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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题6 R) S1 w' C8 R; }. {
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
, @* D. T; A# }8 E$ L" S7 CWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S. W3 Y( Q ^: Y# A6 H) d2 |
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
9 r9 i5 z4 Q" z) N2 ?the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"4 L" g5 _# D" x: R
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
/ u" F# H6 n. \"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
4 n, n" p& |, z; g3 i0 kcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
7 ]9 C* V+ j2 c9 \0 p, }9 J! THowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected2 @2 F0 \; F8 U* Y6 Y. {% H: z
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
' G3 H- Y$ H) i( U& U# ntrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
- j* j) s0 b, q8 Q$ p" j9 ~. s2 Gmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
2 g' Z5 B. Z( zHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal3 ]; J- W4 L" A. W( `
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp. a% t$ z0 l: _8 E
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be2 }0 Z! k' Y7 L
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could' r4 ~( [8 T' \1 j. k0 C1 H! B( D
not stop her runaway Lexus., P& s. g) c4 ~
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
# v( f/ o+ m! k* n5 pTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second$ _- }* y. ?4 p5 ? w4 a/ M
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.$ y8 F$ F0 W9 U/ `4 Y5 R
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
) h; _: J( R. Q8 H2 H$ vearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said& g2 `$ ], ~8 B
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has, Q/ y: n! s% |* s: I) @
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway6 ]; S( j" c, d$ i# O+ s
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
* p+ h; f! r) O0 `) Einvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
/ P1 R% ?9 T$ `9 ^; `" s& H+ v2 |Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
6 i9 ~$ N( O- }" I4 m: lelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of q! Y/ W* ~" L6 H4 b
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
# U4 w1 r/ z% T: Omalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he1 i5 Z* G5 X- s$ \: O
said.
: j4 {& l3 N4 p8 ?As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what" n) _4 d/ d2 F1 Y4 n$ ^0 x3 W
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
2 e$ Q) O/ c4 ~7 z! G4 B) s- W1 ?about driving our products," Lentz said.
- Z& @- G& Y2 z0 K/ hThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's' X/ s8 \3 v j. h) h& ~& R
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has1 n j6 E/ P' H# b
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
- H: }/ O t+ B2 T9 v. N4 Hmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
! Z2 o. H6 ] Xunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
6 I: {# D. V2 U8 U% D9 yissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering, q; \% O, q# _. U* Q0 i
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of! Z6 W# I3 o0 G+ W' v1 i- F7 l1 [
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow7 o9 `2 c8 f w9 Y0 F5 P
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has0 G& O8 z0 _5 T4 Q+ w8 ^
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration( q9 H& L, t! P, |
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.2 k! n* x! F$ \0 `* q7 }1 |0 {6 i% m% y. d
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
; l9 k' K: e0 r; e X) o! abrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
' E0 _/ s6 Z8 ?( C& M/ Aunderstood the pain.
8 O, u. L6 v5 E8 v"I know what those families go through," he said.
5 [, x K8 M M+ CLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's: @7 b- R% X$ @) z% n& Y
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
% ]- u/ m1 \3 v6 lBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman1 C- D6 s/ u: \
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put6 }+ C& W9 ^; \
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
4 N7 b* t; ^+ Y5 b! j0 i3 qLentz replied: "Not totally.": T/ L: v" f9 u$ F
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were2 L- v# e( h- M/ J3 D
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said2 k9 Q" Y& Q |' b
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
5 y f6 J$ Y1 E- K) @pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its, O3 _' k6 S- ^. c# {- |
vehicles already on the road.
, k' Q, N! L8 ~3 \* q& K: WMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
$ j, x4 E# P% o/ i. k+ ubefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full8 Q! m+ C* T9 i0 u# z- E
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
" x# w" O7 ?, t% u9 _offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
. G8 g$ y. e5 |/ Z" Z2 a9 `killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
' o1 p+ K0 N+ F* r: q9 `1 h" v, X"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a. _- x8 H8 W5 r0 [
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
% D1 Y! q1 K2 v8 o: r! Mfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
8 c5 l9 e# d0 m7 UCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal& O! z% _5 v/ g* R: x& s7 {! _
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to8 l* F2 i7 N" I/ o! r9 K1 S8 s$ T
restore the trust of our customers."
3 {' f J p H- ILawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
+ X ?3 i6 K# M- ~" f# ISmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly" O: f" s: J( y4 B. @
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --$ P: c* e- t c- G+ ]
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and, L0 }% o5 S0 H6 ^
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough4 Z: s& o4 a$ }/ e/ w
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and1 n! p' `7 W! f& C j
turn off the engine.
: j5 J5 m( r% _# S' dFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of) @: H4 O9 l9 t
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
& l1 i6 i% b: d, Y- ^: x0 Z6 P"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
d5 I" h; U4 F$ B) C- p* ^# I0 D5 gsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
' T$ i; b! T3 J6 u0 cto her complaints.
9 k2 K6 O4 S3 c" Q8 `5 m6 H& `+ Q2 `In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers. o$ G# v5 D& r4 r o! Y7 w
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic+ J9 h- \' Y7 |3 x' W! N7 X
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
0 e) w: \2 A' B6 v"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
0 m4 ?& t3 A( P$ Xthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
U; @* O7 j+ z" l"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut3 w$ g) b+ `2 R1 r& m
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."& ?2 y7 X+ Q0 L3 [: e& a5 u5 w3 b/ I
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in- v) X, v) ?: Y& T) L# {
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were. ~/ d- ]- E1 m8 P. l/ Q
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls( v1 M& Q4 X3 Z0 t& [& n
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer& X; F9 s6 O7 e- X% e
every question."
5 d2 g6 v6 A: K4 |$ yToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
* {$ K8 |% B# velectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The2 u! m$ l% r; ^' ]- Z o9 U6 Y
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
3 c1 V# M. E8 o, Ncommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
0 v. L+ [+ \3 E' ynumber of vehicles& Q& @& W7 T( h0 a; u: O
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
5 T- i7 B! n: o e" |, gdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a3 Y2 t( Z; H: ^' B( `* y. d
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
6 j3 @) G0 C2 V, E9 W! F1 j, l# esource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
: t$ C4 P, B; j9 r2 t. ~Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,( p# y) A: i5 h5 ^0 _% B! D
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no9 {3 _3 c* [, D! g9 _) K
trace at all.
0 ^# v$ B1 e4 G) v' P* EHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
3 M! T1 v; U0 V' j% Z- ndatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
8 u V/ i5 e; nacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the4 v+ R$ \- C1 {6 [6 A
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.! R7 O' c) E- q
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
/ ~% q: J. r* B$ ^/ B: @said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and s2 D6 q/ E6 T3 j. G7 Q! v
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the& ]: e9 W- D2 f% I& }
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible: [2 a& H6 P& P, l7 D
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
+ c* l9 q& a3 l( I9 P( ~6 dsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained$ |% ?' j$ f& W' p, b( g
by Toyota's lawyers."( k8 S, w0 g8 W. @( x& t( U
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of& j7 {5 Y' [0 B7 A; |' X; M9 K
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our% W1 Y. E, ^/ ^
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
% N+ G2 |7 Y0 e+ s2 a: Fsaid.
: J% T% Z* _- G# V"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
2 @( Y4 R! Q, M# ^a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
" D- T9 b L* r6 fgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating# Y2 d3 l1 D1 N4 O
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.7 G1 t% Q$ t% h
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
$ E* n/ U# @" Vmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
4 ~$ [/ O T, S5 ^4 Y3 _2 N ]& Irancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
+ `( l* H; }" ?6 Oautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
* L. e; P0 j X2 Y$ ]! Rinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
$ y* Q/ z, N# m1 S0 wChrysler.
* \" S: d: s5 d m9 w7 x7 p"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
; [4 N$ w0 H8 K: O; i4 kdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
8 q8 X' [. @0 R* @- NHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
4 @9 o5 z \- c+ M- g- cserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete. X! b' {$ S6 \8 R) {% [: o, U9 Q
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
8 r3 B- X; \/ a: j5 P* A$ Stough.". Y$ G0 x; B i P3 g1 ?( ?
---8 ~; ?: ^3 b2 l4 K" `
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
% |; W; Y+ i9 {! \3 D% z6 l) KRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to% P, _2 ^! j+ p) a5 b: _; k5 w
this story.
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