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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题5 E! m r2 l0 l4 t3 _) C' s4 ^
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
e$ i4 ]- A7 |3 \. v# VWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
: C9 M+ y; a7 L7 J2 A, ?operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that$ Z1 `, M1 p( N6 _9 X+ e1 e
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"( j/ e2 f g% W5 f$ D* r5 M
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration." G# u1 O! S' g5 p3 [2 e
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential3 s) d& U, v- v: e/ P0 ?0 b. W) N+ P
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
; _8 m2 R& z+ g* c4 QHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected+ ]- ?& a% N0 d# @6 k
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and9 C# z! X+ D( v
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor1 @: u# U* z4 s- x
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.& r. h+ Y; {8 O9 i8 |, D* r& _
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
& b; [, X' X$ p" R A3 c! Rand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
) H f2 T" u% @: ]- z( Wcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be8 Q! U& Z, d! ~- F: \8 ]) ]* S
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
1 ]! q5 x: o. K0 G$ t u* mnot stop her runaway Lexus.; e8 A" B* R# I+ n; C3 |" D
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
6 d- @ b! D# R, MTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
$ F( Q6 q; r& F! y% v; Y7 ~"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
9 ^1 g' ^7 h* F7 ETexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues$ N# A! w( p6 h
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
$ I" v* ]. X5 v n- w* m, ^"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
3 D1 X, ?& O3 G @4 U9 J% Edone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
9 j' i' P9 t& l. ]/ Nthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
; u* u! K+ j8 j9 ~; ainvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
8 H0 Q! N2 ]( D( g9 |( iLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
0 k+ \- x+ E1 @3 k" z" l& n( Welectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
/ f$ M& V( n2 C: S) Nthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
2 F' h+ D( E2 x' w- L+ O7 kmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
8 l* P( D/ {3 ]0 z F9 xsaid.
* e( r% K$ w ]' m6 z4 FAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
0 B% } g' N3 C( q+ Hhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
0 c4 Z% W4 h5 Y9 B) z5 C$ Gabout driving our products," Lentz said.
6 H7 r7 R1 g0 K0 Z" X9 b, l QThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's2 d2 h. ^7 n0 [4 D8 z
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
) i0 ^4 G" j; g+ S5 l4 E5 wrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
3 m5 T2 T/ [$ Y Dmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of f9 P3 I4 h$ }$ U
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
4 z5 \& T) j7 Cissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering, u/ Z# \& B9 U
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of# c! V7 O" c3 _' R; w
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow8 h8 v. {" h9 t6 I, o. e6 C
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has) X* |5 Y7 {/ u# H
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
8 D% F5 m" w6 F3 z" N6 Z; {5 bof Toyota vehicles since 2000.2 P6 ]0 e! _( Y6 R7 O9 |
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
! [7 D* |; j: A8 h/ O- cbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
+ C9 _# r( C; `understood the pain.
2 n" l! a- W6 S/ R. j Z/ T"I know what those families go through," he said.; T. U- Q% d6 B6 p& P5 u- }
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
2 Q! C; z# k0 z; z, [fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
% ^/ F/ c0 B$ l9 ~But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman' d n6 F# n% v( a F+ `
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
% P9 k8 y/ h0 q3 T- d0 u4 Pin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,+ ]5 u8 |8 o; P3 H u
Lentz replied: "Not totally."5 D/ o. n$ N/ C1 O3 m. w
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were! G+ O5 p5 M0 m9 X+ m" {8 V& l9 G
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said9 `1 O+ f$ a4 A+ p. D0 @ s
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas3 U' X5 q; @) J- A4 _
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its) X- P- d; Z7 M9 m2 _, {
vehicles already on the road.1 |" ?- s5 `8 A
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify u5 ]: Q7 C" F, L$ M, l
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full; n. h# v& r4 C# n# p' b
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and# t/ H; m& g8 }* x+ [* |
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
. N' m; g2 N0 Y# }: ^6 |killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems./ k9 ~6 Y: M L7 ~
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
7 D8 G; J' Z: Z3 ^tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony6 U2 \; `# t+ X/ p, v
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
4 r, _1 ^2 m: d( }- |9 `# }* qCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal; r/ X/ |9 z5 I" a: I7 u/ C
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to5 f3 `6 ?% F! x% h! p- F
restore the trust of our customers."
( i9 h i! u4 y/ G- E+ D( qLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
( \0 J0 i+ t6 h. z4 dSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
! i" n) S8 k3 p$ fzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
. ]- @2 u; b. t* C3 Y8 ]# Ushifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and! B% s' o) E% j1 O( u
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough4 b# v: ^6 C6 m5 Y2 i; X# Z
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and6 n% |+ |& J# _2 Z
turn off the engine.
) J0 x8 {8 l) F G: ~7 X9 ~2 ^! SFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
& H% D+ B0 {6 q4 POctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience.": |- ?+ H) x* Y) n- Z
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
; W% Z4 l Q/ V+ q2 T0 N$ esaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond; @9 q: ^0 c! t( Z4 `
to her complaints.; x* I& {1 ~- O5 Y/ ]/ k! O
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
* @2 l6 [% ^, i4 W4 R5 v) ]; wreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
+ [ c' ^& j( g+ umalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
' J6 T7 Y# l' ]! u5 y"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric- D+ x3 ? i( o
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited) ]' k$ q8 c5 T
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
# A# C( O0 B3 Woff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
7 O# s1 L, ^3 ^3 B5 ~Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
9 X8 @- w2 s# H7 m; \prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were4 i( e: ~; {2 `9 K
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls3 k2 L- u! F# `4 d- l
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
5 D' i5 s( e: K( }0 n4 T6 z+ uevery question."
( y8 c& V9 |! I& v7 ^Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
7 N) i4 l2 I. ~7 C! X: e& ielectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
3 c2 j- g& Z% E3 x, Rfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
6 |! W5 s3 i+ B% @. o: ycommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small9 f$ r6 |7 B! }$ r# u+ |3 X8 p* i1 h
number of vehicles; ^* a8 n8 E7 ]) h- g: `# J
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
! ^/ |0 x. k2 {6 Udifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
8 x3 G, ~9 v$ N+ ?* y% b, F' Emechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
& ~3 c& O, t- u5 }( a$ Ssource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
# u( q, \8 g. v; b# Q5 J% nMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,0 k& X9 ^& u$ R a% e
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
/ W) P, r9 p0 Q8 ?3 {, q4 ~trace at all.9 |* K! M" E9 O$ u ?) q. ^% D
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
0 n# X( F" V+ udatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden' i" W V! t. a' l, c+ v. ^
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the+ H) ^. ^8 o0 D; {
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.. M: Y3 f1 V. r2 k$ U
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,. {& g$ ?% @2 s1 G' Y( D8 x. Q
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
: I# M4 u, D1 r" q2 ]other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
9 B: J' L0 C2 {" R7 Q# Jelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
& _ c' @, z# a5 Q6 E, @cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
+ J8 {$ h# I: u$ ?such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
% |1 n. _9 h$ {0 bby Toyota's lawyers."8 L) i$ T. ] z6 @: X2 ]9 z7 {
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of7 H; f2 F& S/ W8 j
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
! `* ~& Z* T4 q2 t" E) F5 hcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
# j6 x* s {6 H' ^$ }said.
/ Q6 {( q* j7 ~* L: k"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
5 J: `0 u7 T; t3 X5 m7 E; Q( J& P5 za rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
6 |) Q$ G9 I6 _, m6 e( rgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
3 J) D8 L: m0 z7 qofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
( A4 _0 z( O0 L3 W. K1 Z% {/ nSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying* o* X8 P% L' y& ? \
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
' X e& S# U5 P* qrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
; h7 f& |, t2 J: j: ]automaker, at least in part because of the government's' J t7 E$ e# d7 H5 S" d
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
1 U# V2 ]) K7 Q& D. i2 I8 S' yChrysler.9 J0 S6 ~6 R" b7 x1 o9 X
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
' C9 a; n. w5 G( |: G/ c9 cdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
3 |7 Z( c" u9 g9 ]# YHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
1 _- W3 x5 q4 T2 Hserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
0 K$ s) u0 o& xwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty) U0 j9 ^0 d1 Y+ o( d
tough."
0 R- C- s/ A \( O, l8 O---& |8 i* y4 y! G8 M$ ]
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom) X0 r$ f/ A3 |& s J
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
& ]. T. D& {/ g1 B, Q0 X7 vthis story.
2 i- ~7 P& i3 d& \5 I9 @- ]) i9 u. y2 @; D& N/ W; B& p5 ^
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