This headline ought to trigger a double-take: “GM SUVs ace challenging crash test.” What? That GM? Isn’t it an incompetent corporate villain and overall menace to society?

Actually, it’s not. General Motors (GM) is clearly in a spot of trouble, on account of flawed ignition switches that should have been recalled long ago but weren’t, leading to at least 13 deaths in fatal accidents and an unknown number of injuries. GM screwed up badly, especially since fixing the problem involving about 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts and other vehicles that have now been recalled would have been relatively cheap and easy — especially compared with the $3 billion or more the problem may now cost GM.

But media critics and their accomplices in Congress and elsewhere have now moved into the inevitable pile-on phase of the controversy, in which it’s so easy to jab at the heartless corporate bully that nobody will call you to task. “The old General Motors is back,” declared the Daily Beast, recalling a string of overworn headlines from the bad old days of GM’s bankruptcy and federal bailout. In the rare likelihood you’re unaware, GM got a $50 billion federal bailout from U.S. taxpayers and only repaid about $40 billion before the government cut its losses and sold its final shares in the automaker.

If the 2009 bailout places a special burden on GM to be perfect, then yeah, GM is terrible. Compared with other automakers, however, GM is doing just fine. One example is a recent report put out by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which conducts crash tests and ranks vehicles based on the results. In its latest batch of tests, two GM SUVs — the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain — were the only ones out of nine to earn a “good” rating, the highest IIHS confers. The Toyota Highlander earned an “average,” the Toyota 4Runner earned a “marginal” and the Honda Pilot earned a “poor,” the lowest rating. Toyota and Honda are often considered the paragons of excellence; well, not this time.

Above average

In the latest J.D. Power quality rankings, all four G.M brands — Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick — scored above the industry average. Ford (F), often lauded for being the one domestic automaker to turn itself around without a bailout, scored far below average. Out of 26 categories, GM had the top-ranked vehicle in 8 of them, or 31%. That’s much higher than its market share of about 18%.

In Consumer Reports’ annual reliability rankings, GMC is the highest-ranked American brand. Other GM nameplates are middling performers, but the biggest problem is the Cadillac CUE infotainment system, which is meant to mimic a tablet device but seems overcomplicated to some users. At any rate, a fidgety touchscreen isn’t nearly as severe as the problems involving build quality, performance and durability that plagued GM in the not-so-distant past.