 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; r2 G J A! l+ A
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS) P" Z: [3 P0 L) p
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
/ o; s* O, \, V5 Y! _- y- Y! M* Doperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
$ }! }0 u6 A8 z% Ythe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
2 @- r$ ]. z2 p3 x; Asolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
$ O k/ E B0 d( u* w {- v"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
* X0 ]: ?+ [5 u; C8 Ccauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
W3 c5 }% a6 d; J, Z6 ^However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected; y9 ]9 V/ x' t& [' U* Y
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
! S' }# k- M( S# h+ vtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
. S" d2 Z6 |' K$ S9 o+ R! Emats and sticking accelerator pedals.2 J4 y3 T$ u$ _9 N2 _' r$ K l- P
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal3 c. r/ g" \8 J0 u/ }' Q2 m7 ~
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
5 j; H2 x0 g! A% T: lcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be3 ^0 S& b7 {2 I
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
. k" W) i' f2 k5 U$ Fnot stop her runaway Lexus.
* C5 n' o$ }/ K% r"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,- p c3 h5 Y1 l; d
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second- o; {8 { n2 n: Q- D
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
: }' A& F' |: ]! U; @Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
6 F; |! ^* p& O" Q6 O) x# l" Cearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said E3 M3 q' S! p' J3 `. d
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has$ N5 d6 B! ]% l, s6 u1 a
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
! c3 f; y. c6 wthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
4 J, Z2 x7 e0 k, [* t; W3 m7 Oinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
5 K7 o9 J& u8 B# u: r& ~Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
! A$ r9 J4 I% ~+ p% }& w' Q( nelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of! b; p m+ E, w6 a; P3 A. Y/ x
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a) O" x7 l2 w# K, q) u8 N
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
$ `# P4 t4 {" J1 B9 V3 `said.* e- }5 q: j) `9 K6 i/ h5 {, g5 n
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
/ f9 i! N/ X) A9 Ahappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
. [' f$ L5 V4 l6 _3 tabout driving our products," Lentz said.
4 e- T: r2 x6 ~5 H: H nThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
) } e+ i" L& Z! W1 O R5 S4 dproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
5 X7 p8 t" [4 |, l; t+ Irecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6$ U" y$ C5 R7 y) g
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
5 e( I8 X- k5 b' u' k8 uunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
( G9 X/ x; a `4 T1 Q) Kissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering- ~) x& A w4 F e
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
- F1 G, q, u8 X6 X# atheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
; s7 Z) F( P e5 U) o) C! e0 kdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has& S0 u' n' V4 a7 G* v
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration& f/ B& A* u1 U# M8 D3 G
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
2 Z$ X9 G' O7 C" a" C9 @Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own( r( J+ S* g: @2 q2 ]7 c9 J% B
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he O2 y( ]" t' _6 i2 u
understood the pain.0 w: E* F6 ]7 L) e$ h; F1 a
"I know what those families go through," he said.
$ a7 W! \% O5 @5 J9 RLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
- t. p/ a* X9 T9 }" B& Qfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.* g" d& Y( R- f
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman) `- g1 Z1 p; n# v( H
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
+ s1 K4 U! \( E$ t# K7 fin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,- _$ d1 \: }( a8 A$ ]) n
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
) L; G, k& i8 E% J1 hStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
" N1 g- P+ R- @8 G5 ^1 y"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
+ H- y) z1 \& n& NToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas( ?9 }) x. i" U# k
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
8 J1 u( r8 B3 d* x$ jvehicles already on the road.
' e1 X, P# O B5 O$ d7 J5 aMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
9 D% U# A! {. Y: R% `: Abefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full+ x, g. l0 i3 O
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and2 x5 I* F6 F! }
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
% u! D x- y3 _killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
' ?, F. l$ {5 s"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
6 C9 x ~* ?2 ]9 _; D% q etragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony/ ?% ?; t8 H8 a3 Y* }- f9 D0 r
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
' ]9 [5 W& S$ b3 m, ^( g4 q- lCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal7 m( B7 W% s/ E2 {
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to! E+ F- ^6 p# A; w9 K: R6 D1 p
restore the trust of our customers." S$ D3 X; H$ s+ f: o/ |+ @4 J
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from0 k! L. O& Q! O6 `, C( R/ D
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
; V& E/ R, _' p6 Uzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --# f4 H$ L2 F6 n" D) n
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and7 t% E( j& J' s. E" N4 Q' K( p
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough% ]' b: ~$ A6 c' ]' W" w
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and9 ?: r$ ]8 D& }+ h! I
turn off the engine.( {# w0 U0 w4 q! P
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
* j- w8 U/ I1 ?# L' \' Y9 ~' XOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
! H8 ?* r: k% [, R. _. ^( |- U* Y"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she1 M( D' r! @5 {: p
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond w/ V* I) }1 C
to her complaints.
% w9 F! ]. f- F# q9 L) s' wIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers: l% C; i0 ]# t. k; c1 v
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
$ I% x, a, T; U; [; y& vmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
# ]$ _( U0 U8 t. L* ^"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric }- u# B* ]4 H' q2 Q4 q+ E3 m: g
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited: V7 {! f6 m2 c3 f. ~5 d* a
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
O: H7 G1 D u4 [% joff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
. ~) N6 ^2 l, u$ n! O5 jTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in/ t4 ^4 y [* u& @2 M9 ~& P7 h
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were4 _. w3 e F9 o. n0 m4 `
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
# d, o$ k7 }, T+ s' Y7 Uwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer1 T) {( b$ r' }+ g
every question."2 _0 U9 n, a" ?7 h
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether7 x) t' I5 L# i3 W' E4 n6 @1 _
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The" @3 e1 U- p+ U- G' k0 j, I+ L
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
( k0 m3 c' ?2 v' o& icommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
3 {# n2 o' y% |* onumber of vehicles
: t) {) j8 R2 |, d8 y2 kTracking down an electrical problem can be far more- X5 W, k: L+ ^0 j/ z
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a6 a4 N4 D+ T. Z0 s9 E: f# A# T* u
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
$ }. x9 k- p! O- hsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
2 g8 n: A( C% R: {# uMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
e1 O, [& L7 kwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
% {, k; a% ^7 B. d0 ^- i/ N+ U# ?trace at all.
! a6 r; t; G3 H5 l# x7 hHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
- j+ A1 Y4 p) p7 J/ T7 T' J' _database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
: M7 c$ w9 q9 X5 o6 Kacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the3 K7 k( r+ {# G3 @) Z4 a
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.( ]# R+ l9 X/ W" ?
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee," z- E( t* X! g2 D4 c+ H
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and! c) Q3 U% F" y+ c: f. H; r3 w6 p
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the+ k! i, [% ?: m4 S
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible9 u- J& U* }( a I& X, N$ m e) S. s
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only- K" l/ L- z' n$ e1 A
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained, k0 k3 w* s( V8 k- e' l
by Toyota's lawyers."
( L1 ^" a" H8 L& @- G8 c1 C! lLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of* [; a7 c) I# `4 k0 L
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our- C# | O+ @ q0 }( ^
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
; u0 A, i V* q7 X/ f1 bsaid.
! d" l: s& g7 B* O1 N"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
8 `. a& ]+ M3 ~) R/ x7 H7 K) @* Ya rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
. |1 ^+ D5 r @! Q6 agood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating* ]' o" _" ^8 M8 g4 i G
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
3 K% s* d+ u; A; |7 ^- w- Q* }Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
) ^' @. [: e8 k/ qmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread; P# G5 s6 k, P' d* D
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the7 M5 m& w6 W/ n4 D% r% ~! t
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
/ o, L/ S1 T. x5 i. B0 Sinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
& ~: B7 k2 m! H* Z' j2 B: E# mChrysler.1 t/ \$ \' O* d2 d# E D. F
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax0 R: z8 `9 |, B! @
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a( _ B/ e' L) O4 ^" ]" A9 U
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
) W! i' [% ?. V1 R& A& j: Nserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete( V) w) \. @- x" @; y. V0 V
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
' u( i. `! F/ C: s/ R3 Btough."' v2 S1 H0 L, r, C" e
---
. z0 j& m+ S+ j1 X% EAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom2 n7 T# x& J; A: a6 K6 [$ }
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
: `% l5 M# E3 J9 i9 H/ hthis story.) F0 v% ?: F8 Y# o3 B+ B& d& L1 r
7 _" k( y7 ^, L# k3 Y4 s# F: y; v
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
|