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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
( J9 \# P5 v7 Z ?By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS% N. V; t& k, ~3 l. o. X0 D
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.) S1 E& Q+ }# G& O% _
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that% G% @. K- B2 t4 ~7 K
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
% E# d- n3 j4 Jsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
" z" q; \% Q" r+ J"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential5 p( T% o+ A0 F7 J* }
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
( z/ i# O7 t# F3 F* A# |However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected6 R5 k% p& s0 v- O' [
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
4 b( i' ]( {1 mtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
, o5 n9 K# q$ n$ j' g, }mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
; P8 s2 l4 ~1 j) P" L1 oHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal+ i, ?- U5 I { R& g
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
# X$ i# i1 w6 Y/ j- [criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
4 W+ h9 V. Q8 `% j# ]" p- {2 Yfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
& a% }7 M, l! } C" h7 v' F- x' M9 unot stop her runaway Lexus.
0 k! O) N4 p" m/ a"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
, Q3 L" ?* g2 }/ n! C& \Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
# a8 { G' y: f3 L# W5 B0 d$ E"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
& {! Q {" t6 {3 F! a5 bTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues7 l& s3 E2 J0 z/ J) Y& D+ ]
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
1 r4 e+ l) K8 J; U' U8 A"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
' o; Y; C( |9 {done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway( ?' `$ k [- I* X; C$ Z
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
* u+ l& ?2 T6 h9 ?) Iinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
2 N' z8 ?+ |. y) T* ^1 dLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
/ \6 K0 |! T7 h; pelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of. I" J! c7 s. W1 e4 ~
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
0 F; Z1 x3 d6 S4 y) W6 hmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
. S. A8 P: W2 o1 W# r9 ~said.
! D+ U o' r% S" QAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what& ~7 N( m2 i0 n" J* b$ X9 t# j
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
& M9 A4 |- I8 E( x0 k' |, jabout driving our products," Lentz said.
0 ~1 _# b7 S6 a) H# ~4 O! w0 y, jThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
2 I; {0 |/ a r3 p8 s; B$ ?$ eproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has1 M' U e, o7 G: W b v
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6" B6 o2 n- C5 Z8 N
million in the United States -- since last fall because of8 p$ V0 `9 z6 S. a/ r. n! T6 v: C
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
( _, `7 ^# Y) c" q8 qissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering( A" `: j3 `( D# H8 I- V
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of7 [; l6 l4 {6 T
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow& n6 Y- ~& [0 n8 N/ M
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
+ N. Y- S9 E. D$ k4 F% qreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration5 D) N" r% F( G& k. x* M5 Q+ j
of Toyota vehicles since 2000. } t4 N3 d& n1 {8 I9 k+ r
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
* ~& ^& h( X+ W# sbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he; M; f7 h' w! o& N, j
understood the pain.8 G3 A, O. Y/ @: B
"I know what those families go through," he said.
' @- y; ~- d. o5 I, J0 g$ ZLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
6 [; o% {, M6 T( v8 R$ Ufixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.) k Y: o8 o1 k1 m) E- \5 t
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, W: H) B8 u6 Q9 I' o
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put% q( z. P6 L- g8 p5 I! T g: o! Y
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,, n0 r C( z0 t: e1 v+ a
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
1 T; l8 F+ O1 c, p) b/ I2 }2 fStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were+ P8 E+ r- a6 B
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
3 b! u, o, j# p( vToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas, p2 Y: V- a9 ^% U6 X
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
2 I' ~# }, n3 x: Y h- u& K5 C6 {vehicles already on the road.
' L7 M+ ]( F; W# N6 v2 L) \; mMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
& q7 D& Y6 l# i/ \before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full7 g8 |! [7 x, k- ?
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
3 n. c# ?8 q* |/ Yoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were* g/ @ M# R3 _4 K. S# g, m
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
4 l; ]4 \# i) {4 E" p"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a" c' [0 w' q" ^( X7 ^+ ~: |
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
% y4 g1 H8 h; Xfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
- q4 C# @2 e! S" NCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal. d7 X; \( x$ J$ n! q* Q
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
5 |, l6 k# K1 Q. z( w) @1 C% z9 ~restore the trust of our customers."
, G& c Y i) F( \. v) `3 n VLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from" z1 R9 H: ?) k2 \' G- p
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly6 ?" ?" i$ P9 h+ i; W
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --8 [ b+ t9 C+ p) T+ |! P8 ~
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and$ D. h& L' {4 b4 W1 L
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough0 L7 M+ r1 g- W ]9 i9 ~
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and* T, Z. v# [* p" v
turn off the engine.
; J* _4 t. M% o- z5 D- x2 Y+ Q; T" MFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of2 R" V* j. W R, ]5 ^ i5 f
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."5 |( T" G% Q5 c4 P, d" m, G
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
+ W% T- U. g! Y8 asaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
+ T2 a* }- H2 l; b8 kto her complaints.
4 O' i* x; k/ ^, F3 hIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
5 R; Q1 U* A% F6 r" Sreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
) q; @$ I* A! k, x( _5 umalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.5 h+ [2 L* g) G: }: A3 H8 V
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric3 Y. ~! T4 e/ Z
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited) f% c# Y$ p! ^
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut8 ` _7 p# p7 Z6 E( V% u' H A
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."# A1 P2 |( s: i% u6 v8 Y* k
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
; M9 A; l7 X4 ]prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were; ?! Q) Y, o: n0 ^9 Q8 e
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls* b; H, B! c; M7 Q2 G
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer5 H ^! D: m3 O. \) v
every question."; K& A# R2 {2 D8 K! ? U
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
# ^ F: W/ d0 M* `4 xelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
# O- `" v0 w* r: i W+ u7 [$ Qfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But! `: X% A' H% @- X* q& W% q
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small% X8 e1 I P: x
number of vehicles
0 q% ~- X. L8 N- t+ w1 O6 FTracking down an electrical problem can be far more7 y, I" k9 o4 a) ~
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a8 H; E* x" k( @* y1 [- w6 f
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
0 @/ f5 X6 n% C* `$ L& ^source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.0 Q! f b$ {' C( G4 _
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
% j/ R$ G Y* t2 ywhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
4 H! L& ]8 s/ X+ z7 j. Etrace at all.
' ^7 s3 x9 ~0 l* B1 x9 ^House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call6 U$ b7 N, ^' ~9 H
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
# v7 m4 n8 P& ~$ i3 V% s4 g& l: }acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
, c* s. i- L1 M, R7 v2 qrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.) A' e! F9 @9 r# P8 M2 E1 x0 a
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,) V% o7 x& L O5 @
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and1 f0 `# x& b' S" H' U
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
8 B4 P+ g- ]" S) @3 x8 H4 h. Z+ F$ Relectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible3 F& X% m0 M$ v( P/ l& }
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only2 \" `% x* l5 p$ k! y( e' }* G$ j
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
& i# q; W( G* R3 I1 iby Toyota's lawyers.", w* ]9 _( r; g/ S$ o, B* g9 |
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
8 K: v9 R3 x2 w: S- y9 I x' Dproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our0 R7 o( \) S" ^! X# c4 `
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he- _) Q7 v4 Y2 ~4 u7 b5 w3 }
said. k, v& U$ d! m- P
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with' t5 e# @" q! A. a2 v
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
& Q3 t1 f9 x4 E$ U7 r+ D% s' H. x5 vgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating+ Y$ d' m9 B. z
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.: |& p0 l; r z+ E" c2 u& z
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying7 E7 D6 K8 C' W7 l* F
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread; p9 \, q4 o/ s) }) \: U
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
' @6 t3 [/ w. y- x* d; `# xautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
3 C9 u8 m/ X" M! I I+ o6 Kinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and- Z& x! d8 k' _' C
Chrysler.
- q% N7 Z6 `' ^8 c"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax( f( G8 q) S ^+ K r9 _( \4 e6 u: Q
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
( ~& e6 a# ^! n- g, J8 v, T4 S' sHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also% P6 e+ w! o# M9 a, y( v- \! E3 I
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
: k) ?& j0 X# l1 e7 \1 lwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty. @& q0 [' K# l
tough."
+ ? r) C1 Q+ g: l, B0 R" Z/ E---/ J% K7 o/ d2 |: \5 ~% C- r
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom+ P3 t! H' v5 x" ~
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to2 a% O1 `+ Z4 L* T0 O) b5 i0 N- _, J
this story.
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