 鲜花( 1)  鸡蛋( 0)
|

楼主 |
发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
|
显示全部楼层
丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题# ~1 r( [8 |! @7 S1 r2 r/ Y
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
3 T) [& o% Y/ Q! K# ^* r" U, Q& QWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.6 ^1 @( y( `' f- t
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that% j2 t) y# I: {- F( |7 |, u
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
; o$ z4 \7 c" K L/ @solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
+ I. C& ]% E7 {' y: a; T( H* u, k"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
! u- C* Z5 e* ?+ Q* G' qcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.4 I0 K8 G' n5 U( d: T2 B( ?
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected$ N" ^9 r) z% C; d8 E% C! m
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and/ u: B/ @: W" z3 {' P# i
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
: J7 ^6 p* b7 t, M/ hmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
) \' V/ F/ m! nHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal8 n3 z2 Y9 g4 f: T' k$ v6 ?! S
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp! g6 g. @, L3 s
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
& v R2 c4 a) {; f4 ^% F4 Ufurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
( @( c. A+ a$ _4 P" ?9 \" U: Dnot stop her runaway Lexus.
" }. [6 _+ [- C& D* K) k6 X. P"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,0 ~- ~! U6 b+ s) f
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
2 h* D4 O" O: G1 F7 D1 y"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.: r% E! K6 s/ e2 z: Z7 n' ^! [3 r
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
, c9 \! j9 |( T+ f+ wearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
8 L% ]. J; r9 x3 [# l U"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has. m" V2 T. G4 u: M+ G. E
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway% B7 q! B+ Q3 {9 j. Z
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
6 }% L2 Y- ^( b0 {9 finvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."& l G. ]4 I; L' |, W* C) W
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an& l, E( P+ ^: Q1 A
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of: H! O0 [" X- ~6 w+ t+ L7 C- P
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a& ]% P$ R. s% l3 |, b
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he: a; u! s$ W' A, k
said.
/ G+ s7 j/ t: v8 A# m+ B% l9 Z5 @& D) HAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what( g% ~; K% o! n6 M/ D# _( m* G
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
. k9 G- H8 z" Y) D4 m% h3 R- iabout driving our products," Lentz said.
3 v$ \+ I0 Y8 D8 x; { HThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's6 ~$ m- t, u" ^5 F" Y
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
- w/ U. v+ z$ n& B% e0 Nrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6& k6 Y5 g' \% r+ ?+ `
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
+ H. F3 q* l/ Q/ K; }unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking& X6 ]- {& H2 a4 Y. p! W
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
& O, x' ^. o' b( X3 Oconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
/ J/ t$ Y4 ?6 M* vtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow. V! z0 _# M! C9 _$ W0 \
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has3 U& `* a# ]3 M# Z* U6 U
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
/ `7 q0 P& U+ k' fof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
; p2 J/ t6 g: x$ t2 _1 X" Z. {Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
! ]8 h$ j5 [* f* v9 {. k( r' V3 lbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he' f8 M0 ~$ d/ O1 y
understood the pain.4 d" B" I$ ~4 j# S3 Y4 o
"I know what those families go through," he said.. M( Z7 b/ m* B+ S
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
1 v9 S1 B9 o4 [" E5 ]fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.( o! n, [( s* z* H. M$ T
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
" J( f4 D6 [$ |7 oHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
* z! m( ~7 y' [5 O+ T6 D4 win place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,1 `. a5 ^# |& b) J5 T
Lentz replied: "Not totally."' v0 |6 T* L1 b6 Q, v- Q
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were. S1 P! E# k: C9 d
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said# C. m+ I. J/ t
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas3 i" U, G' ^6 @4 Y! J. g8 p
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its* Z+ {; Z& h# P$ \; j" T1 V, o
vehicles already on the road." C; j6 v7 S7 z' }# L2 x
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify' O% x% M+ N% D3 L7 X5 g4 W
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full0 r0 \( x& F; _% Q3 I
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
/ ?7 j2 P7 I1 K7 Zoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were6 N1 V- }/ S: o# _+ g7 j
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems. o. M8 ~2 l# Z( k' _% m2 |5 L( k
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
: L- |+ U/ T, G; X" ttragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
0 B4 q4 `% }4 n4 Cfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
7 U! u3 Z! |4 F" T1 RCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal8 C6 D2 Q) Q* L3 \. R
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
# B2 b$ _2 v. i# s6 W% brestore the trust of our customers."
) g" Y/ k! X2 J5 L6 }, l1 OLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from, J% |! W- _. n8 X) ?1 G; d
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly: Q( Y! m }1 O3 U7 F' ?9 \
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
- g6 c1 V: x( yshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
8 R$ T9 l6 k. N9 w Phitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
8 t0 W/ L5 U. }/ cthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and% z1 t& l) ?1 O# ?# S
turn off the engine.
* I; k2 U2 F+ g' a$ jFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
1 W7 V& ]2 Z6 P/ ZOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."& g1 ]0 h* S1 K- A0 {! ?0 [
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
9 s& b4 |5 R$ k' z' c. Qsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond5 n {8 b* O5 |5 U
to her complaints.
! ~: L( F) {" R8 W; Q' V( PIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
7 g6 _8 f; @! r; t8 Z2 E; `returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
$ R1 g2 i$ V5 T. D" n0 z8 \, @8 Qmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
6 q/ J; }( j9 f3 r1 Z* K, r"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric1 x, z R- Q9 J: J( R* b- G
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited3 e! |4 E7 H* H- W7 U
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut @- \* g1 V* f! q7 R3 Z v$ |
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
9 F5 [ a% q9 f$ A P( L2 XTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
" C( _& `7 v6 \9 U/ Tprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
* j" [/ [" [' Rbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
* x' u, A3 F5 o0 N K. M9 c0 _ bwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer/ A( v+ S. z! a* F j. {
every question."# N" a1 k4 ^ q
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
" p3 j+ G, W4 @, c" A& {% zelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The e2 V/ N7 Z/ B2 F$ B" |
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
8 {% X+ p# y7 pcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small1 z6 U1 r# a" u$ L" c$ J6 S5 q
number of vehicles" ~: X* L7 O& c6 h, n' H5 g
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
: f' r% y* d5 A2 }( Ndifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
7 c5 `( }/ y$ I1 gmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one# A- K7 a7 O9 J F1 y. o V
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.8 y( U! l" |! d4 {$ e) m. z
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
5 T/ `9 R. t6 f/ gwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
! P- u* z9 h+ e% F8 A2 Ftrace at all.8 @* j* y; L( T) A
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
- S$ x( z( J9 sdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
9 `" [- A- B# g( Racceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
2 G8 W' ^/ e" drecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
2 O& J( c4 Z4 Q' ?2 M, v- m, L/ O$ iRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
4 \2 d; h8 {! w; P2 Z5 bsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and8 n7 ^4 p6 ]8 o1 b
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the, P( o0 E6 j+ x& U/ B1 I9 D% v
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
5 i: B) T4 |9 {' n1 D& _+ Mcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only, z9 O6 E7 N1 `7 |6 S0 d
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained& V8 G4 W- e9 v. G
by Toyota's lawyers."
& t& i) \! a" {# g3 LLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of5 S x! [3 [2 a" ]0 r5 T q
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
, ^$ X# X+ m! Y1 Ncustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he: ~8 A- s0 o6 ]; k5 `6 X M1 n j
said.
8 {3 J2 I8 }* q- x8 ?"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with* P, t2 e+ U c
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
, i$ r# g0 ?! ^. xgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
7 q% Z0 ?. P0 N4 xofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.3 p% _2 t, ~9 ^" g/ q
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying* H* |0 {, h+ m7 B& P
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
: y/ C7 |0 n2 N- o; z' Yrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the/ d1 U, @! D1 W7 Q2 k1 q5 z
automaker, at least in part because of the government's ?7 M/ I& @7 @& J8 h4 g* P
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and9 X4 U2 _; e, v* d
Chrysler.
& }. F! {9 A |6 u: H% Z"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax2 K9 @2 C2 \# Z6 T* k$ Q
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a K& k1 [4 H. F' E1 p
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
+ K# h* n# K6 d; G8 c9 m' {; xserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
2 l# U) ?9 h/ M* I- j- l8 jwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
( }# R# `# P4 W/ m* G U/ ]tough."
9 V% T( `/ y8 q( u q( f {% z' e! v---& j1 J/ u' u+ b6 Q7 h8 o
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom4 Y. e5 j$ c) m. S* ?
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
% K! _" Y9 U+ o; `9 v+ @# xthis story.2 R4 m7 }5 _) ^8 V7 Z
$ |7 m" j& {9 n8 v
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
|