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发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
F9 Q5 V9 N9 o, GBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
: m2 X% Z6 n: H$ l$ TWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
/ x* q+ S2 l' Xoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that/ ?9 Y9 Y7 M* P" c
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
4 a( `1 r- n5 I, N+ ^0 ysolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.2 L4 O* V( ?& V8 A& \9 I" ?
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
3 G# d4 N! v" j$ Fcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
6 Y- W7 ]' t" tHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected0 N; `/ Y4 e/ }: ^& E* s K
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
1 Z9 d5 m4 x/ W# Ktrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor2 N0 h) s8 h* O; h3 f7 c% g: y+ ], S8 o
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
8 z$ q( t8 }- A- F NHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal0 r$ V4 _8 _2 T$ G3 L9 }: b3 L; I: t* }& E
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp: i) |) [ A& d# _- I; d1 z3 |
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
* q4 D7 g, r6 k3 L& D% C, n! d/ Hfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
3 m( g5 w3 I" h9 T' x% |not stop her runaway Lexus.
$ J5 q m7 O! Q"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,# V4 B( T+ Q% q& l
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
* w: P9 i7 e' t. ]* `+ p"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
0 K( b, L: n7 w7 r1 JTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues) z+ w0 u8 m3 E" x4 z. J+ o6 F
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
4 v6 l1 F( O- J$ T- j4 h"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
2 g0 v8 j. x/ m$ K- Ndone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway- @4 k6 ?5 H! I9 ]0 [
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
6 x2 ^- q9 M$ @) x0 h5 pinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
; A1 [9 L0 s3 |4 ILentz said the company had not completely ruled out an6 ~) t- |9 T7 l/ N9 }9 |; V/ L; s. H
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
/ N C; n. z- V; ~& M, ethe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
5 L7 x, ~8 O, _ Mmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
% r4 A; w0 z7 U, Q: T1 K: K, x( K; {said. I; ^ \& w5 b; \
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what: `' Z% o6 D9 f* @7 b8 [4 B5 g
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe; P8 `9 O$ ]/ L
about driving our products," Lentz said.
8 B: Z$ X! `$ e5 q- B( ]Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's7 V* u9 \0 d7 X8 u
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
" j' Z. M/ b5 ^% x: Zrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
2 C0 @+ y, e, G8 p" Qmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of+ [) K" r" G( z$ ~
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
! {- X5 o. e" Z2 z5 y- Uissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering L( F4 k! o. T( m1 l9 Q; g/ C
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of+ s( E# y: D3 z- U0 p4 B
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow# i1 d. t. m6 U2 T
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
. e9 S* Q Z9 A5 ^1 Y) P/ O7 Yreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration# u& K* X: C* G3 W) e2 {
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.7 e: }* V+ U% |* ^
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own8 @) D2 ^, q) }# n
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he: j/ e& J) e; `" X% @7 \- ~& x
understood the pain.' O% G8 J% Q) U. h
"I know what those families go through," he said., M* c' W3 h2 t3 |3 X; ~6 p; |4 T
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
. h1 B5 R8 B" nfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
" l8 v# [: `" l; t0 V3 r4 d) m4 HBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman% Y' ~0 A; i) c% x
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put" H& |' I% {& i1 ^+ _4 Q3 n9 Q
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,+ l1 G* h/ p; B4 o
Lentz replied: "Not totally."8 P4 y/ x- s+ u9 U
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were7 o5 ?- e @% ^9 J
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said/ `- F$ t+ }5 t" i, v
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas% k" a2 \6 y, v: t; k& D) ]
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
* Q7 c: w0 l) [' ~9 E" Y7 X% X w5 B* lvehicles already on the road.* i. a$ {# o) f# X. C: A$ ?
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify9 ?% ?2 T m, T8 L( A
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
* a. X0 W5 h, Yresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
. z ?' N% U& S: Doffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
6 S9 u/ Q/ C! R3 Ykilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
* {- h& j( e' D$ p"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
% G# L/ P- @7 o; \' o+ O D3 x; ~tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
$ g9 \' f6 b* _, G2 tfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight0 d2 o- M0 l' }% i R
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
7 r4 B! M! d# g1 _- W7 Acommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to7 `3 ?" ^1 Z/ y) g. z1 N
restore the trust of our customers."3 P8 g5 }' F' L8 r
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from0 R1 b) d1 G/ t# T6 E6 k
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly4 g2 n4 B: t7 w6 u" y8 U# A8 q& N3 A
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
# P9 V8 H0 _# u0 [+ t+ k4 a: {8 ~shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
/ M ^* s. L( j# s$ ihitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
# ^' Z0 K6 h% K) J; kthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
$ N D' d- G% u- q! Fturn off the engine.
8 Z% ?; a; s& Y5 dFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of z8 O5 S3 B7 z7 |$ M
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
# N9 A9 }( i: j5 L* A% w' ], B* r"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she H; {) e8 A( V+ j5 Z8 g+ v2 U: u
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
; v4 k1 }% n; O. vto her complaints.
5 q. T$ B ? H$ fIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers P. p* y# C9 a2 H8 [* ]: T
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
' w1 Z* x6 A K4 [malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
V5 {: J/ G+ v7 F! W, B- u% @"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric4 ?* L" `! K9 _( {& g1 }, x
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited6 x: ^- r6 Z* P A
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut! g( G- q% f: _+ c* ~9 U
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."; g( D# V6 C" I2 n. h
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
% M* l h ^5 tprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
: d! J) y0 ~ R9 q2 R. o+ Lbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
' H7 S% W Z" @were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer( \/ n$ a6 u' {& d, Q+ k+ [5 t; e
every question." b: U: X" M1 V! l& x
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether" o* T5 M6 X5 c8 X( P
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The* B. a X. _1 q0 g- y9 T
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
; _+ P2 _; t# `4 M0 zcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
; ^. @' s/ x; Wnumber of vehicles4 q# M7 s0 v1 O) j9 S/ q6 f0 H. W
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more1 l" S( S* L# v4 C; E, E1 G& G
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a( a) r( l# B" m( U
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
1 c2 A9 ^) p7 N. g( o6 osource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.+ T) s" U% s" f# B
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,4 L3 W+ o G: ]! J8 ~6 m' L9 A
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
+ ~/ Z7 Y3 E. s) B- mtrace at all.
3 A# g r8 _' N$ J: hHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
; }$ x4 a# l/ |0 b* V' kdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
2 }$ ~8 L3 E" ^+ i4 uacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the4 B+ ]( ]! V$ A- J G
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.& P$ Q$ O' T# @: r# E7 b
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,0 B. i9 x/ g" I) a, z+ f
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and1 l2 q, V0 U9 q6 {2 l
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
0 p! \, y: ~: g7 U; Nelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
! R6 o- k- i9 m+ i6 tcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only1 [/ V9 x/ c6 M, O ^' I( y$ i$ w
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
+ x2 ^6 m/ }9 D: \by Toyota's lawyers."3 z- \ Z6 v5 o5 s% e& a& r5 v8 _
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
: U' r+ I/ V. P6 X v0 i" m# mproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
! G( k T; n7 l" ]* e- d3 Lcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he8 ?$ q4 e/ C5 y2 s
said.) @* A( o& M! K% {& |# a
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with1 L7 d+ }$ `6 I$ Y1 G
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
0 K; p9 Y G; C$ Jgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating0 S. r5 V9 [ [0 i. w, @ N
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
8 L( F2 z/ }2 R9 h4 K/ R( bSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying" H5 d2 {9 l7 i. b7 X/ O
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
* k% `: l7 e" C4 R9 {: B/ N/ e; w0 @/ mrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the7 g; G( {: \$ v
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
$ p1 L/ b& C, \& ~0 pinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and8 `0 D& r0 o+ a7 A" ?" z
Chrysler.
+ o p4 G/ U9 @8 x5 k. K"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
6 {( U. M# K* n, gdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
: c/ y% \2 J/ E RHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
8 P. q1 H2 v2 q* ?served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
9 e& G3 s. C7 e3 G. I+ k) Bwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty1 ^% I! u( @$ j9 N2 b" V" G
tough."& N4 g8 Z0 b. I, l1 Q
---) n3 q9 @- F" t" k: v8 {. m
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom- i0 O- \( ^0 ?! {/ f, \! r4 ^7 M; F
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
" a' ]7 W4 q2 _- C `0 Uthis story." d: L* x, a' p* u7 R5 L7 U
* E3 }3 m6 r( A- G
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