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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' [& p+ K8 z& j9 K$ ? I- F
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS. r- g5 W. B; @3 |% N
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.1 K4 {* M9 Q/ h
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
$ p8 D( @( [0 M6 s) tthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally") k' E6 w$ z$ N" O- r
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
& v4 v" K& g8 D+ l"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential* H% E1 J& c, ~
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.2 F# q5 O+ l& _: X7 x. R
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
' @ q: h* n7 \4 r: O @) wacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
3 v; X# ]* z* {( n/ ytrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor \& y: h% K, X' c
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.4 c! z7 t! ?; j# \/ X& M/ E
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
$ T+ N% x* Y6 i' f& P1 u' Fand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp' r% N5 @( i9 g/ j$ A Q0 m
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
6 g( d0 Y& }4 c* ?$ T6 }" k8 J# ]$ qfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
" ^. Q) b* |( k) {not stop her runaway Lexus.
' a0 h9 e; h. ~, y" j9 i"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
" {# }' c. y: TTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
8 I6 x4 @" G) L0 _4 u3 A- \"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
; x9 H9 o! ~: f: _" I$ ^$ NTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues4 X& I; ? \! x& v4 _' ], l5 {
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said/ G! P8 a6 h8 N% f% q
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has# x F8 l+ Q4 `0 r( }$ R' z
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
* o$ m$ A" t2 n. t0 t$ @9 ~1 Othrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's) z# q0 }- S8 D" x: @6 L8 i/ A
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
8 N) v" j. `7 ~0 W4 a9 _Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
0 H9 L7 y, M' T: selectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
$ v5 x0 N2 R; jthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
8 @8 Q8 `- b X2 Vmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
. ?3 X' f* \7 Dsaid.
# g- F7 K! C/ P" q6 X- w* zAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
. i5 e/ E* B1 `4 b4 N# B4 fhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
$ i. O3 K1 |$ s6 v- ^) jabout driving our products," Lentz said.1 N, m8 W! A$ ~4 c
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's9 n) i& X6 O2 z/ m
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has, P+ @4 b- T3 U( v. H
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 64 D. N/ S0 ?" L5 V7 g
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
& ^ {" [( P' Cunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking- _* A2 Y8 A+ R9 \$ ?3 U5 s
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
) u2 d2 P. h+ \# M. o8 N7 wconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
, M3 C D* ^ B8 z8 k2 K; Ztheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
! A5 I7 n6 n7 T8 |1 qdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
- T5 [& I1 }9 h N& breceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration; w) S( n& e6 J& D( {" M# ^& f: m( F x
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.& E3 Z3 e @) q" W. O$ U
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
/ w7 O! b. ]4 W. b2 g) bbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
- @- g8 T# \) l% H. c7 O0 Yunderstood the pain.
) s- n0 n7 u6 Q" D) C1 T: R b"I know what those families go through," he said.
8 T+ _+ |! z0 [! b" ]Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
5 k% W+ d1 i) E& W; x; ]fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems." }% T! S) j2 v+ L8 [
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman$ \$ Q# ]% r) H p/ B. p
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put6 U8 v9 m4 r- f7 \& l
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,6 r/ `& n' u4 |- m' _
Lentz replied: "Not totally."% T# x, Y; Y" i5 K& Z
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
+ k; e' X5 n# n- b"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said3 r9 v! ` t( G% l. f
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
! Z& _# d& H/ t$ F; G; z5 }pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its, ]7 `" i% U g# N4 `+ r
vehicles already on the road./ g b; m! a6 c0 K, d. f0 Z. t
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify4 \% n9 T. e% r
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
7 M/ l3 P5 ?( F5 N/ Yresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and4 Q2 i4 D: v+ [( y+ v% }0 Y
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were+ b9 O: Y, B$ Y* ?
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
; j" K) H# \% I2 j6 Y% ~"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a* R4 g2 d. O# p- ?5 p
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony. k' W+ d# C; {7 f$ v2 y
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight6 _- M9 y+ Q9 C) [8 H" f+ d
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
* X( _3 F9 q' z, i4 {. o# Dcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to3 [, H5 t* P8 f
restore the trust of our customers."4 C7 S$ G& j8 h# w. R' }# H. |
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from, v2 t" G5 h' D7 c& \4 l' [' S4 U
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly) L3 \7 R" D9 h6 l% X1 g
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
n# |% B# L5 P! ashifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and: @1 i: G: d) H# G$ J0 R1 l" W" Y
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
N* c4 j& e4 @* B0 B: `that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
, U# I O/ B9 Z" A: I, Q: sturn off the engine.6 r1 { U: x' V
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of. z6 u( j3 H; v; H8 i5 x+ B$ \/ E3 o
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
! W8 A6 Q' W9 @. s$ l7 J9 g4 U"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she: T5 t' V' P$ q9 f' k
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
+ s& q9 ^0 q6 ^" _6 Kto her complaints. G" F5 h( ]" y2 @1 d
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers: S) a v8 v. s! ^2 v4 W/ L9 b
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
3 i" M: R5 Y3 }1 _* t( {% S6 y. \malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.5 b- p6 J6 r3 W% ~# j
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
" Z# }1 K8 \3 r# c% Ithrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
4 }: t. I2 x8 w"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
- U$ x7 ^- \. L& c7 zoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure.", q+ u5 a* D$ W* _) c& X" W
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
+ m6 B* Z' i9 U+ F1 Z$ {; l$ u) Dprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were+ b( o ?) l! Z* D' s
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
$ r/ G0 U; @. q0 c' s$ D6 kwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
' N& Y9 P: V0 e; ^ Gevery question."7 T w k3 y5 d" K0 R0 W3 w
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether. X' o- Q: K6 b$ A
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
0 I8 M. a" x+ Gfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
7 }. c2 v' J; l4 E" o3 lcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
& l' T& }) t5 y# I( Q/ Anumber of vehicles1 ?7 g8 v, G: ^- e; y
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more4 s! @. G5 k3 u- V
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
4 U1 M3 t% U. C& [+ }6 Dmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one* a1 V* R& x$ `% B
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.( v1 v+ q- E, I# k
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,7 b* E$ u% I1 u! m& u( L$ [5 `
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
: R3 V/ l) T/ F+ ~+ E; Q9 Z: w/ Strace at all.2 `/ E$ a# ?$ t1 I! X6 W6 {
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
4 D9 j/ S3 Q# J) e- R: kdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden4 b% e3 |/ [5 M' D c& g
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
" x6 N2 x# t- L- ^1 Q/ I2 _+ Orecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.# h% y6 d6 x: ^
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
. l5 d! `2 ^$ F' nsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and! o6 j* Q+ T! t: C6 X J& g
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
; ?: h y, V9 s( r5 H- Selectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible1 [: d. ~; T+ z) |, N
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
& X& b5 ^, ]4 ^; E0 b# Zsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained# |( D' c* U: ?0 Q2 e" E$ s# t
by Toyota's lawyers."
) Z9 B0 ^6 Z3 r' |; sLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
0 \9 Q( ]) {& C9 U1 Kproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our; \: v; Q. W5 o
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
g8 O+ z* y. Tsaid.
. s z# q$ o9 S* x$ k- b"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
: r1 N" n# N& y3 r) c' ha rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our) J( a; D/ c; V3 W. ?! t, C
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
; p3 |7 y9 X1 V. n- q0 uofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.7 a% A* a, ?$ g7 K6 N7 w, @
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying8 A0 Z" j4 }/ P' L1 f
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
~ J" O: X. V' W0 v H% o( Trancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
" f/ [! ^: ]+ c1 |% Q, m! ^/ Mautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
4 [" ~/ c/ \2 L$ Iinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and+ ^1 q$ l3 F) s1 k4 ^ Q5 Q
Chrysler.
* t) p1 C. `' _- S"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
I O/ j+ u, h$ x4 |dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
* ?/ u/ D2 a1 S2 N' f- i8 {Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also' S! |+ S3 B6 N: S9 o" s( v
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
, g; l& ]' m9 [, k/ Hwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
2 S% g8 a( B5 c Ctough."$ k& f/ v: n' x! w8 v5 ~
---
- S" v, v) Q/ K3 _( ~; y( ~4 FAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
2 `, J$ ?% b# Y7 J0 |: wRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to, t; }3 i" P4 N) B8 b1 Q6 [
this story.
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-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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