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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
7 U$ b, f. ]; _3 e7 G& v" HBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS& |& k6 x0 M3 J$ l$ a* ~
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
8 k: }: W0 m1 W' x' joperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
' B/ N' P% p" f4 p' a% t% Ythe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"+ d6 Y/ W; c) T! ^
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.: V6 r9 {) D* W/ |0 [
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
1 U% E# r6 j2 v% P" v% \* jcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.. N2 K. c( j* v+ {+ ?
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
4 K7 K7 A" D; r7 `acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and* F2 X, m7 J2 N: _) y1 D$ L
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor" m& X$ m$ @4 T, x" \) t: ]
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
) M0 s5 X% P( ~* }He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
5 ]4 F' z6 o9 m$ `and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp: H/ j7 m$ c2 o5 f0 T. n) @
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be% p' Z" l6 ^) n" ]; r
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
+ L) T/ L9 L/ N- j/ ]/ Nnot stop her runaway Lexus.* k/ ]3 J' n, p) a* u
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
2 J3 K, n+ t* |0 jTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second( T9 y0 e9 A- b/ \0 ~
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.# U1 j+ I4 A3 d n
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
; w) @: s. C! U9 S* R/ R6 @9 Mearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said' z+ \5 ~, k9 z4 n7 g
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has6 V" Q* {* U, L3 J% f
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway% L4 S1 K: a' n& R
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
) e8 g6 \, M0 n- }7 I" ninvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."0 e$ U1 C5 R- y, O- V
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
$ ]. R4 Q5 D4 m5 F7 Relectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of% a2 P+ P/ |- T, }& d- }
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
6 K& d, X. m0 _& S5 f6 omalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he% ~' r. v5 G6 s
said.7 D' j1 e. w' `- H; p: I4 z0 m* J
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
0 u! n) n- m4 r1 d8 N8 w$ o* z3 y' [" Lhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe6 u+ ~( t: }$ ^
about driving our products," Lentz said.
& N6 v+ Q9 A! v" M- bThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's* _, G& I) K$ w2 E
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
2 S, v, G- A2 {" I+ i- Qrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
. k, L% Z* `& q5 T. Q) `million in the United States -- since last fall because of
- G/ m* y0 o' s4 G2 j" x6 d& ~' zunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking, @3 Y- r+ d( U- ` y1 t
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering' j$ j% W$ h5 Q
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of+ J9 W; U& D) Q9 }: j N
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow1 E0 L: m& i' _( \
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has+ [9 J' \( @( z- P+ {& P$ _
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration. N- l9 m2 Q$ p- `
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
+ c5 D. Z, c5 N; OLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own& o4 j7 v* I i5 Q
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
- M% G* J i- B6 N' G( h& Gunderstood the pain.
; Y& A7 _/ Z" i: Y+ f"I know what those families go through," he said.
% [! ~& ?* Y1 W; ?/ s* }Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
5 a" M& ? _3 Z# \, v9 Qfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
3 W. p5 X. q; cBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman8 h5 S. Y8 l8 g! k$ _( @0 ]; K
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put3 O" S: J/ o! C" |9 y( S) g
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,0 m: o7 y7 U6 k5 w3 V; j5 ]5 K% G! O
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
~! b8 G! m& |# i7 o$ [Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
) A2 B: u: w6 r"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
4 R$ K" Z- z, c; bToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas$ X6 a8 o/ h# ]( i. P- Z
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its6 \8 s8 Y# a- |5 \$ F
vehicles already on the road.! ^) b4 L$ |0 K( W# h
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify$ s8 M6 l$ O9 q- S
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full, Z3 @. P# o$ U+ z$ f3 @- a# M
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and. j! }4 ?% A6 H" B
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
3 V( Y0 |5 Z4 `* Xkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
% G/ M+ O4 h) C0 l9 ~7 `"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a& t9 z3 f8 l! A# w$ y0 k2 t- I, h) I
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony0 q9 I/ a4 b8 [! F+ F2 V
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
N% ~+ O. I' G5 O, |) L$ YCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal. V1 M7 g3 ?4 F. p/ s- D
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
( P3 Z) D2 k z3 p& z9 u: D3 Trestore the trust of our customers."
: l. y- X7 E: O3 ^Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
! \3 u+ O* f: ]. sSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly8 q2 U2 J; S1 Q. X- Z4 j, \# D2 g
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
! k5 ?" i# N1 m* n; @; y8 e4 Y7 Qshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
G# E# Y4 F8 zhitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
+ i- I) i' D) |that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and: J: A ^6 m g4 [. O
turn off the engine.4 r, v+ A1 p6 q' I) g6 N, K
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of9 d5 z: L- p. m# o& R$ T" f6 u
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."0 m5 K3 _( H3 G6 T; x
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
+ u _/ H6 z5 e7 ]. k( fsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond8 v; ?' S- O" M; f1 ~
to her complaints.' ~$ ~4 q4 W% Q
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
n. Z/ X7 _/ ?returned again and again to the question of whether electronic) Y- B P. J$ ^& q% c& [
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.2 A. g" O/ |# z% p% o- Z) J. E2 S3 ~
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric6 |$ T+ G o6 z! S
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
" V5 ^* V( v1 s* d+ z! D9 H5 v& u. B9 M"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut) F6 Z! @2 U) l# Y+ |
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
6 ]. {6 N2 b3 ?) K& n) B0 sTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in* |0 y4 U5 d+ N
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were3 F& n O6 F2 z
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls6 e3 ~" q) r0 V- Z0 }2 T6 c
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer! {) s* r1 L0 n
every question."
" ?6 d9 z' d' S# U- lToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
& d8 k0 H$ o: Q5 a( e9 `+ L" Kelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
2 Q3 j5 E: f. q: x, d5 v" F" Jfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But' R1 ^/ \7 \: }
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
2 z# B. D, W8 Gnumber of vehicles
: ? T* R, F* A) P, W: X' MTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
5 C$ c, y* H, q4 B$ Y0 \4 ]2 qdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
$ A+ t% L7 v* G4 C' s8 I6 P, \mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one7 a) L/ ^9 ^# l' ]) @+ W6 x
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.7 q% V7 d- Q6 J$ q0 p" o$ _! L
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
# c; L$ T; H6 J. ?where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no0 L7 N+ n9 m8 Q7 ?
trace at all.: A9 u. V% q' ^! R. C% \
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call0 G! [ J0 S+ F! |. Y& o
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden6 s! y! Y: {4 `4 ^- f7 Y* X# |
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the9 n( y& {* D, N0 p' L9 o* z/ o
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
( y1 T$ _: I: u& j+ K3 S/ PRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
- h% V3 V# S! f; X) i& nsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
( F- \, P; U- d; q; c9 a( U5 e. ]other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
$ |( ?! y) B5 O6 l/ N& q' L7 kelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
" ~! \% W, u4 Wcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only0 K5 O0 X: \/ s! |! f0 R: m5 ~
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
) W5 Q9 h; c4 W, Qby Toyota's lawyers."
$ F# b( v2 _3 k" b; \Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of+ J% L$ H. H9 ]1 D" v0 L3 g- ]' e
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
8 J) Z" z2 ?$ @customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
/ [# c# ?) i' z) W9 Msaid.
1 `) X3 U% m2 }& R"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
% |% b ~7 O* M; ha rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our- c6 R U) N$ P7 i0 Q: r
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
3 ^6 @. s. Z0 b; G/ V# A6 Zofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.- H% b! @* n8 Z+ g8 `2 D7 O! ^
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying5 q1 q9 n. C) u! J4 W1 o+ l: ^* D6 I
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread) O8 T5 z4 ], Y# W+ [
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
' J; \ h. q9 O, l/ ~automaker, at least in part because of the government's+ |( X2 h( S0 E4 }- [# J4 A
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
( k; z" P- m' L# y9 W2 p/ p) OChrysler.: t0 C; D9 N: \( q6 s7 n, [9 h
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax9 g2 y5 f. e& Q* o4 S
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a. a+ V7 e) P% G* D O0 A. C( }
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
, u: m4 y0 M7 F: _0 Lserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
& ]6 K5 P8 f/ B2 J( F4 h/ r, Owith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
# F ]! m" t7 |; i3 L6 b* o ptough."
3 B' x Q) i W6 d---
' H2 l9 j" {8 E0 {2 {- S/ |" a9 NAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom' x8 i: }7 q$ q3 e0 D
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
, T% g- q$ e; u' ]% t) [1 z% Vthis story., R; O; ]4 k0 u8 K9 m" f$ \
2 W* \/ Y m, }
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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