They only review the initial experience with the product. If a car has an engine that explodes in a few years, or an electronic device loses updates in a year from purchase and turns into a brick - CR will not capture this.
What do you mean? I have been a member for a number of years and they ask me either yearly or semi-yearly if I still own the product, if I would still recommend it and about any new major purchases.
That's not exactly accurate. Have you seen the pages and pages of red and black circles? They track the reliability of vehicles over time (5-10 years) broken down by problem area (transmission, electrical, etc). That's where the real value is.