in the world. Additionally, the Consumer Reports Test Track, located in Connecticut, is recognized as one of the best facilities for automotive testing in the world. The 327-acre site is one of the largest for automotive evaluation [source: Murray].
Types of Consumer Reports Automotive Ratings
When you check into a vehicle, you'll be able to drill down to many different specific parts to see how they fared in tests and surveys. Here's a list of the various vehicle areas rated by Consumer Reports:
- Engine: major
- Engine: minor
- Engine: cooling
- Transmission and clutch: major
- Transmission and clutch: minor
- Drive system
- Fuel system
- Electrical
- Climate system
- Suspension
- Brakes
- Exhaust
- Paint, trim and rust
- Body integrity
- Body hardware
- Audio system
Consumer Reports requires a minimum sample size of 100 cars to publish auto reliability information; however, most models have much larger samples numbering into the thousands. Because of the minimum requirement of 100 cars for a sample, Consumer Reports can't publish information on every model of car. Despite this, they're reporting usually matches well with car sale trends.
