Suzuki was selling this vehicle around the world long before it arrived in the US, and still sells it today. It was marketed here from 1985 to 1995; Suzuki pulled out of the US entirely in 2012. We remember the Samurai for Suzuki's lawsuit against Consumer Reports after that organization rated the vehicle as unsafe due to its tendency to rollover in certain situations. The lawsuit was settled, with Consumer Reports not shown to be wrong really, but because they exaggerated the Samurai's problems, sort of.
From Wikipedia, "A Suzuki memorandum dated July 14, 1985, stated: "It is imperative that we develop a crisis plan
that will primarily deal with the ‘roll’ factor. Because of the narrow
wheelbase, similar to the Jeep, the car is bound to turn over." Over the years, over 200 Suzuki Samurai rollover lawsuits have been
settled, and Suzuki's own expert witnesses testified the automaker was
aware of 213 deaths and 8,200 injuries involving Suzuki Samurai
rollovers." "The dispute and eventual lawsuit stemmed from the CR statement easily rolls over in turns,
which CR attributed to the sudden swerve test and was not meant to
generally apply to the Samurai in respect to other tests that CR
undertakes to simulate normal routine driving such as 0-60 mph
acceleration and stopping."
The Samurai's defenders usually say things like, "Hey, it's unlikely that you'll swerve like that, and the the Samurai is no more prone to rollover than other similar SUVs." Reminds me of the old joke:
Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
Doctor: "Don't do that."
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