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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题4 M* j& k" F5 D; @
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS" f- e1 t) I5 p) V+ T* V$ {8 ~5 e& {) A5 Q
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
* G N: {# o* boperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that% Z7 m( M% H7 X
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
- }( v a: ?) M N; a/ L$ X3 Wsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration./ t, H% T6 m: y! ?: V
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential: G9 J# T1 y* h1 S1 G: b# S( W& W
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
/ S# B( `- i6 Y9 ?7 c( U# s0 WHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected/ x9 G3 l; M6 L* y4 C
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and) A, I C' d8 ]& E) l
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor" ~/ F' k- E3 k! z8 ]0 E5 ~
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
, S' ^ R6 o3 SHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
* y9 t; O6 B y9 \3 Zand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
% y- b( U7 j5 P6 Y0 L4 q& Tcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be$ U/ q# r& R' ^/ A8 G4 F/ p
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
8 o/ Z( C* T: s& C8 Nnot stop her runaway Lexus.
- J8 }; z: P ^9 D( T7 ^) \"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,0 ~ I4 K1 c/ ^8 X! y# k5 B
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
$ Y7 e: Q! ^; n"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.: t: [0 j( Z: e4 ~0 |1 t
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
) A2 q7 f/ n0 `early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
; s9 b& ]& Y3 K2 y( z% Q/ b"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has, q5 ]0 L( I, [; q! {
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
; F; s: _: z$ Lthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
/ M$ p% w" {7 p Einvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."8 D G* Z5 D4 _5 p; n8 J( C
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
+ ?% G6 F" v& P: {! Celectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of5 ]% F3 ~# _/ c; z) T9 S
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a7 s- F6 q! n% g& c: }
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
: z+ r/ c% ?3 zsaid.4 |5 B/ E5 i: U4 j* _ y
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
x# `& t9 H7 |) Z+ chappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
' W% n8 U6 z2 sabout driving our products," Lentz said.
3 i1 d: N# F9 F% \5 z VThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's; G- L9 r+ @% z6 f! F8 d
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has7 w8 O1 D, i! M/ G
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
9 Y/ d2 f% g+ S* ~9 _million in the United States -- since last fall because of3 \& ~. i' m% j3 [ j; k9 z
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking. t+ b1 {1 e1 N! [
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
! `5 `0 Z: g+ Jconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
9 E6 X* Q t% F9 ptheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
( \' N$ K* R' K Ydown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
, J" R! r9 ?; f( ^3 ^/ Y+ V- @received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration* @( W# c& s/ c6 w8 c* d
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
$ G7 ~/ K# r, B" i1 m- r/ ULentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own! g. d- H R2 |% _' p
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
' t4 z" T; p/ _$ `understood the pain.
, P# Y' q7 C% J6 ~# R- \1 v |"I know what those families go through," he said.5 q R% e% e, s, R
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
! _3 S/ s8 D; v5 U# V1 H- ~fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.1 F; U5 {6 R) X- Q
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
7 m$ r2 s& R/ E& g$ A9 E' j' ^Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put& |) ?9 B8 D i% _1 z" \, C! E# a
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,8 E9 O7 U$ n2 a, Z
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
, b$ a1 }" ]3 x+ {. P' B4 JStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
$ m1 k ~# f# d$ j! {"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
0 ?' }- r! T9 w! MToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas% i, y u! t. @4 ^' K
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its! S" T6 _$ L. I7 m" [/ S* Q& C
vehicles already on the road.- H& C4 f* O# |/ a7 `! q/ Y
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
- b0 B5 A3 M* d, I; n$ ubefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full. e5 p, o' Q* E( t5 x1 U
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and- P! n4 o& H7 p, x
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were8 {( p% M+ W+ T+ b" i3 Y6 M
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.: H( x9 I8 d6 Z4 q
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
4 x4 W( ~8 \) ~tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
1 N* {: [) F* Y Sfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
9 L# x7 D7 ?0 [0 [9 ?$ ECommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal; e' M: V. M8 ?& `8 h! x8 x' Z; X4 e
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to1 L0 p3 O. y" y& g+ G
restore the trust of our customers."" c% f) \% A$ o: K7 U: ~
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from! S' H1 P* c. L8 i1 a
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
5 `* q6 i- b( n1 G; A* pzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
9 i" I6 ^; X9 E# g: ?8 G9 Kshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
3 t+ B* a# o, h$ u' \( Lhitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
" J, h- X& l- c( Y& |* nthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and' {( K$ [0 e- l
turn off the engine.# T F" ?0 e/ T0 q1 q1 a
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of- W$ f& z7 m' a' j) n
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience.". P# [6 ]0 N5 b, n) w
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
" x9 o# N5 ~3 v+ l+ S1 V0 ysaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond4 B+ {( U8 z6 ]& @
to her complaints.
* p# C# K+ _3 |2 s, C) t* gIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
9 w+ z* U7 M" g0 U6 s% Ereturned again and again to the question of whether electronic2 Y6 O2 w ?7 K/ r1 z
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.9 u: N% s% W2 _% e; W [ Q
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric" E" L0 u+ S- y/ ]0 J* h0 q
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
2 c: B; q& M5 U& |% J"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut6 s% v1 F4 ~& N1 ], X
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
7 {8 d, h% c7 m/ @1 x" c( @Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
6 j; M; U, a. Bprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
9 ], v: ?. D0 S0 O: W3 ~9 r+ Z% J4 Mbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
7 ?1 |7 J0 V. D) }6 U+ fwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
0 H5 y7 [2 K( X" e$ f* vevery question."
3 [9 d! b. K$ rToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
1 G: O; i) q. R* W. W6 Lelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
5 j( R7 L) Y& f/ S a" N$ L( Ffirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
+ }- n; U9 T/ Ccommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
+ i. ~0 ` z/ i4 Wnumber of vehicles
5 h; S7 i) u4 E# H# S5 Y( KTracking down an electrical problem can be far more* [4 V6 m- t: o m# t/ S n! l
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
5 X2 J: a( s& E+ U" C& `7 ~mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
B. v4 z. }. u4 @$ `( ksource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.. B9 b" I4 x# Q# u1 J) r/ `2 s# n
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
! X' s# u- i/ C Z: A0 H! i2 b4 ]# N* }where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
6 n3 b8 P$ ~6 W" U6 _! btrace at all.; \5 d3 A3 T" O- P& B G5 r
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
" M0 c( D7 Y0 m5 V/ w% s7 }+ m$ Jdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden2 O1 ^4 i: B% A6 ^4 {
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
) m) I# P) C4 u4 B6 Qrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals. D/ } ]" J* N1 Y0 z/ ?
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
+ {; B' y0 h+ l% s+ i! b7 \said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and+ Y3 \, {6 G& L2 c6 \' x
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the( a1 {; k1 f7 w9 J, y$ B! f# [
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
6 }, b* N* ], o1 l0 h9 L2 `cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
- }2 `6 s" f5 @/ F6 y5 g& lsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
* w& S$ l! W+ x3 @1 o t0 Gby Toyota's lawyers."( H% N4 a" M q" J0 A/ ?7 ?
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of( _1 Q: l9 \0 I$ R4 Q8 c
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our7 U3 R7 M! P7 [' Z4 W2 m. h$ }
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
5 N& M& @& C, U! osaid.1 T, K) n0 u7 i! I& B/ D9 P$ R$ k9 X
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with2 R/ z0 h1 ?9 |( y* O" g, W
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our: K; J3 A6 M: l( K2 D0 I
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating e% ~+ U7 @( d3 u
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
1 q6 X z7 G i# z9 P- |0 ?Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying2 Z/ d. l) w7 t: ]7 R
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
+ D) P2 Z6 c8 x4 prancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
1 v2 b& ^8 K' u5 U. q+ |1 a lautomaker, at least in part because of the government's: \- W- A5 i; Y: W
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
. L0 D$ `* ~+ `4 H' rChrysler.
. a F# F9 C! ~ A' J"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
6 a! a3 c8 p. v( L; @$ odollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
& C% }/ ^+ S( b% zHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
8 r* V8 u# r9 c! x) Pserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete( L% ~% O7 |1 Y
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty: a6 p/ G. H, u8 f" Q$ M* k
tough."
& X# y8 d% d; Z$ R---! B1 C. n; E' B; O% y9 G
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
! ^# Z0 @" _% v; B9 sRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to- J3 f; M% Y/ [
this story.; F' T# p, z# H; B Z5 z) z
6 G4 h+ C- @0 `0 i-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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