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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
" O% t- R) B: f0 y6 K6 o. qBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS: f- Z& v4 c! f: V; M3 M8 m' B
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
) i4 d! j( `8 I: I: G6 |" ?* Xoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
1 n$ A! F6 U: j+ t. d+ qthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
" K, m! t# |! v; p! ?solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
. t* e5 {1 O" S4 C"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential0 N$ C, f1 j- K
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
$ H( x" f0 U) V7 X6 @However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
9 H9 |3 R R0 r9 a& {acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
6 Q( A+ d' `0 y: l* G+ A9 ptrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
) x: I8 J3 W+ Lmats and sticking accelerator pedals. S& h# R3 n N0 |: v% G# w5 S- U: k
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal1 _5 p+ U* z8 V# ~/ D0 |
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp3 b9 I/ D( p3 ^4 R# U
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
% `$ x3 n/ c1 m! X* ?further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could% K$ s1 B+ `7 |6 v3 C
not stop her runaway Lexus.* D6 J' L) Z* V' Y7 T/ a; a) l
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
% N- I8 \& E7 YTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
% }: T0 U( W2 _% q"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.; V! k8 J# O$ n7 W: ] z- F) v, y. P q
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
* K6 w; l6 r* f) J- k, Qearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said3 T* W% P' w# V; m; R( H
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
' ]* [5 }. |. U. L3 Vdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
% g7 k. w+ l2 h, c/ }$ R0 G! o6 Nthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
7 L1 f2 V% X, D3 ginvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
* l/ y E$ D9 C5 M' a9 W3 YLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an4 l6 Z. D* Y- _- j1 v9 { B
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of+ O3 ~) s7 d8 Y$ Q4 L' _3 U! P7 i
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
}$ J8 x9 P% Z$ `; q' s1 a& Ymalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he5 A% h) R( T; }6 m0 p# ?
said.
! n) w6 y3 x0 B9 eAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what' H- k @2 V6 d- k
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
2 W7 q1 w- H3 {9 K' iabout driving our products," Lentz said.
8 C0 d/ K9 H3 P4 v+ m: V! GThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
) ^+ ? h& u T" `( R( i9 i0 R/ c* X; Fproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
# [6 N0 V4 r& p8 jrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6& h- E2 H3 m' b% u" b' S
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
8 V3 [- @# D" p+ Runintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
6 m$ b; c0 M4 N; F" [issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering9 M+ K8 S: e7 ~ {" e, f% p
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
' g* B- t5 {- g9 V; S( ]2 O/ }their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow; E- F( R6 t) u
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
2 K) @9 I# C$ Z, T: \received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration! H) v/ P/ `2 |+ Q' K# S& T
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
7 t3 V/ D% v2 l- sLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own: D3 B b8 l! v0 ~" u% u
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
& K) c$ A. `7 {1 Z1 w8 U+ lunderstood the pain.3 V* X( f6 z% ^
"I know what those families go through," he said.
5 G6 ?6 s+ W% h. p) ~Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
+ z# L1 Z6 F7 s. _/ O; C/ mfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.% U" a4 R3 b4 s- n7 b" y
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
- x' o. n# x4 O" RHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put: p8 c6 P6 N' E8 o0 }
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
* @4 N" V {1 y' N* ~Lentz replied: "Not totally."
) E+ t( v3 p4 q4 K" hStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were s0 Z+ S0 n# X3 p) O8 a2 U
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said% h1 u) w' [2 g r* p. y& X7 T
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas/ G6 j8 u8 K6 x4 @4 a; G. ?
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its+ O5 c- r' M) ]" `5 l% i
vehicles already on the road.2 x9 S; S( T9 {8 D
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify, C) p) B. O+ Z; a# ?& A
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full2 r4 K' e$ [% _2 i% ^
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
. ~# E2 B9 C) Roffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were6 A0 ]4 u" A1 P2 B2 F
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
! g8 i( U6 @* T% A; c0 H0 N"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
2 h' x v3 F( w& X* R; C& u# xtragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony* i& [- E5 n2 f
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
?' n! T5 A3 F; o6 LCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
* N5 a; q0 H- d) ~; d1 K S7 \9 Ocommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to; b1 \8 C+ s9 g9 [( e0 i4 {1 |
restore the trust of our customers."3 u3 J4 B& e& U5 ~" |" L
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
5 T# B( z4 U9 ^Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
( E2 H; o4 m; t% l4 s$ _* Ozoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --) ]3 h8 I6 R0 H; P
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
7 t% N$ [) N' s2 O! G7 thitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough$ k" }, V, _% \! s d5 S
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and, T9 r c& [& |) _; K0 P5 X
turn off the engine.
8 r. G+ c. q2 K( a' q2 T! T) cFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of' ]0 S- g7 T) M( F$ u0 \2 H
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
0 \2 [0 s- A n) v7 |! @"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she$ L! ]! ~# u0 t% w6 ^: i
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
. B# I9 R% E, `$ x- ~) gto her complaints.
/ }, {9 A* E) k, A6 w) FIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers7 s) r) r+ @! l1 F' I% ?
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic9 ?) k4 ]% ]- ~! s
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.+ u" ] N4 S1 E1 b. _0 z2 _2 w
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric" w+ B, u2 h2 [- R: X$ o! M
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited6 N. q, l2 R+ T! }8 j( s" l6 f
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
8 H5 x3 A; u/ [9 e Xoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."( b2 X. s8 [: d7 B/ l) k
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
1 t9 E y6 K) J0 P: y! m, Sprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were9 M7 `; s; j/ u" R& g
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls+ h. J9 {# }$ H7 Q( P
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
" J5 V" Z# a& b. b9 a. K9 [1 Eevery question."/ v7 ]' m Y1 H+ d3 z+ p" t6 l
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether3 |1 j7 r6 p" W9 E
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The: ^ m; N1 D" O7 ~
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But A, t7 i) X5 U! E
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
9 D; h% D2 q# g$ Q2 ^4 Znumber of vehicles# |7 \7 I6 m$ Z* a4 _ c6 z
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more6 p! N, c1 K7 w
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a& y5 r8 s. t( ]: T. j/ w1 O
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one/ x6 H Q5 H% a' A. C b2 ?
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
! ?7 m7 q+ f) P) @ J c/ iMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
# e6 O6 I) W' _+ ~/ ^+ Kwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no) H, O5 a4 d+ y& h+ c
trace at all.
# B. G0 U& H; F8 AHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
/ p5 Y& i% p; D" Sdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden6 ~8 a( S9 Z$ U1 U# G( `. }7 F
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the! @# J4 z! n2 C, g
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
4 A0 B# Q/ l( X- Q, ~+ G9 C$ WRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
8 q) n0 e$ w8 m+ w- P6 Ssaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
2 r3 A/ h& m9 Wother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
1 d+ z' ?, q J1 S: jelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
. m/ M' j* O- P6 q8 a% scause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only3 s3 l- l/ Y' h# h5 I
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
' c, S' _" L8 W }7 C; Rby Toyota's lawyers.". B; {" ?, L, E% U
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of1 d: v2 |. j, T3 O- `6 m
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our$ T; [( K& o4 v5 j4 w3 a6 \
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
& o/ L5 U2 ^/ N+ I4 J, }said.
, C, L, h4 o) o/ k3 k! f3 O"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
0 B5 b+ M! G1 v& S0 I1 ~( ga rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
& g% G+ N' e$ n0 v3 C5 O% L0 Bgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating* w0 a% K% Q4 w& ^; S
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.+ C. ^$ l/ J* u# f% z8 {6 E
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying+ d" B( C8 x5 m1 t4 a. J
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread( U; P0 v4 b6 Y0 A$ M, K
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
" [' |' d( E, M! D5 Cautomaker, at least in part because of the government's! w! y) E/ L) t5 w
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
; g7 M% p1 C3 y+ Y# K( PChrysler.
0 ~5 B6 [3 B% J, ]"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
( }5 \4 s2 A3 B; c2 N* ndollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a' p+ t6 W! b9 e5 h6 _$ E
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also0 O1 Q( O) P9 r
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
* M* W4 _9 o D4 awith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
- l! e* P6 k! h+ Etough." o* r: _. ~( R" o, D+ R# S( ~
---' ^) ?! T) p' m/ M7 e
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom: G$ n# y8 P# Q m" r
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to+ d! H! \% R# X1 V& z) W! G
this story.; I$ i' M# q9 W1 s2 Q6 n" ]
% D7 _0 S3 Z3 R2 ], J-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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