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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
! p/ Y2 }; f2 y) }( g& H# HBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS& Q: p+ ]0 f' T0 U0 D. p- Q
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.9 |, D5 E1 [+ g* s5 G, ^: U
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that, @0 \( s, p! ]6 O- x- @+ n$ Z) a
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
+ E+ @# W! N1 j% z% t Ysolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration. L* r. p% w9 q: `( u; R
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential3 D2 X; t" N l D" d: o* V% j
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel., x; j2 C# F- t X
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
7 Y* k9 T3 D7 N7 u2 Zacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
- I: n% N5 f/ gtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor3 p9 A% k6 r: M8 h5 W8 g; F* L: q
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.# T9 S/ M; p& `" H5 e
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
5 B( K) Z) }3 \; [and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
& t; c6 r3 q" G, ~; Z5 P. X5 z; xcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be8 i3 F$ @' r5 O
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
; D. m* G1 E- ?- g" }$ v# b/ Wnot stop her runaway Lexus.5 d, i9 q3 U0 d6 y/ ?8 G
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
: Z+ d) u/ v& v- P: u" t& G4 K" WTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
2 a* X8 h" [ i+ m; H9 [ w"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
& a2 k! X5 G7 I8 e' \ F+ tTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues. I: x3 C# X9 z- Q% `$ N' X8 j: _
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said3 ~+ G5 Z: n6 Y* H
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has% L$ e% M. m$ g; L
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway6 K7 s& d- P2 v- w. E
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
l& p* h1 |, |8 X6 k3 Binvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
. L& Z" E c% t0 h2 S2 _: s) C+ NLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
, |+ |+ g& n e2 n: r" o. velectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of/ {! u4 X) ^1 x" ~: p
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
- m+ g5 c2 ]4 K6 H3 w; Amalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
, u' h3 e8 o! \( [* ]. e# N Xsaid.# p% L+ Q6 E: x5 `4 |; N8 q* a
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
1 L4 o( w U7 {. Ahappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe- e0 u1 z7 J, |: [! [/ g8 J
about driving our products," Lentz said.
) q1 M- B* J- B+ `Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
. P5 r; U7 j7 L. y3 ~& o$ I0 Lproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
1 T" ^, u% s# {; ?/ ]recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6: }# b7 b$ U+ T' i/ u5 f. k5 I& W# S9 \
million in the United States -- since last fall because of6 Z7 H, q+ x( t; \) O$ H
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
' U5 F0 g. G$ y! ?/ Q# T2 Pissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
" e* q: `% [7 y6 V, ~3 `concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of5 @4 D1 i# g# A2 _, _
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
3 |# v2 E0 c- G9 o( {: Ldown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has" N/ J* T4 z6 m! f, y2 [3 Z( E
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
- U W4 z8 }+ c! `5 g! G4 k0 Xof Toyota vehicles since 2000.% X3 ~- F% [- a# {) w* x8 a2 c3 b% a
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
' F1 [- `; U P# t2 [, |brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
: q# r9 L1 H# Punderstood the pain.. q, l: @' E- h: V, H9 u
"I know what those families go through," he said.' j- x% _/ w0 F* p! F
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
/ k6 ]% o7 L& j' Q% Y* @, `fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
6 Q0 K% l( {# |* k8 @2 G+ r% vBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman9 @" ]+ n8 l( k9 ?; |! O; C
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put6 C: n# d& n+ k( q
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
" ^1 E* T0 F+ K' Y/ h, uLentz replied: "Not totally."9 O4 V2 E* J6 Q! ]) s* Y1 @ [
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were4 V, Z( R" Q+ c
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
, N* I P3 n4 g6 GToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas" [' ~( Z; N+ m+ D2 s7 _; o" |" h
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its L8 Z4 ?% ^$ o
vehicles already on the road.
: L* j/ d9 |3 y- ]" @; uMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify- ~! ~8 _$ F, ] K
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
: L1 b0 T8 z5 J$ i: V+ Aresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
) k0 @5 f. r: K$ e4 Soffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were6 r, g5 ] L4 f/ m" o1 \% q3 J% K
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
6 C+ h; V$ s% ~3 U: F"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
, A+ u; {5 j! V( m) v2 V7 m7 ]tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
5 G( A9 K: L. p5 N, @' Jfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
( Q/ p+ R1 d V% L ?$ [Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
{9 K3 L7 Q. t( H2 P Vcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
' e& ^/ M+ @4 E: p' orestore the trust of our customers."& |) t8 O# ?. e' Z6 Y
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from* L2 v3 d8 X; K/ N1 o2 d5 K
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
5 ?9 b! U8 y" N, N# u6 c9 _: ?3 Yzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
8 o/ g7 t8 B! [shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and/ O! H/ w. C5 s& ~- G/ E$ c& ^
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
' E4 ^8 e8 |9 j2 q; V/ \) a8 y, jthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
: J; w; C+ l" y" E+ X$ Iturn off the engine.
8 t8 {! n" J/ U. L3 @Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
: y6 A- G( e" |. C. O5 `October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."8 n' _3 a" S% p3 }
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she, ]( I$ ~9 a$ G0 f5 H
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond* w% T, X" [% h* a, _
to her complaints.# k7 c1 N8 x1 C: f
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
) l4 F+ g, U( R2 U6 n1 G& l0 ?% Q8 preturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
/ z0 ]: L/ q7 {malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.5 M9 m1 J5 k" Z: K; D) l
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
. |! ]8 g6 T% S9 d+ {throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
5 j- z: m" } u: \2 m! v3 i"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut F4 _6 ]$ b8 R4 n
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."- u. Y0 X# {2 E1 w* K
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
" m- s' J; c( \6 l- L& @' Wprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
6 I- y/ s. C, g, qbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls1 r: W7 A( t' Q( i2 o& h# \! L( {
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
) D, P8 o6 M; g2 v6 |# ^every question."
; {0 Y- U+ p. Y- T! FToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether1 o* G4 Z* M+ Y; r, H0 s, r
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The5 b( V9 u/ u( i Z& b
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
( `- N# H- D0 d# r- r7 e/ wcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small1 J2 R+ D P# N
number of vehicles' M& o6 x7 m: u- k; c5 U8 m/ Q M# ?
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
* o; X. F% s0 |# K' Cdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
" W- \+ e& }% g. G" d: Smechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
2 ?& E* }* B6 L% B3 i% f' fsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.5 ^/ J: Y7 j/ E, d: K: k
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,. H* K0 |: ?3 Q0 \
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no. P9 {! u* G8 b4 P! D$ k
trace at all.
& f- n9 Y! S& N p d% |House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call1 m* P9 J( t [
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden* T2 o& j( i4 z( @. f$ i; a9 ?) d: V5 l$ ]
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
7 _8 e4 w$ e7 h. K: Crecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
% U6 ?$ A# B9 }2 E* O; w2 xRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
% S& A# [& E9 n! p2 L. Xsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and) j) p7 m6 U# `9 ]8 P! |# B
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
2 r* i+ H0 {+ X3 ?1 Kelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible( w$ ~3 s* E+ T$ E. |
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only! C, q) d% A8 ?6 }5 s
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
4 t- E" T: X' H! H# `1 tby Toyota's lawyers."$ \% N* z& n3 |8 |& i8 c4 r! r+ j
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
+ q! k) k$ o5 x( zproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
, j* ?+ o: S6 v; C- D) i9 vcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
F- m' m0 J2 n' m4 [said.
) q O1 F: {- M, v"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with6 R# \. t* S( l1 z: O& ]" v+ @% F
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
: v2 A5 Y5 ? m7 }' K5 o5 ggood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
4 s; S, F' j* a( Y3 h: v! eofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.' J/ a( \1 U; t$ p9 u
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
0 ?+ i: N# N) \: X# Z* bmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
6 U2 S% a j: i1 d, mrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
" r/ a3 X& W$ C) Eautomaker, at least in part because of the government's$ x* M8 H3 Q& W1 A! X. r1 X
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
+ J+ K3 b3 V J- u$ S9 UChrysler.! z0 ?! K+ ?# J: f [
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax8 ]- V8 @+ I9 m7 l, F* N' s
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a. Y2 {* x0 z( v) C2 j1 E8 b( c3 F3 S$ J
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also. t! N7 E! m+ e3 _7 @) q& q9 Y
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
. M: P! u- _# G# f0 ^! V( swith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
7 X; E9 A" y: W( {% d7 r$ c0 ntough."1 X+ a4 ^5 ^7 i1 ^2 U4 X. I! M" U
---
" h# d1 w& C( i" I$ F5 R; cAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom. b1 g! i q1 P' N& L
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to j6 u: B1 j- V" I0 E
this story.8 z( M0 u4 B. _& P
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