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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
# A8 D/ I) x8 K' w& K/ zBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS! h' Z1 @- C+ l- k
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.: x: h* R6 c- d( V0 Z( G, H
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that3 w- U, k7 k3 p) ]2 y7 [9 G
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"# I& {1 X, `% Z$ i" }0 Z
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
4 f* N; R" D* x6 }: W$ [+ E"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential! E# u$ T+ A; @* [+ i. y0 Q
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
4 b& b) D8 X; B8 l0 uHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected# h% Y5 c+ d. h3 L/ R. o
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
, |7 A A4 A3 k, Gtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor; t* g. n. _/ m; z9 G! k" `
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
2 E. C# s' o/ f8 MHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
3 a2 ]3 L, t# g# z4 L; e/ Qand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
! J8 k; L/ P9 t& e8 acriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
6 A, c0 | B& y$ _8 ~" T$ ^4 Ffurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
5 ~! G( Q0 ~7 W2 q1 C3 N, gnot stop her runaway Lexus.5 d+ y5 l8 R1 W, l
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
, Q6 m4 ^7 Z; Y. } _Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
9 r: w& A* o* N) v9 m _"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.0 e( b, d# q% |; H- B) ]
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues& t/ @' c5 z+ x6 F* h
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said- V" q8 u H/ R
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has& T* ?1 X) [" X1 Y; p* A
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway% h# Z" D2 a6 g1 [: h) i2 B
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
' U/ E$ c9 x; vinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
' H! J& d* Z* {8 T2 M' e* YLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
" f' J8 C8 i u4 {! [/ uelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of8 ] j+ ~- S( A' Z& Z5 N
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
% ~* u% k5 [8 ^! imalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
6 V$ J! N1 y# J" p; j( Gsaid.! u. b4 O+ M! d
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what; B& }# B' g+ B4 y, b K, p/ R" J
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe6 h% A8 { O* x3 r; R3 U# m
about driving our products," Lentz said.
( L- K1 C! S1 ^" h8 c) \Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's3 A! c( e3 L" o* T9 Q6 n
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
0 x, M$ F) \) Srecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 65 q1 N$ d9 Q" {! _' M* e" u
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
V# c% J/ ]7 m* N1 x; `2 Bunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking5 z$ X( B. F& T8 D
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
3 x+ X- G" M* L1 t9 c+ Qconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
. W- {5 b* V7 R* Atheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow0 t; d2 O, L1 A- r) p7 v3 l' T
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
( W6 G* D5 u) k7 k6 Hreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration$ e4 i. R% i% p8 S
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
: r5 A+ B6 x- P2 g' zLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own$ @6 A% b1 ~& Z* S! n
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he8 d! `+ o- S$ b& z
understood the pain.' \- Y" @2 D3 E! S' B( k
"I know what those families go through," he said.
/ u1 J7 ~4 }& L# b% U2 NLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
: H4 |8 t' @8 }/ U: {& }" Vfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
) q; W h+ q, K2 Z iBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
$ t2 Y$ U6 C; ]* \/ FHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
6 N: ~; g5 @3 s! ~in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
/ o- j; E) w- w8 RLentz replied: "Not totally."
: \! I3 X* h' hStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
U" h' t( }, m) I4 F0 E"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
?3 {. E! Q! n7 t7 U1 n+ L" qToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas4 G7 Y- V; W8 B. o5 L, D, \
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
6 x2 Q+ Q7 l! ]5 S8 _" t- ?vehicles already on the road.
9 P0 k8 `4 f3 s Q5 UMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify; c# V" w3 A9 a( g3 ~ P6 ~3 Z
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
0 }) l- U/ i1 D7 v4 f+ K6 gresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and U; U; e/ r* t; Y
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
" G+ e7 y5 M9 c# Zkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
7 D) \! Y' V+ _9 n2 ?"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a) [) p2 b' {( o
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony! R. Q$ m) W; u( q# K9 O9 E' a1 ], l
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
* H) c) @' J4 w, R0 c9 E" O# Y. }Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal$ x8 a- W, g3 m( P6 I
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to6 I9 J( a: h. }2 a5 W" f2 f3 c% a# o
restore the trust of our customers."" D+ Z' |. M0 E2 ^. K
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
: }8 g7 o+ D9 n; o5 ^; \Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly) s9 ~# \" l1 R
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
# R# Q1 Z U9 A8 {( M1 r$ L8 Cshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and: k, f) K; P4 s7 W9 X! y! G4 @& ]
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough5 }% e u5 u# L! d1 ?% I" q
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and+ |! p# l0 F- B4 [! C; i) @
turn off the engine.) `% c. Z: w8 X
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of* w: R8 |5 P- A' m7 R
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
8 r7 \9 T; b% C7 u0 `0 L2 G"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she$ N& Y+ a K% X2 n6 M* H
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
* Q: R4 L# h1 D; }1 Lto her complaints.
8 ?4 n$ ]" n7 i7 tIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers/ }8 R% g/ ]5 n% }0 M3 @# o' U& Y
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
, D6 k d# V: K9 q' l( s; ^malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.1 [# C: `' G+ o# u( V
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
9 f+ y1 C4 S3 | lthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
6 v- b2 I, r+ R$ W! ]8 ?/ `"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
) N8 a! r6 v7 ]7 ioff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."1 m! O7 o' j6 X2 \ E
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
) J5 `8 E- _" a$ ?; ~# b6 Tprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were: h4 \' u2 L$ B. q
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls7 Z) |3 e/ K2 u8 d% S- D1 V5 \/ k8 H: q
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
6 {9 J. j" M2 ~& B2 ~6 Nevery question."$ U/ G& _1 ~9 K5 g, F
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether- [, i; }' x% ~6 f% f9 Y
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The" u, n! r- X0 T# a
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
0 L( D1 r4 @7 U9 g; U' l5 M! Ucommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
. q8 ]: w! ]9 Z( w: c% m/ {number of vehicles
# H* _, A- h6 v- K* G# g6 rTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
" ^* C1 t9 Z+ P5 Cdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
2 Z% m" [" Y9 f8 g2 n$ _+ l3 lmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
3 Y* w. }& V$ |* ]. e% _' csource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.+ Z" u! ?5 w! b
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,0 ]- k3 ]( e, t8 I( _6 e
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
& b" ?# S; I* ctrace at all.' a; u5 B$ C. b
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
3 f6 H) D# H. Rdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
% \6 F3 s" ]" |$ C: F4 Xacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
1 p# B/ y% c! C# O1 e+ `, Z+ krecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
# n# v! X4 r# R8 @Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,5 e! W! M/ D) }! R! H1 E
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and/ ?9 @# ^; F2 V; \1 q
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the( q% k7 r9 T7 Q" F5 o' ~% `
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
2 a( d, j5 ]! _) p+ w9 Scause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only) Q' ?6 p, D5 B
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
" T7 Q+ R* {" |* P( i& e% A* D' \by Toyota's lawyers."
* h* W g, |" O; U _8 M! Q3 wLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
- L, Y# p! e% S/ C& q2 i6 h8 Vproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our5 i$ G! }, s6 t& @
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he" `- B: k5 x0 E+ h8 A
said.
, A( R P: W5 d6 U: v: l$ k"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with3 V1 a7 u# M2 t5 }
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
$ {% W) e. C1 w. B, ~4 M8 Agood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating! E$ D8 q. F/ \
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.5 d$ _ O3 d. e8 M. Y, S, H
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
; _7 [4 o# T5 I- m" F! imembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
0 u% C; u8 ^# v4 wrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
0 Q* y! p( W$ a# d5 eautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
# \# P$ m, Y# x `$ binvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
. H3 M/ ?4 C+ {9 ?: \# MChrysler.- v, k# n' B) f8 B/ ?: l% }
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
" D. k4 ?6 k% T! gdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
3 G; B# z" f( j3 D1 sHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also7 l# G. u9 _8 \5 O, h3 [4 b G3 h
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
9 M8 Z' Q4 C3 q/ ]/ f+ E) i% dwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty; L) j. H* E8 P' _$ D& X
tough."
J1 M7 m" a2 C h$ M( k$ {( ?" L---. a w2 n6 F6 }
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom% T3 A0 _! P/ U) C/ \
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to. @$ {0 k8 G# P# H& z: n3 Z
this story.* {- T( d! A: r! Z
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