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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题5 m i, @" q5 {
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS4 W: T8 y4 C+ R$ g2 a0 w8 m( H
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
1 T s( ?. ^7 R7 ^! y8 T/ o: {operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
; w' @, w1 b. @! o# [7 `the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"! O+ l& U* Y7 b- {$ I
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
$ P- w0 c0 d$ J3 z6 @"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
! B a, k1 S" S Icauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
% f$ P, r A0 y2 @$ xHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected! k! e: e& j* {" w6 F9 H4 j
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
9 |- @4 t9 f$ L3 x; n+ @$ |trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor7 N# w9 W2 h, C5 _5 P, J
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.' N* Z* `' ~, R' R2 t
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
* A) [3 i+ e/ {% \# I2 {and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
; I Q' |' U; jcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be0 z9 j1 |9 _" d0 X! m/ d4 ?
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could0 B9 o. Q5 l1 J1 [, K" V
not stop her runaway Lexus.
% i' h E, U/ Z: m: e3 }"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
4 W0 b+ L0 a* q0 [6 f7 jTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second& C4 Y# b0 N- f' C5 S4 j4 [, e7 a
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
. E5 F& r7 S ^, u6 k, \* mTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
: X- ^! r5 V' jearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said5 s& [! k3 D( Z2 p
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
- }+ Z; d X' ]% e" L* j% x# Hdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway8 k* K0 J" p6 I. i$ ? Q% ~- B
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's/ m& n4 x5 k/ H. m
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."( @* _8 N1 Z+ v/ i
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an1 K; E! J9 m; f
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
3 u+ K8 Y! @# F; q% X! r& b$ n+ Nthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
8 f& u) I0 b2 w* Amalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
' E' \3 j* ~1 f5 T; S( Vsaid.7 }, k* Q+ G0 |2 \/ u3 O$ Z0 E
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
9 z( f! {& {. a2 C- O, shappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe. T& r) z: |4 D( ^0 U
about driving our products," Lentz said., u0 y, v2 }) ~& n
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's6 ?5 z! P* {- x9 n# }) ]* d1 X7 Q
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
% C, U, P: V' T$ ]1 S' |: D* Lrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
- g7 _+ |. _ emillion in the United States -- since last fall because of( ^0 d0 K4 ?+ u
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking" c( v- n) a# a7 \, Z
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering! ?, D# N9 c) K
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of8 w) q* K j5 P1 d% Q I
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow2 n: J& N7 x9 \/ Q' }
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
6 S) L5 p3 [1 z( N& Z: U7 Jreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration2 X' F1 M: `& m( P* J6 x* T9 K
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
, u/ E% y* o# D0 ~$ ?Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
; T& S* e* D' o* @0 E! @brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he4 _$ L. U! f$ ^& T
understood the pain.
. H3 Z/ G2 |: k7 E% |"I know what those families go through," he said.; T+ ?* x2 M/ L
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
9 I: n5 A) ?8 @fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.- J3 a2 v$ S9 B2 A$ y
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman+ x6 B$ ~ q U/ T8 l q& ?
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put8 a! H/ D) p8 M3 M( U
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it, V; n+ o9 ^% s# @& l
Lentz replied: "Not totally." W+ i6 ^6 S6 T" J6 I3 e
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
% ]6 l; S" P8 j. z' \6 c. Z) }+ T* r+ \"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said) I( N) d# n: N6 Z( e
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
, h4 v. y% z$ d5 _0 npedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
& `3 {- Y% _8 D2 E. lvehicles already on the road.6 w' S) M6 c, M. w
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
/ z9 d) n @2 nbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
4 d6 _4 S8 X6 |responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
( Q. N" u1 R. k6 Joffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
. n4 o- S) {! B, Skilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
$ c$ u9 l2 e3 T9 E8 y ]"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
& {; M* w3 ~+ E. t& Ktragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony ^' ~9 I/ S1 U
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
9 x7 l+ [" c! M$ [3 q& w+ }Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal/ W3 Z& X9 u! ]0 g2 v7 L* U
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to: {5 U9 Z& T u. N% V1 @
restore the trust of our customers."; Z2 j0 r# K- q: N! {
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from; \4 u; U0 u. Q( J% O
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
4 O9 S2 G' H5 Q( W8 U. ]zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --- x+ T; Z- k% o) `
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and' z! U' w0 O" y; P( S% j* ]% `$ e
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough! n) n) M8 J4 I0 x, v8 c
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
" c1 ?4 _4 l" J, iturn off the engine.' a. ~* s6 E2 U8 m6 G
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of4 U% m! T, x1 P
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
$ Z+ r$ ]* B: d \( t! T! Z G5 b"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she7 u& y( P4 e- r9 w' w
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond5 l7 b1 }# }6 z8 \9 p7 I
to her complaints.0 F5 f4 H& Z% ?
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers D: R, k) r: v- a; {
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
8 ~9 k1 t! O _4 E3 r( Z' gmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.- |$ @( {; e* o! G% F. _( {
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
. {% V2 F) d' w* Dthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
2 l; q& n! e- L1 x"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut1 i |5 t: j( s$ M, |3 z
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."0 @& y9 \+ j2 h: D* a
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
1 x9 ~! R; n- x* j: w# Cprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were% G( l2 ]8 O2 ]/ m
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls4 g" g( A1 z: V! Y
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer6 X: m& @6 Q2 y
every question.". C9 t1 c% Z0 s* U8 W' X
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
, V+ @. S7 x% |3 Z0 Oelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
4 t! F$ T, ^- C) \3 x" }firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
6 {3 X/ t3 p5 X3 o% pcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
! x& ^6 C- ?9 m7 tnumber of vehicles
3 w$ q" L, _, m0 hTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
) S4 s* H% }( X$ Z/ n) n8 Bdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
5 O+ P9 U% S) Z% j {mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
! \* r; _8 h; t) h6 R% s. Zsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
& Q$ _! v1 V4 q. R0 i7 cMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
% ?2 \: K: F/ Z2 [9 g0 U" Dwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
5 q! ~1 c% Y# Z) d1 d$ Strace at all.4 d6 @) u1 _+ M9 ?% \8 r
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call+ d: {- D" v1 U- b7 [9 `) f& m
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden, ^# u4 M2 `6 W& C
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
' N4 G& ]( s$ k) Z1 t+ wrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.: K, F6 C% N, ]$ U! B
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
- M7 u4 A" s; u! u( asaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
. t: g$ `( {! k0 l/ E" U# lother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
" }3 T6 |' p6 U selectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible) N2 R. L& x2 a/ u
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
# Q1 M3 F6 b( n' D" [, v N3 ssuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
2 i0 p/ \% r0 o- y+ k) J1 lby Toyota's lawyers."9 s n8 u# T+ N% N0 J- n
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
! v6 o3 p) M8 H$ d0 Nproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our& _! k4 q8 |+ b2 ]) G4 Y# J
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
, M& u- X" ?0 x) w8 D8 W% hsaid.. M$ Y( P& K. H: V7 u+ F/ E
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
) o1 v) f, N. ]; Ka rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
( \4 d' s9 T2 Rgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
2 _5 @6 X1 m4 d0 S0 `+ l. }8 Qofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
+ |# G E1 f9 C, }' QSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying0 V% ~9 w* I6 Q: e) G
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread$ {1 L, ?/ n" Z$ w2 N. D
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the8 v) _' {# _. L" T3 v
automaker, at least in part because of the government's# H! T) m" H4 c) S4 f7 P
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
4 T: h' ~* y* N! ~Chrysler.+ y" C2 q* R% ]
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax3 V( T8 _, B8 r O3 p6 a I
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
! f6 |* H! K* L7 WHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
1 R/ {3 P* U* H% @# p1 ]3 r9 Sserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete6 |2 K5 W2 u" _2 O4 G% }
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty8 u. s6 F" {# e1 z ?1 n
tough."# R+ o0 K0 `3 @& X% g- F$ Y
---
! Y: N& K8 j/ t" F; wAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom& S" ?* ?- |( [# \4 W& V
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to, V7 _8 b. f3 [/ o [
this story.0 R8 @) ?) x$ M- u8 U) V
! Q+ _& e6 t; I: u, P
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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