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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
% E9 V$ Y( @9 _( A: xBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS! I& V, ?0 S! C/ c, ]2 N; f
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
* S- P1 q& O6 F7 j6 F, noperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
" e/ a X0 X; y7 _& Wthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
3 s$ e3 ~1 A& Asolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.3 ~6 b0 G" u" i- I: P
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
* G; [. u2 C1 y8 [ `! n8 Pcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel. ^$ f9 j0 j$ |$ W5 i! q
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected9 s* R8 y8 o6 m+ L! h
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and; c0 h9 h u1 ]7 a0 X3 ~! m* r3 ^
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor; N! ]$ V2 o9 ^ M1 {( c" c- E2 k
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
0 B* D1 I1 W7 Q. D4 H' oHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
# j5 T5 ]9 P z$ jand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp, h$ L2 g2 D6 n+ ] r! [1 v
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
) [2 j2 L5 {- E6 r6 yfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
" r. }1 i, g& b5 U& b8 ]not stop her runaway Lexus.
+ L# X0 U% t; L7 Q! R"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
, x5 c) X/ M8 W% rTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
8 g! Z( l6 |* b8 c$ G( I"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
2 b( `3 g# L" L- V) Q6 MTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues5 V# { X* r) ?% x
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said4 c L# D" k$ P* Q# y6 }
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has3 Z& L9 i; @8 b9 Z" |
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway0 S) r# C; H2 L9 c0 x
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's' |8 A3 ^! V o ]+ [ {
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."% R# B* |1 O, K# W2 C/ ?
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
3 P! k9 ?7 }/ G2 felectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
7 W! A7 ?; ]8 j1 |4 I% D0 k2 cthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
; G* C! b& x7 {" X5 k5 w, d, L) umalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
- h/ ]; Z; B9 b/ l+ z9 S7 Osaid.& H' m: N1 c2 d! w/ q
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
$ _7 p, ` X- C0 [1 bhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe) M/ G/ }6 W/ L$ F
about driving our products," Lentz said.
2 O6 K0 S4 @0 U; s5 ZThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
2 m% ^/ I! J% Z9 f" gproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has' w& R" H# g/ i; O* O* X0 i
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
6 y7 F- g* v; ?/ B% t! ?5 gmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of" A! H; |: O% w
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking9 H5 _3 R6 ^* M" u5 |
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering* `8 a7 ?9 T' l9 D. {; f3 q
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
$ |0 c% I( b, v5 E/ [0 f9 R, N/ Ftheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
- i. B) F9 Y, _+ C! |3 }down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has/ ^, F9 m# q4 K8 Z- F
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
1 E1 a0 p4 z5 F; V% A+ _of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
8 X) q$ U! f, b# _3 A5 c8 oLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
" h: |, j( n/ ]5 Gbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he! i; R3 n& o6 o/ K2 x
understood the pain.: a) b; P$ Y |
"I know what those families go through," he said.
q4 { `7 v, `$ j: jLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
4 a, r: a" @# S- l, {0 N" Ofixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
% D& b3 }9 Y$ R! T* |, ]But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
% \9 t. U2 y( A, C9 @Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put! T( w! y Q$ l. {- |* D
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
+ p7 I( r& E& ?: pLentz replied: "Not totally."% y! C" m/ r9 ]& z0 M, M7 ?
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
, K6 x3 ?+ x- @8 n/ S"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
" v# I( d9 _5 Y- H7 R+ W! ZToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas) l( }/ ^* p4 S2 N) b
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
8 G: `/ F' c- Qvehicles already on the road.# p. v3 B" _& \, y* v& ~7 j8 \: A
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
5 `2 z" M6 w; Q3 E( m1 R. m7 ?before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full0 w: H/ Y3 r! E0 I
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
2 B% C- U# v2 I" R+ e0 ^2 }4 `5 d3 woffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
( Y/ W8 c5 e- lkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.5 n0 P3 R# @ b' u7 j
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
- r% r! K4 b* d& x j8 z' utragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony* g% k: x' M, t
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight8 d6 e) x) D" o$ F- T- B
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
$ t' c; f( q& }) {# M" y, N, fcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to/ s9 i$ y( U2 g( p5 @
restore the trust of our customers."0 S; g( ~; l8 \% I- h, S
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
/ s) d( \' W: T# J$ tSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
1 |6 e; W; l6 t8 S- Mzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --- {1 ~& P+ u3 D1 E4 r0 x9 G
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
- B- F& ~6 @# r2 ?hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough( |5 \ ?) J/ @) P! W; ?) y
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and$ O: L- I; q" j2 m
turn off the engine.' v- V- J/ @* g1 v6 ?
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
( g% b Q* Y f7 p. E2 I x( ]October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."5 ]1 n4 U# [; S
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she/ E2 N$ H- R* l: a6 `; L k3 s4 E
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond* G% D: P( F9 u
to her complaints.
& ?/ }& d# ~+ m. }2 qIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers& g- j9 v' P. j; r& p
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
, }4 n$ }4 |& A0 y9 c# @8 Zmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
# u5 I' o7 _" M$ U$ q7 ~: v"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric# \ L4 S0 Q8 j
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
& G) Y: B* K+ i6 e+ I- R* I c2 K2 u"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut; B8 ~# E% |- [8 c, \& T- V6 g+ S
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
; i: }% L3 G! A3 V( ^3 rTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
; X; [+ s, r& f+ W) Sprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
$ y$ Z) W% `$ \: cbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls- o+ |4 T! G. U9 Q2 S
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
2 b, }& O0 s4 K; i$ W4 ^every question."
# p: P9 s5 e5 {$ m) L" B- n3 KToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether5 Y$ y1 q( ~5 R' K3 Y
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The9 g! p, j* y# F4 ^+ r! E7 p5 F
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
6 K# ^6 z( W K) ]$ n- y3 ]committee investigators said the testing studied only a small' ]3 o3 U8 N' u$ d" ?
number of vehicles
- g' o; x1 e' \; c5 J3 PTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
4 k( |% j; E4 `# r+ p$ Ndifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
8 Y+ W! J( v2 Pmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one; F" D2 w* H, J
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car./ b, h: e& {3 L/ ^
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
8 C2 M/ n/ f- d6 l4 g2 X- Fwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no: d. ?6 Y) Y' g# U' @$ l
trace at all.6 W5 T1 N. W% p9 ` b/ i! U6 D& Y
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
6 X# S& w6 |# ?& }1 V; Zdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden% ?* B" e9 L% ~2 E; Z' @- d
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the5 A8 N6 m) j. H% G+ n* g+ F
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
0 x% j' f: {* _8 r: p4 y* aRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
; |9 y/ c! h' O1 Asaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
( z6 U' e1 ]7 t- Bother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the5 `2 s; I; ] R8 l+ k+ y
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
! q. ^8 V) b) H+ h7 o! Ycause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
8 I0 }( X" m* u Wsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained" ^* f; X$ A) w D
by Toyota's lawyers."& N. g3 u, a& l, `
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
: s6 }& l1 Q8 x$ ?problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
" A) X" z6 k+ O1 G. kcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
( ?) Y- p' x) m% psaid.
+ N4 _7 L+ t/ l, O2 r+ C"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with( B' B- Y$ O% v3 h+ R3 t
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
0 ^& v1 [$ l8 k3 J2 l/ C, o! Igood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating3 x' T6 |" i/ {
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
/ p0 u7 }6 g; A. dSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying$ ?% E9 A. r& B' l
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
+ c" g, n% ?+ V9 {, P0 s' Lrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the; H4 B% r6 ]" }$ ~$ B, h7 n( b
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
8 t: l; O8 D+ B( f* rinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and8 }9 p+ a1 ~+ }, c) Z$ `8 {
Chrysler.. c) T1 q1 @2 `9 P; D. k
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
5 Z5 S) R4 q3 f4 I" R4 V0 H3 m! G' h( c) Vdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
7 V8 }' }2 P5 d# t/ z: DHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also1 r) a# S1 L* J# O" g
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
+ C$ x5 q# t- [; L9 d) ^$ |with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty, e w) g* @# i
tough."
0 z6 ~: M y0 V) o4 S---6 d$ M3 Y0 t( g; l
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom" v: r$ z1 o- {6 B! M
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
0 N6 R, U3 ?& a q! K8 o" Ythis story.- a/ [2 ]5 w1 I. w y4 B
; p3 H+ c% k F* z" S. F-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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