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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题$ I0 g# F- I9 _( O- {
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
; j! e4 |4 Q0 D6 e! J# c' EWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
$ z& N- [" s3 A3 {operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
6 u. R9 n& u" O* k, Ythe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"7 ?4 K/ L1 _# O4 h" |
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.! t5 k# B) ]) L) E) s+ L2 X
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential* W8 C( I8 V D& I
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.7 f) o" c0 C# ^2 F7 E H) ?0 b" U
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
8 e6 A5 v! E9 B% V' d+ E1 ]0 e" Dacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
5 A7 c2 |5 }' btrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor7 g7 s7 m' p: U. L; h
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
* ^( e) l8 w1 K! L' K% ~He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
5 W9 _9 l. M& n# J3 v( Yand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp# ]6 \0 r, V5 @; L7 P, k
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
3 N1 d( b3 ]' }: Kfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could% v2 N! Q% {1 m' X! ]5 _
not stop her runaway Lexus.
7 Y/ B) i/ c4 _1 c% L& T"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,& E* h' [9 U) [( _' P
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second+ P }6 [4 c, b; i& t
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
5 g+ k* q1 v L5 J9 p9 iTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
% h- \7 N. N& A5 ?early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said; L; s- [ z D& `/ i5 ]/ Q
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has. |6 A" h0 B4 \8 Z* u7 L
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway7 m+ v2 W9 e2 J8 c x7 t2 X! i7 A
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
* e, ]: [6 J6 z: \: ~% q& v4 hinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."- L5 r+ m! P2 v& q6 d
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an4 z9 s2 T' p# h$ `5 ~) o
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
- u8 E8 A2 \2 o8 V% kthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
! X- x0 C, m4 t6 y- Z9 mmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
9 L/ O8 S: i6 f& c" K. Q* M+ x. Ysaid.( M' C( C) m Q$ m7 k( ]% l$ S
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
2 j/ m& B8 j5 @; ~! I# Zhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe8 Y8 Y8 v7 r! N
about driving our products," Lentz said.
[1 ^: r' ~9 ~8 \1 |3 UThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's Z* k( R/ D& t# c3 W2 n
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
; u; p; _( z& n5 q9 [recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 60 j/ w7 M# f6 e0 g, \( b
million in the United States -- since last fall because of! |! ]9 S6 J1 B
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking: f. z& H) a8 ?, g! i* ~# ?
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering; w: `, [# ?( E; _% i" e% Z2 [ C6 {
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of8 T/ X+ m0 u; f' C" `
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow- L- `: b9 s. C7 u; ~9 v$ X+ I
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
* P! i9 _* O! a/ {4 Y5 p4 oreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
& e: V" @, m, [) A1 W: S* bof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
* H- }; f% L- q6 VLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
6 [' } f2 c2 Obrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he' Y5 W" W* I y- e( ~- m
understood the pain.* y4 A8 ]' a9 Q" \- R
"I know what those families go through," he said.3 c& E1 J- Q/ Z, r- r* V
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's9 g# ^5 i& R# k0 r y/ n
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
" [0 p, \% y/ v E7 l% m. JBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
5 h7 r; W3 p8 |3 e# k" [4 i: L/ R( wHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put7 Z, D$ z% u _) b
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,6 n" d9 m8 `! s' B4 _- _
Lentz replied: "Not totally.") h* U2 {1 _: n- @# s
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
! L: ~- C) _$ X"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
: ^, X% l! t; K: `$ ^$ QToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
) A }& N; a8 cpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its g7 u, y2 \/ m1 z. y) M. }
vehicles already on the road.
6 ~2 E1 c s8 C0 w H! MMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify* I+ Q1 e8 ?0 g$ G- V/ b! A) T8 Y
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full, J' h+ o) }( p9 n) s( r$ K6 m
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
7 D1 u0 ~- X) z9 S/ S yoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
, W2 g0 b- _) J& B) Fkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
3 | g5 {4 y. C, @! g1 i"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
& t( g! q7 K; K( Ctragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
0 i- X+ H# |9 ?6 S8 Ufor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight4 ]9 y- ~5 G5 U
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal# g; H3 O1 U1 }8 A9 W5 E) p, d, l
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
1 X: [5 k, l" ]* \: Trestore the trust of our customers."4 N2 F7 o, |& o6 d8 ]
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
" x) H5 s( o% D h6 GSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly( E+ Z; T: V/ Z3 D" O* P$ o7 M& K4 _
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --& S2 X3 D L& @$ F7 m4 \
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and+ R0 v& s& a6 z8 U
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
C2 [' k& o' w8 T% n, @that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and) a* \1 z! V: C
turn off the engine.
# j& W3 C! V4 u5 n' |* d2 Y+ y [Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
! o. D* H& ]$ H* _October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
8 Z3 Y$ C0 u6 f' U"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she% p0 I) J! l$ r, E( \
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
2 O+ J" d: r) I4 P( j" yto her complaints.1 {. T+ g6 T' R& U% G- n9 e
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
' B3 [# N# f7 M4 [3 A, u! ?- W5 Zreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
; A3 ^) \9 m! Y f$ A. Emalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
4 S( M0 u' R. L0 |& ]"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
, U6 u; \3 m. J# m/ r$ Dthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
) c4 w: Z) X* b5 X' X3 h"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut; H( O- Y3 H9 q/ {3 O( f4 F1 q
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
, _% ?/ ?6 N8 x$ n2 [! TTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in8 w& ?0 F. ^- X4 m0 h1 I+ l. Y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were1 s8 a7 e3 e; X2 ? w* b. H
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
% y( O+ @8 L/ S: w3 zwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer7 W; b; Y$ m! f) a+ ]
every question.", n# |; u( }6 \7 x, O" b$ D
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether- ]6 d8 A1 |' L9 {9 _2 b
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
& O; l9 p- _" v+ s" Xfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
. F" m% r; P7 K( G7 o# }committee investigators said the testing studied only a small. S* P, \4 D1 J. G5 r7 u8 v6 F5 U2 B
number of vehicles
. ~$ A, Y/ ]1 X9 i% O' P& `Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
, y( u5 x i) ^) zdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a/ ~/ l5 K) J3 q' m+ w7 i3 v8 T
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
* w" \; W6 c% {( s: X6 o6 {source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.. Y' [, Z2 ^" d/ }
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,' t" S# K; b6 x
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no/ h" u4 c z, H% x0 N z, c
trace at all.
1 t: }9 Q0 y1 I4 w' RHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call0 ~5 U" s) v, H/ C- T
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden% T2 z9 p8 m2 K
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
. J: p, ]& a! y( N- Urecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.4 C: P; N3 V$ g1 N( D
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,$ g' b7 D# F, P
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and, x8 ^! q7 O* l, n, O3 s
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the7 k5 X4 e- I7 t8 q5 E, }" s; P7 B
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
6 q/ M" G+ [3 x( xcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
' y5 w' |+ N$ l) K# Z5 Osuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
: x1 T6 N9 `6 X2 Lby Toyota's lawyers."
$ B9 Q7 Q9 b( ^* h BLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of( O) f' y- H/ F9 o1 c9 p1 X
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
l/ F* j7 q$ @. i; A/ Acustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he. ]0 Y3 n! P: I: C
said.4 p8 t" O, s" M# a7 ]
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with! b! J7 c+ @3 E2 D0 g C* N3 X
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
( M# P! Z; u0 W- \good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating& `2 U" Q0 D) i3 |4 i p, t0 k
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
- X3 f' ^- g7 `6 M" YSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
" {7 `" T9 G" f, |# cmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread% f# J" u3 p2 F9 O. r
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the5 }2 U) ]2 o9 l$ w9 u
automaker, at least in part because of the government's+ R/ o1 W M9 G' u& [) ^9 _8 v
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and' V* X" @1 e; ~9 [) T
Chrysler.1 U( F" S' m5 n7 {7 j
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax1 s# v+ ?: K/ n" c# V
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
: V0 i/ {1 `3 S: rHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
6 ~, d3 Y7 n/ x8 J0 vserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
! v8 r5 i8 J9 W3 q; \1 i* Kwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
+ X2 G0 i2 Y1 v# Etough."
$ p. d4 z5 b9 a8 P2 r---
& H. ~6 O/ ^8 s5 O' V4 Q5 wAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom. v2 o6 x5 j$ C) ~
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to! m0 d, y$ G3 x1 d# G: t- @
this story.
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