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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
$ L+ q6 h( b2 j1 LBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
; U4 j2 D. k( |8 A8 P& J, x! JWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.4 F6 q+ Z" W2 j9 f$ v
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that$ I$ V3 Q- k9 G/ C2 g
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
# f+ s# z- o' d& `) h2 msolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
: D" s' ~7 r+ G"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
' c& {4 D0 x5 K5 l! }. |/ N, xcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
7 \ X+ v2 `, |4 E4 H, ~* wHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected6 w( ^7 |$ m$ [5 k; i
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and* F! S9 i& K6 E3 a3 ~2 L; l
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
" a+ h/ D5 d+ Mmats and sticking accelerator pedals.% I0 t9 L; a; g9 A
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal B! O) |" E5 q! [- u! h
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
; d4 Q) Q4 K( w3 y# |criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be4 ?2 o$ C) i! O) ~& _2 P9 \0 Q* A
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
3 u# O$ @& \+ O6 K8 V9 Snot stop her runaway Lexus.
2 S$ T7 H( x3 L+ [) ?( O"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,& T1 ]5 L# I3 `( u$ Q
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
" {4 D3 l; a2 Q' `7 }9 J3 Q# ^9 l"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators. y7 U/ ?& b1 p! K
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
& r" d# ^& t! f2 [9 b' U& C# Vearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
0 _; o: k, r3 F"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has6 u0 x# A2 f; ] m# U) W
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
3 E: I) ~$ \" z) t. Lthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
7 z$ O- t, |) @- b( Jinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."% ?) D/ c! D* B( y) H
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an4 J" L) k3 H! q" @& Y* z# E" D
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
& l+ X/ A, ?: T$ K) Ythe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
6 Y) K4 h# Q3 {6 M Z( A1 D5 m' U% R3 Omalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
7 T) g4 Y. v8 |' nsaid.* g5 i7 a! f; Z: K+ j O
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
+ I0 d* K0 g$ P2 H% y% Uhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
6 o7 [6 M+ e/ u' aabout driving our products," Lentz said.' F$ y5 g% P7 u! _4 j* M
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's* c! T# E6 `, y; [% t0 J. Z. i
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
2 b- w2 j. l; q9 y- Brecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6/ i7 s: K V$ ~6 H
million in the United States -- since last fall because of0 o8 t4 R7 W3 b+ N+ M. O* G4 o/ C9 z% |5 H
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking+ U {1 [ z% F% R; b& O2 P/ n
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering! ?* H+ k0 ]4 ` J/ g Q
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
. ?) ^8 g# L! `! Z3 b5 ttheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
8 x% q! L9 X0 n, [; `down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
0 f& K4 W) Y5 ]2 ^# C: }received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration6 C5 p/ D0 p) v5 S# U8 S
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
( ?9 J3 o" v3 ]$ D/ yLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
% |1 l6 F$ \5 y7 K) Xbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
! @6 {- o/ V: B% s* \2 ^understood the pain.& u. f# w0 Q$ |/ H0 Q
"I know what those families go through," he said.
$ s5 o! h" V1 r" t# J3 gLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
9 k7 N) @( ] f$ |- Hfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
$ ^1 i% j" `1 w# M2 W8 f. gBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
+ v/ v. T' a; Y, \Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put* X) x S. ^1 K/ \% i4 q' Q: F
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,. C( I0 U. \# H! a
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
" {5 v1 m' ]; T, cStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
6 X2 Z# T% r0 Y1 X7 J# w9 \+ L"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
" b# Q- _# |7 h6 d2 o i" F t$ JToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
5 x& r( M$ b2 E8 M: {- Z5 Npedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its; X: u& j4 u/ L2 g8 Y8 T a
vehicles already on the road.
9 ~- G7 j7 G# W8 C" Y, {& ]Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify3 A% O& U) Q# A7 [* f4 C
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full( q% [6 ?2 J& C) e- b
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and: @: x% t5 K# @# Q1 E1 w
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
7 P8 j+ B- \& E8 n1 Rkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
. t4 v5 E9 L5 g3 i ^2 ]" P1 U"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a+ M# S0 x+ \# ]
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
$ x; j/ k) \1 ?for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
8 x) M+ B6 b7 H) q, FCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
5 r8 m. r9 z( Z" L$ U6 u$ ]( wcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
4 t" l2 W' R6 m3 t4 Hrestore the trust of our customers."
* g) a& _( Q+ l, W3 @& k5 H" }( JLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from" j- I7 P! P" o- X# }5 W
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly( i# I9 ?( d! L4 G& m3 D) R
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --$ G. }- ^% ?( V
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and+ u& G }0 e% t- f# W# h
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
^0 D7 i: A! K6 q0 q) ?; Kthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
[* _6 A: |( c; s7 V' c, I" f: Fturn off the engine.+ Q: E+ m' K7 A4 Y& {
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of, M7 T! |/ p1 d- x- G. @4 u2 P3 f( }$ h
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
' v* S+ {7 ~* q; A1 T"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
7 \4 w& m: i* o) d# D* Hsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
4 M: i0 j+ H0 z: u4 Zto her complaints.
' C6 b2 Y/ I, Z/ t4 g$ rIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
5 y; M/ c1 I; |& E# n/ hreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic* ^+ M: @, I7 Y7 q( C
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars., }6 v' X/ ~. }
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric$ Z. Z3 U/ Y6 d' w" |8 R7 B6 G/ b
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
( u6 |4 L0 u1 O7 R"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
" g3 K! u7 p+ E+ u* _: Voff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
/ ]: ?$ W% T8 oTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in! D+ J# ^4 i( a" U! W9 J8 I Z
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
- u. U F# y% O# Wbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls) ]2 w8 X" W! E, e8 v' R" Y. V
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
+ N4 ^ }9 F! Q! _every question."
. e- K. y! T" D# v$ QToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether# {( I, @1 g3 u, ~: w
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
% z/ u! z8 ~4 I& w5 Nfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
0 C9 y5 C7 ^6 G0 n( G* N: ycommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
5 Z% I+ p6 ]) `: Y& g9 y, `# r$ Vnumber of vehicles
$ x; R1 J2 j. `8 PTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
1 x3 x; D/ ~& ~8 T, A& ]: ]difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a9 A" F* x& B; |9 s
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
! S1 N. K# U% \, osource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.) K! y: G$ t! F8 O a
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,& f0 D5 |+ z, A1 c3 m: }1 j
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
3 k3 {8 W* b1 gtrace at all.
- ~) O1 r( [7 o6 a+ kHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
% |- b( X q4 vdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
# l' s( T6 z. p7 `. C8 |/ h9 }acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
; y$ v/ A) j+ nrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
1 ^: b# |0 s5 oRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
6 Y& y- l: u( E+ m+ W/ |said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and* h* A) [6 K$ t! y- z; X! n! x
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the: ?' B6 c" w* P( c# r0 k9 S
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
" H5 O5 p. H" ncause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only& c( S2 Q- t& c1 S0 e
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
8 N7 D+ n1 J& K9 m" M% N* H9 ]by Toyota's lawyers."1 j- @; S7 U- L5 v* q- l6 a7 o
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of+ w! Y. s5 o( \0 r/ c+ }
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our8 p1 T" H0 U1 X r3 @
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
7 l* ?# r) ?% A% H& d; a5 D( j- V2 Qsaid.% w$ N7 x2 T6 F
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with# a: K4 t" g' r) [3 I+ ~
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
" n' b. z( m- e9 y7 p: \( M9 |good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating/ d. G. U6 G( X7 E% B+ [! R, O
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc./ X$ j8 J: l* Q
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
& ^; Y- Z( t- ^3 @* Emembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread2 L. `, B6 J. @+ S. q
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the7 R* p+ K9 D7 P3 s
automaker, at least in part because of the government's {) _5 J4 }# _2 J1 P0 H; T, E
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
; t& }% [8 h1 o2 h5 l; A5 g6 EChrysler.! ?2 v$ ]# ?1 U0 R N
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
+ D( B7 t. c3 ^) X0 ]6 o5 q7 Gdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
# V" K' S+ V1 [6 x, rHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also( Z( m' Q$ M' N3 ?/ W! Z" G) W
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
+ P8 Q+ `, P* U, [with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
* ^5 ~# e- ~2 G' N' etough."
0 n w( f; m+ `1 _' v' S5 r7 u---2 D7 C x, Z, h6 r2 n1 k0 P
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom; m7 w9 D/ [7 c9 P
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to% u5 p3 {- F8 k3 S" s" G
this story.) [5 K: S; b& V/ m
2 O: ^. \: b, k-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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