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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
1 r; z: Y3 `; k# T5 u* v* j! T" aBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
! K' ~# Q3 H3 }- d# c5 jWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S., k8 [9 r, e h- ?$ f
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that* U5 H, M) c9 G, |- c7 g4 X
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
; E$ @5 e2 K/ S; P% S' Lsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
3 h7 y8 [+ o( X& u5 A. C. j"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
7 k6 d' [* \8 }0 Rcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
1 a/ r# P' h+ c" k1 x2 b, o& {However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
8 G) g% a- \. V2 W% ?: f+ bacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
7 g0 @' O' \' r9 X! V! p; ttrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
9 Q) \' O: R/ [4 m: S( Y0 Omats and sticking accelerator pedals.1 q2 k# _; B. S7 f- X W u( p
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal) [: k( _7 N! l# ?; C. z
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp% r1 ` i2 o0 k6 \
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be; J1 e; @4 T8 ^" a
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
2 e, H7 z- `, @, }& h6 x5 T/ Dnot stop her runaway Lexus.
" H1 t$ X% M. ^ x( _"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
" i0 X% F" G2 H+ g" q& a) t! b7 OTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
+ D% _( E/ v( |9 Z. i* c- Q"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
+ S7 f+ v8 K2 _( \+ f5 GTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
9 c1 P* J% L+ Z+ M" Fearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said# F0 N* Z" A+ e2 B8 z
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has- i7 Q3 h/ {9 e
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway# k' d5 w9 R) q& a1 E& `
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
$ M J1 |1 e, l' X% J7 hinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
8 U! R8 |& R0 e" H" y- ^Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an, B' v8 X7 B2 @' L
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
8 c9 }5 O! C( N& J2 E. B. c/ othe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a7 {+ A+ J! p" s( Z( h* k: s5 t
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he# \$ K! U6 I% {; Y
said.
- V2 @+ }7 A& \! x0 t6 GAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
6 T( F' B m" U7 Y: F Vhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe5 a' u3 I. L5 o5 U- d5 ^: f' H! B
about driving our products," Lentz said.( v0 d2 W8 V5 X; S4 W
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
- l% I6 p6 P) ]% gproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has( I' W, n& ~6 Z& ^ ?
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
1 _) } N+ ?5 Y' qmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of6 V& y \2 K. D* v2 d5 J
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking% D3 P; w; s, R6 @3 V: h) `+ ?
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
# w( A3 P, ^( D" d' econcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
* v0 c8 b, L$ E; Z7 ttheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
& h" e/ T1 U+ n# Ndown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has& P" D, [7 P- Z* t% w
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
; T$ \9 E3 f/ N) Fof Toyota vehicles since 2000.( g2 m! C; ?# \$ N/ r* M5 j% n& f
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own0 R' K5 b& [0 L+ ^0 F
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he& L. X: O4 m& I+ `4 n
understood the pain.# U+ f* U; i _: X" \+ v/ x" S
"I know what those families go through," he said.+ r/ W- F3 [* T+ S
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
0 z( z: O' z ~fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
" |) g5 X! \% l2 [; q, RBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman1 V: J' `" C( S6 b5 b: S
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put9 I& q& z8 T9 b$ ^) x% y6 V
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
E8 \+ w4 \* v2 Y* ?& GLentz replied: "Not totally."
* t% R& y6 u" ]; f3 @( }, H8 F6 ]Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
c. N$ O5 {' E) k9 J, N! ["very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
! A ^3 m' ^4 I2 @! u7 \( uToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
9 V% f1 O1 ?# \* S1 K" `; Vpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
* y+ o0 ]- f5 O( M- v* }3 @vehicles already on the road.
0 X. p1 N6 E3 S4 M% G+ uMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify% ?7 E p# h( y7 I4 z! i
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
6 l8 O% E( |, G( @1 i' C; ~responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
2 @+ |/ k+ j6 e1 W% Joffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were6 q. A: k0 \; d/ L- R! ^
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
8 [: j0 E/ m* J6 g"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
: J3 N( g$ G3 F* u4 m% Z; }$ mtragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
) } d# c/ c5 |! \5 Q' ifor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight( o8 ?0 F$ n% W t* F# C2 K
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal0 G. F: k% e; I8 x
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
0 V1 p0 J- N5 D* n3 Yrestore the trust of our customers."( m7 j: Y* { l8 Q z' U0 e
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from$ j# d' s* Q2 E- I) e% x/ B G
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly! |% \; g! K4 @" ^/ e' V
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
1 a# P6 i1 ~- O# C' n S$ l9 }* q8 Qshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
0 j( W5 c% o8 i9 l l7 a! shitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough ~5 G6 [3 c9 E2 s, w
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and$ i4 K: {' X* {# v* q4 h
turn off the engine.
* u% Z+ w# I1 v& ?4 JFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of" D/ B' w5 l) T" D. }/ y) }
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience.") p8 c, Q+ Q. E* \9 ^
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
3 q$ B0 O O) ] a [( A7 ksaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
# U" U$ _; e; i% z) O% ]7 Qto her complaints.& u9 q6 L& a0 P: d
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
A5 F9 l: [! Jreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
6 s/ a, M1 P% Q+ \( Jmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars. `3 M/ I; k1 w3 X
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
3 K, F- @5 U! L ^1 ethrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
' M: Q y8 z5 b' c"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
. ]5 ~* r/ u8 o2 _- w, ~off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
& k+ i$ y' |+ E% d' `9 Y k; ^Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
5 {8 F+ u0 D+ W2 e; u% vprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were/ U; V1 Y" e1 y: ^
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
& |4 K" r) l) \' o9 x5 s2 Z6 P% ewere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
( g: ]6 Q0 A2 N6 ]& V0 F tevery question."
: a3 k- Y$ Q6 a; c( U+ yToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether) n' o! X/ H# r3 [
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The- N1 q4 S$ H/ B- v" y
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But& J1 X* ?( ~; V
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small' P8 Y+ e( G% k
number of vehicles
/ \1 B% U: p; J5 Z) X: ?- \Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more8 h/ h/ i; v! U9 k, `6 a
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a1 @' ^% o+ B( X$ N
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
, Q: a K: G# W: ^2 J& P) e: Wsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car./ z! B# u8 g K
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
( y$ w; Z/ X8 u9 k6 B: rwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no$ D/ k* L9 e& [1 ]4 E
trace at all.- f* e) E4 Q' P5 _; g9 r
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call% _4 T, X5 K" r O2 y9 G
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden I# G @/ j" F8 E
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
. M, ?; |* ]7 R1 X& @% r0 y3 irecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
% E8 r; o- T- n" o. `1 ARep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
" J% u' o2 j& U7 A6 |3 Y- Esaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
$ v, C1 M j* ` ?1 w5 i7 eother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the$ x' }. N5 ^! \0 ]7 a
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
' K0 H1 d+ E! e" b- e1 V/ Z" jcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only4 S( L& p% M3 x! K* I# l2 k
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
- Z' j% L5 l1 xby Toyota's lawyers."
! m+ m6 U+ z4 h( b, XLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
1 D: w, j0 j; {1 oproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our3 w+ ?2 @+ b9 \: U* Y3 ^
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he ~, G; b3 g- c# ? [, }2 W, @
said.+ [; a) c& v* q! E# e" c
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
+ p2 N6 r( R: p& ~( h+ ?% j8 M9 z8 Wa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our! L( F0 n: g; W7 H c
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating& R0 @7 U; Z& W0 g/ p/ U
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.5 Z4 P& E2 p+ M+ p) p* h
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying$ u% v) w( b$ F* v
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread4 V; N7 W7 G. A" p
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the$ G+ y! p# f9 K/ o) G
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
# k y: @- |# K! sinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
/ |) y1 @& \8 R( |" \6 oChrysler.( x1 B3 s* u6 ^
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax& V' i% H0 _5 C/ }; [
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a, _! H- S% ^, C% o
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
$ k$ E) u8 T# \' k/ ?served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete: o% ~+ r6 Q4 l# U" k* D
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
+ P5 Q' @/ R: M3 w- M" otough."# V& z' V* ]: T' r
---
0 m0 V" j: f! E9 X0 ~Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom2 t. I8 V! v; m# W; ~/ K( A/ d
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to* M5 U" v- |! A# R* a Q4 i
this story.! y. P- x; m: j2 F# V
9 l& v# Z/ U: ~5 ~0 C-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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