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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
6 E- K. u$ }8 Z" {' @By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
' n- F: J* H; Y2 QWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.7 g# M1 H2 K8 g" s% d' h
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that; O0 q) O) N+ o; T1 m) O
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
. u4 H, @# Z8 Z7 R; d/ z m8 gsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration., z! s6 h. a( a# _
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
7 b7 c' w7 J7 e& D5 q6 ]causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.! A6 m q: R+ z5 P' v
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected$ `8 o$ _ w0 o7 O, J: ^% d& ]
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
7 _& [- A* W4 _+ k9 rtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
: A( R- `( L* S" J( @! Gmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
7 P3 l* D9 j; k. V% EHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal9 ^0 n. Z- W+ K+ f2 H* w% R
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
' s. [, |1 Q% |; lcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be6 r) z# \, }: T6 M
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could# N7 ]3 t* x% w
not stop her runaway Lexus.
7 w/ s3 g0 Y4 s: I" p8 p! {"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
$ j) t! ^( k& J! p% B9 g) b6 }: {/ FTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second0 @: S3 N- K% m
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.6 ]6 |2 H7 D3 l6 ]5 i' F: k2 o5 m
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
6 ]. Y0 H6 u9 L. qearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said( `. j$ m p" c: f5 b, F) u
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
" v1 t# @1 u4 T/ l- r' W, Cdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
@6 Y4 p! O1 ?4 G' g% o4 Othrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
G! M9 J9 w+ T H+ Vinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
- ?9 G7 a: m- j* c1 f9 C& E% i) E+ K+ ?Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
3 b& q, B3 Z# ]% zelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
# g! `1 a' T: b: Nthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a7 u) w' K. k5 C$ X7 X
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
9 n) S9 H& D4 k" ], p: B+ Ksaid.5 Y# ^' G _' D
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what* t# T, G- ]7 N2 W0 c! @
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
5 o" n6 Z' Y6 X" K: |& Y# Q3 j: yabout driving our products," Lentz said.0 F0 U+ D: W; w' K& d" @& R2 F x
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's0 Q, B1 g" p3 N+ ^
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
/ P2 f3 p* q3 i/ V% T. Irecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6 v* g H' }& n/ `3 _! P) y
million in the United States -- since last fall because of2 ]7 u( N4 q6 g/ U2 T
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
' i* Q/ u/ K; ~issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering4 l/ ~$ J- S4 d( L* X, p% A
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of. q7 t `$ `# Q1 S/ g
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
5 R1 R/ S% T" e' F6 o& \down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
% H7 M9 g* y: i: Y6 K0 J6 j( Areceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
0 Z1 N3 b; a4 ~& b1 I. eof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
: ^. j2 [% i% N/ mLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own# i: L6 r% P* y c. Y
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
& C- g* [" O; E% q" {understood the pain.
- s4 `5 w M& U" X"I know what those families go through," he said.
, e4 I! ~8 B; Z' B) `" sLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
8 |; v; [- p- ^/ }; ]2 v8 Xfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
$ W$ A$ W# q5 e5 C0 E/ f. mBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
% D- B8 M8 H# q# h! F: j, rHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
5 F W- q7 v m% d) _# l7 Jin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
- Y! t1 [* F' @# jLentz replied: "Not totally."( G- n* E( a( A) @$ e; g- Y' |
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were6 p M; o/ U8 W& @
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said8 p& d/ g s* ?3 Y8 l, J8 M& T
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
4 u8 ]% G" G/ ^4 V* g }3 ppedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
' X* z& b% {, S4 xvehicles already on the road.
4 m$ j9 Q. D/ h; D# Q, gMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
6 P! c# V" C3 j0 _7 j+ obefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full2 t, t. E" L0 A6 v
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
8 q+ r2 E3 }1 A0 ?9 n$ Qoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
) D+ L) F. C$ A, Ukilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.- p1 L2 Y0 T4 X0 Z! {+ Y1 u$ ?, I* {
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a' \6 K3 w& l/ ^: c; V
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony8 [" X1 K# O4 ~9 b& J- z; [
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight7 U9 o. R1 H- n. o0 ?
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal5 z* Y; k+ N4 w' [9 {! g4 n5 I
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to$ z: d+ x* k/ z% { s
restore the trust of our customers."
! I, n1 ]7 |' M. `7 @" q9 u, X" ^Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
7 @1 p. u) X0 g0 G) M; wSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly( v- i& N+ R* }0 Z$ D
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --! G% T, @: R* o/ \
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and7 o( B# y: F4 f2 J
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough! c1 m2 c3 F& t, z' d6 {, b$ L
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and F% l- y( ?, ~. i3 A* N( U
turn off the engine.& A: ?. \, B# p, c
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
# K* s% h9 k' k1 t; c4 EOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
) r& H0 {% r% ~/ ]"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she; ^* v' i" K; U1 C% N( N
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond3 O4 Q5 b9 s7 {& _
to her complaints.
& E" T; J- a/ p2 }0 gIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers/ g* X6 ?! D6 `3 s8 i9 s/ X
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic: C: k, T& m2 z* r; j
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
' `% T# r3 v& m9 o5 {"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric3 N) ], f1 o! n, {2 `) U* L
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
/ y/ v( a! r( S) q/ A+ I& Q"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut' n) {1 t3 h3 ]" b1 i
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."7 _# Q; W- W3 I. G V9 D
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in& U2 F9 r. B1 r9 Q2 O0 n* @) _
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
% Z3 A1 d8 I* L( p( _1 }" ~being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
4 u- T6 @. Q/ P ~, d. K7 Z) Mwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
* P" ?& X9 O6 p. Severy question."* g0 y4 Y) ]: T& Y4 E
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether: |7 {5 B# C" W
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The! ~4 S( w1 X9 {
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
4 j" ]6 ], i* p4 V; ~8 {committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
A F$ O+ Q1 e& D1 X; c2 unumber of vehicles
9 I0 `9 V5 e9 n7 _Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
$ r" y. _! }+ z6 H# e% l0 o [difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
0 o/ Q3 H( h/ d! y. D7 \& n/ H) Zmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
' L) D$ ]2 D. ?2 r N( X: M- Hsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
9 _; ?+ u1 m' b5 w4 W# q: Q6 ?Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
; J. q+ B5 `5 R9 T- bwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no! |7 n* C# R5 X' j
trace at all.5 K9 ?: \6 w" I( k* S3 J5 }9 _+ F+ g
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
8 \* d) C% s$ j7 [: p7 v9 pdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
/ d. A% Y4 z- [/ v9 U, a- bacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the. K6 [* r# E e0 K- O" {1 Z
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
! d! W' @" b7 o% w* a, K3 @0 zRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee," c% F. e) T; y' @9 T
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and( k* I' z, a J3 V% A* C
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
. S1 H) ~3 q0 q. y; b8 B( b! p; Selectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
. o. v0 @8 G* r& bcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only) f! v' T( r) }" ?" l9 I3 v. A
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained# e) q) U+ v1 `
by Toyota's lawyers."
# N. B: d8 P$ kLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
9 z- P3 s4 P, s- ]1 {" fproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our C3 m w' \0 m( ?. Q7 x
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he( p' D j0 j# h" V5 z) Y
said.
4 C" k+ Y1 m- o"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
5 Z8 I) x4 p5 k! A+ O4 aa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
% J$ |0 p: `2 q1 b# K+ N1 ^1 Kgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
6 F5 H7 e. q* N9 j$ r4 \officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
' T0 z5 g( Q- M. pSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying0 Y' \/ b$ i) x( s: m7 x
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread9 f0 Q! |; m5 M
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
1 Q: {+ D1 Z; j! `" R0 lautomaker, at least in part because of the government's/ @% O: C* t+ r/ {) m
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
9 o/ a4 G2 W3 K' gChrysler.
% a/ f8 V; Z/ j- u7 E"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax& l# x/ t' ?! C2 `: s7 @6 \
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a& S, p4 w% d' i4 T8 Q$ D7 Z8 a
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also1 W0 e+ c2 _+ b: E
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete; B1 C3 }) k) R# b/ M. g
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty/ U1 |0 m" ?% w- M
tough."
1 D* X$ M C, H! j---
# ]' I, Z @6 h7 J- G: H& e& r6 jAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
4 S3 x7 t' v" I/ f! LRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
2 I; j: W3 o2 x9 n: k6 ethis story.$ ~5 h9 B$ E* g
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