Per The Auto Channel, a 1996 Consumer Reports press launch gave the second-gen Isuzu Trooper — that’s, the Acura SLX with a special title badge — a “Not Acceptable” security ranking when the company found the automobile’s tendency to roll over when performing the Nordic moose take a look at. The maneuver entails the motive force swerving into the other lane and swerving again to imitate avoiding an surprising impediment on the street –- like a moose, as an example. According to the New York Times, the October 1996 difficulty of Consumer Reports even featured an upended Isuzu Trooper on its cowl beneath the title “UNSAFE.” Isuzu sued for defamation and the jury discovered each events partly at fault, however the PR injury to the Trooper and its Acura-branded clone had been completed.

Consumer Reports finally warmed as much as the SLX in 1998 after Acura gave it an up to date engine and some different mechanical and security mods. However, it by no means removed its unsafe picture, 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 model’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD), a reimagining of what may have been if Honda/Acura did it proper the primary time.