Vandals Put Screws to Suzuki Samurais

San Diego police received eight reports of vandalism to Suzuki Samurais on Sunday morning, according to police spokesman Bill Robinson. All the incidents took place in the Ocean Beach and Mission Beach areas. In each case, a screw was put into the ignition of the vehicles, making it impossible to start or move them, Robinson said.

“Whether this is a statement or not, it is vandalism,” Robinson said. “I’ve seen vandalism--slashed tires, broken windshields, broken antennas--but this one is somewhat unusual.”

The Samurai recently became the center of a controversy over safety, when Consumer Reports magazine announced it had given the first “not acceptable” rating it has given a vehicle in a decade. The report, which will appear in the July issue of the magazine, states that the cars have a dangerous tendency to overturn in accident-avoidance tests run by Consumers Union, a nonprofit organization that publishes Consumer Reports.

The Suzuki Motor Corp. has denied there is any safety problem with the vehicles.