Consumer Confidential: Lexus safety, Facebook safety, Twitter tweaks

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Here’s your Terpsichorean Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- Is the Lexus GX 460 SUV any good? Consumer Reports doesn’t think so. The magazine issued a rare ‘don’t buy’ warning after concluding that there’s a danger of rollover accidents. The last time Consumer Reports issued such a warning, it was for the 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Limited. Toyota responded that it takes the magazine’s warning seriously and will try to see if there’s indeed a problem with the Lexus GX 460. ‘Please keep in mind that the 2010 GX 460 meets or exceeds all federal government testing requirements,’ the automaker said. Be that as it may, if I had plans to buy one, I’d put them on hold.

-- Our friends at Facebook have unveiled a revamped ‘Safety Center’ intended to help younger users fend off sexual predators. The center includes new tools for teens, parents and teachers to enhance their Facebook experience, as well as new content to raise awareness about the dangers of social-networking sites. All well and good. The most important thing, if you ask me, is that parents have a long talk with their kids about online stranger danger. The cyber-terrain may be new, but the worries are pretty much the same.

-- Paid tweets showing up in Twitter searches -- told you so. Here’s my next prediction: Tiered Twitter access. By that I mean people who pony up a little cash each month (like, say, premium Yahoo Mail users) will be able to avoid paid tweets and ads and other such annoyances. Everyone else will put up with the extra clutter because, well, because. At some point, even Twitter had to accept that you need to actually make money if you want to stay in business.

-- David Lazarus