WOW. 7 Pages dedicated to one little badge. I'm impressed fellows. Not even the cute utes over at Honda can match this in thier "us vs THEM" section. Anyway, here a little something borrowed by Motortrend.

Jeep "Trail Rated" Badge Appears on Vehicles and in New Advertising
September 19, 2003

Motor Trend

The Jeep brand today announced "Jeep Trail Rated," a new way to communicate to consumers the extensive level of off-road requirements that all Jeep 4x4 vehicles must meet. The new 2004 Jeep 4x4 vehicles -- Grand Cherokee, Liberty and Wrangler -- with Trail Rated badges start arriving in dealerships next week.

"Jeep Trail Rated is an industry-leading methodology to objectively measure and predict off-road performance for all Jeep vehicles," said Jeff Bell, Vice President Jeep, DaimlerChrysler Corporation. "We created Jeep Trail Rated to communicate the legendary Jeep capability that is designed into every Jeep 4x4." Jeep Trail Rated is supported by the Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC), which has 45 years of off-road vehicle testing experience, including the creation of standards for the U.S. military."

Everyone likes to think the car they buy is the best choice. People buy Jeep because it's a Jeep. Just like those who buy and only drink Coke. RC, Faygo, SAMS cola just wont do. You buy your X's, Jeepers buy Jeeps. I will say this. I've never owned a jeep till now. I've owned an International Scout, but that's another story. I love it's tight ride. It handles like a dream and is just fun to drive. Both on and off road. I don't think my car is better than anyone elses but will defend my choice.

As far as "spying" on other SUV forums. Well, guilty as charged. Some guy over at the jeep site said "thought this was funny" and put a link to your web site. There have been remarks over there about things that are said here but no one has really put down the X, other than it's not a Jeep. No one can argue that HARDCORE offroaders go with the Jeep brand because of it's ability and price.
If you look at your recall list and compair it to the Jeep, starting with 2002, the only recall has been the lower ball joint. I too would feel upset if another company was poking fun at my choice of car, just like the "minivan stereotype thing". It's all about marketing and from the looks at the 7 pages here, it works. Keep having fun....

The KJJeep web page that started me coming here...