Per The Auto Channel, a 1996 Consumer Reports press release gave the second-gen Isuzu Trooper — that is, the Acura SLX with a different name badge — a “Not Acceptable” safety rating when the agency discovered the vehicle’s tendency to roll over when performing the Nordic moose test. The maneuver entails the driver swerving into the opposite lane and swerving back to mimic avoiding an unexpected obstacle on the road –- like a moose, for instance. According to the New York Times, the October 1996 issue of Consumer Reports even featured an upended Isuzu Trooper on its cover under the title “UNSAFE.” Isuzu sued for defamation and the jury found both parties partly at fault, but the PR damage to the Trooper and its Acura-branded clone had been done.
Consumer Reports eventually warmed up to the SLX in 1998 after Acura gave it an updated engine and a few other mechanical and safety mods. However, it never got rid of its unsafe image, and Acura pulled the plug after 1999. In 2019, Acura unveiled a first-gen SLX restomod with a 350-horsepower turbo four-pot engine and the brand’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD), a reimagining of what could have been if Honda/Acura did it right the first time.
