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发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
; w. O1 u6 J7 p" H/ sBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS3 b8 Z0 C! D! B+ ?
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.1 C0 }3 p) A( G* J7 W4 b
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
2 i5 Y) m% k2 ^ Z3 f; o `the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"; u2 A' c/ t+ D8 o, ?, H
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
5 j) Y0 N9 A7 }8 F4 \$ ~"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
1 Q9 ?4 v! ]; `5 W6 k( Ccauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
) M- v0 A/ k6 Y3 C+ j) f bHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
. r5 c- ^. E, p4 S! vacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
6 k, ~4 I( h, i$ n2 y+ h- v8 [* `trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
6 u: T( b7 o; _' Mmats and sticking accelerator pedals.2 U3 c# z/ }$ u7 D
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal6 h* E; W8 U8 K; u& l
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp6 y# `* `1 B' s* k4 F
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be3 D# W4 G+ H3 A8 V5 ^: S
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
1 n5 \) F' V& m* hnot stop her runaway Lexus.4 L" A* u) A7 k" y+ T
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,( E0 Q; F0 l" S0 _2 i. z+ Q" W: e
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second& L1 M* U9 ]/ w5 L6 ?& R. i! | w- q
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.6 A8 |! ?6 n/ G! u2 ?
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
1 }: E4 A5 o4 y2 B D1 j( rearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
0 I5 Y$ H- d) m4 j- c"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has' U7 ?3 ~4 }9 ^6 b n
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway! y/ m" J" m, g8 g' R3 T4 T
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
) C) O! x: }6 v6 e4 xinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
: Q/ r# b! w% C7 _ zLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an7 X& C- b* [/ Q1 r2 W
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of( O/ f7 z s( s" e* \
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a' h& s6 B4 w. z) R/ {
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
. j& @1 @$ k' X8 ^# c, Usaid.
5 o3 l, y! h* O. t; X1 ?+ x9 y+ kAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
" }' N8 }# X% Phappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
; A& V b9 L7 yabout driving our products," Lentz said.
4 [/ E& B5 o8 B4 M+ u. r4 ^3 e/ iThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
^1 N( E$ A/ f6 W1 e0 w5 N" s& O- uproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
. _ {1 {8 b7 G8 w% M4 J- h Trecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6+ Q8 j/ d! w0 M4 u
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
6 {+ p: b* }* m# a! Munintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking* g" \* u% _. ~( D9 Z" R
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering7 S! k( F. x7 ^" [1 ]
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
5 D9 H9 {& R- N# K0 S6 {/ _2 s6 ^their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow& ?; u/ X+ v+ y+ V' o! g4 h; W
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
; i& R, p5 f( b% hreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
: W8 {4 }3 K0 @; sof Toyota vehicles since 2000." `8 f% C T( d8 F2 F
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own! t$ c" w2 O$ _; k3 C5 _
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he3 }1 d1 S: Y, Y# ?
understood the pain.
# |( [ R4 A& {$ Z' }; G$ O"I know what those families go through," he said.
' M/ r1 _7 m) `9 @Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
9 j! P- w. ]! W" ^) x% wfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.' B+ ^( G0 m" D4 |6 S& k, ~# U+ j! |% `
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
$ M, H0 Z& s3 Q4 h: V& l! }Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put1 r, {5 s' S! E$ G
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
h! _* l7 U9 Y+ y; r* h+ [! tLentz replied: "Not totally."
{- V. v* F3 ]0 ^# C0 TStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were' ?( g. e/ E1 u, L
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said: B' v+ b. F' s5 T
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas; A" J% u; K; m* X
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
: J8 _2 F: A2 B2 G0 zvehicles already on the road.
+ t4 E- P8 m7 D) }Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
$ I$ ^+ u6 `8 o3 L/ {0 `before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full+ N' ^- h U2 c' U5 E/ p' r
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
a1 k" o# Y! S3 _( s1 F2 [9 J8 goffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were g: n9 s: D* g- ]$ D
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.1 f* p4 T5 O& S( ]5 }
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
- Q( p- J5 r3 ~$ r7 P( O* btragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony4 _( x: ` r2 T- I2 j9 w
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight: w1 @6 A5 a r# {- @
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
4 v. H1 u$ y1 ]3 c" u. }4 ^commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
! e' G! X* v' Urestore the trust of our customers."
& \( F) O, a. C8 D; YLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
* {, `+ i& \' {5 H( Q3 c2 JSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly$ I0 R! h5 r* V( S) M
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --4 O5 o2 R, A. W1 `
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and) u9 N( A4 \7 s! V3 X
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
- a$ @ P/ ]$ r4 y) U( Fthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and) l9 q. K, p7 y! N4 a
turn off the engine.( j3 i6 a) k! ~8 j, v1 Q8 |
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of: v4 T0 I; t; b+ W, O8 I
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."9 f4 J0 A! I5 T" o7 v2 m
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
" _! [( y0 w9 [said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond" w9 n: S8 |5 y. e: K
to her complaints.
) H3 Q: n' q4 R, U# h" ]; TIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers+ {$ |2 Z8 I5 W& B
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic) m: w# _# z3 T) V9 z- e
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
* E f4 R3 g% |$ ~" V* f2 p: m' b: A"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric/ k0 p0 i3 ]5 g" t
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited5 s e$ J- ]. |! [2 b# t1 @
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut8 B9 v. C; H5 K" [7 p9 C& K+ z
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
T# A; O* ^1 b* X8 w! z) ]. STransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
7 a, u( L9 h2 h) n5 L' C {: G" lprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
! n5 y" A4 O+ I$ `being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls. C- ^1 q5 ~8 O5 |6 g. k
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
6 z' |, `, X2 x# Wevery question.") P" E; ~+ o0 A8 M' s/ R
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
4 M2 U' ~& |0 ]. l) selectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The6 a3 e7 ^, i/ Q. g# z
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
- t- s; {8 @, R4 i; Xcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
9 a! I4 F+ t- s: o* U! Unumber of vehicles4 B# j! \, J- V; ]3 V
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more# k5 A* f. U$ J7 i$ C) P. H
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a! b+ K) S' i5 s. ~% e# N2 |3 @# U- q
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one* G4 C3 P% t0 m# V6 o( j% t
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.! b2 Z! B8 P, T
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,% s+ H- @* |2 @! ^: k6 T
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no, n& @( ]' f! C3 {8 b& Q
trace at all.
* d3 P; N* i* t- C! r! V) ?- GHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
7 J7 D; f, C% ]+ t- S2 c% C" ldatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden/ I% K" c/ G4 u# ` m
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
- S. z1 |9 @3 T- h: R: P0 D4 Yrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.' t9 {4 K' V& M% E' _) U' \
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,# Q, `4 I# |) c3 {) `
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
1 b" \% e; H/ {8 w _& `other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the9 b9 u/ I ]5 y4 J+ [
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible4 ~8 a! J8 t4 A1 I8 x
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
$ \+ i8 N6 V* Osuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained4 t0 y) q1 U3 [+ Z
by Toyota's lawyers."
" G0 n. o) x% U3 wLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of' D% Y+ ~" d" r# w& V& A
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
( ^0 Y& Y: ~& }5 R2 ~customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he6 T6 n8 G& m- F
said.; _+ W. R( k2 f y+ ~7 j; D
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
) o- f% F8 A) k" Y2 g& s4 ^a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
/ H( r2 u$ |+ {* Fgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating: ]- L: A9 w3 _) F" O
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.5 e- m M6 u5 K5 k) S1 }: V* d
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying8 `! [) Q% A0 f" w
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
& p: }# U, c/ ^7 |9 irancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the- |6 q8 X$ a. U9 m+ |; W
automaker, at least in part because of the government's# Q/ Y* l8 }: K7 F; D0 \
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and7 h1 p9 L" ~, C1 N8 U
Chrysler.( s; Y0 n/ |. c7 K' i: k( K
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax7 j% B9 k* s u- F2 i
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a+ V6 f9 c9 x' C# X
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
9 h5 s, A0 ^) I$ Xserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
& f) q B$ `, [7 u# Lwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
- Z5 H5 z$ m, g9 N3 z( n# x- dtough."$ b9 v- m1 V6 n, T
---
6 x0 ]0 [5 E* z8 O' D: p6 U/ ZAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
+ I4 A' u& v0 W6 ]; {0 LRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
( h- q3 H3 C4 i. S. g0 F' O Q. ythis story.
+ e) y7 u2 L9 M+ V9 u, N! T, u6 x2 T8 Z
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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