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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4 B, K; ?4 q% p+ a; I% ?
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS( l, d9 ~. j$ V
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.6 u* o+ Q2 V' ^- P
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that" [0 Y4 x3 m1 n
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
0 N% _/ S: J1 r9 A Dsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.0 ]* |2 ]/ l+ k: [
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential8 @9 n9 a2 X4 d1 A" f7 B7 p' X; {
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.. n$ J' ]- N' p! p6 i% k2 Y$ w
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
5 q+ N! ` X. l' f/ H. Z9 Zacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
$ ]$ c8 E! o1 _5 f2 L3 M6 O0 y& ltrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
, K2 I' t: D( n' {mats and sticking accelerator pedals.$ M7 n! e/ i& l+ q: P7 c9 t6 i! a
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
( ]0 \" g; Q, B0 R; H+ F3 T5 cand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp9 b. I& a w9 l$ ]
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be1 ?, p# e @7 p, s t
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
: O& [) _& l& v9 D4 O4 p4 hnot stop her runaway Lexus.
7 u$ G, P# h. z$ Q4 c& g) {"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
( {5 g1 _, E; b+ nTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second8 K6 O1 a8 a: v4 X/ Q
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
1 u4 _5 x |4 I9 `% }1 i; JTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
: l8 V0 J6 {' Learly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
6 J( q9 B$ J7 W; d"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has! |, Y" r2 G; k
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway) X" b3 Q) U9 e3 f$ O
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
; S5 V4 d" ?" \investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."" j! o, V: U* t, ?% B3 U9 A. y
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an2 Z1 x! L% R2 ?2 L" H) A
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of& h& i1 H q8 u: N7 V
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a& C5 X$ x1 K/ d+ V. J$ r6 E
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
2 H" u$ L- o* U* ~ Psaid.
L! l1 [/ S% n9 i- NAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what: K5 H0 y+ h* V
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
+ v7 {7 V3 W% v8 | B& y; @1 gabout driving our products," Lentz said.8 V; l' q5 D& f2 O
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's5 U* [ R3 \$ }4 s3 F' f! l
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has+ f( d4 W6 M1 W/ ~' H! ?
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6, F' T. {5 Q- M
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
0 K0 D4 F2 |* A3 w7 ~unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
% B- B8 \8 ? Z3 t2 Yissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering4 ^1 X0 [1 b/ T$ q: g
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of- t) F8 W7 L( T# X7 s5 Z. y" T! {
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
_4 V( l2 B4 Zdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has. N# z( Y6 p1 B$ M
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration* H+ U7 O7 h1 w8 K( m8 ?5 |
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.2 G$ @, p; ?7 Z! I3 |
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
4 ]# s7 H- U5 O; i3 F% a( h3 g' Wbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
+ y3 W1 n' @9 p* U( iunderstood the pain.
* k+ M, Z* P0 V2 M, O"I know what those families go through," he said.
* y: V5 q: d6 I0 H' YLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
* K! S7 `) ~" a' b. Z, B5 O% Dfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.7 l2 Z- o. e9 U/ e5 p4 X3 S4 ^# m
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
# I: W! I/ N3 x' }- v; J9 r- pHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put8 J4 R6 M: R+ m$ y" X9 w8 n* C
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
/ h8 e( y7 N/ c* V* T7 A* L, NLentz replied: "Not totally.": X' T( J/ M% W4 _, z
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were3 ] j' P' ^7 p' `1 r' q- n o7 L! I
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said. x* R! j$ i+ X
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas- j" L2 V2 n* o% o: Q
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its/ y8 _. g3 d7 t. n" `
vehicles already on the road.
3 M. L- N9 h6 ]+ nMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify; B8 u: k$ D3 C4 t
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
9 A- d8 F, |+ V2 h; Qresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
9 W! ^) U. X- Moffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
$ X# D* T5 @/ ?) Pkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
. ~# j+ o* G6 k, c7 S# V$ f"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
! |1 e7 Q1 j) I3 ]tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony: h! Z9 b2 s1 C* W& ^- C* Z( _9 ^
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight( c6 h [# o8 z8 N2 r: Y! f
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal: c7 b# G2 W" Y6 H% s
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
) J: l O% s! I, Crestore the trust of our customers."
) w9 w2 Y# B) Y0 R' ]2 eLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
- L9 Y' ^8 _* Z# H. H9 ?3 mSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
$ O7 _. L; U6 V$ l& V0 Kzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
( J* E x0 {: n( H) S! e& Y9 {shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
& T9 B0 _- ^9 i, R rhitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough7 [' M/ x6 U. G0 P
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
% d3 W+ J7 J! Nturn off the engine.
; \4 }6 ?5 |$ R7 SFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
5 z' {- X* h/ V7 C+ aOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience.") }& Z( |5 \! s3 d
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
( G$ q+ X! o8 E+ c, Usaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond) X7 }9 |, W1 D$ e
to her complaints.% Y9 q. F! A3 P3 \& G3 B; x& E' m
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers( {7 S: E D8 Q& P, _) k+ d1 E
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic! w* t2 F1 q3 `9 |- T
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
% \# P' N) q2 n4 V, O( } y"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric1 u* |/ r) ^+ ? P/ G2 S
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited. m# w+ N4 U$ r3 Q; m, S
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut- X% v! a8 K: u) U% l
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
$ x" Z, n3 d/ p8 v1 MTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in4 n) D; G: A- P2 u
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were! y. d" l" R2 g) t
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls e' H) B& e% w3 I8 i: k
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
; P$ l# a& J& z" P! D, Levery question."7 J, Q, T6 F( ]' A! [& ]4 y
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether9 Z) n6 ]# |/ f- a
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The8 K6 g/ D6 B6 [# M' l3 {
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
4 s1 k# B. i& v% c0 C6 Rcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
. d! z, ]8 @* _! ?: J8 Enumber of vehicles
% s5 ?' t/ A6 f; OTracking down an electrical problem can be far more- A$ j. F$ C2 z2 [
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a8 B: w5 n) y4 o/ _) ]
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
7 u' j: h1 S+ h7 v! X; j5 `source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
+ g/ C& O1 M: r+ GMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
9 c# i: `$ l( }$ z, xwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
* Q" d9 g k( Ktrace at all.
1 q" E' ]6 T$ v0 B$ l) fHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
5 T. d0 e& f$ ~% F) [- y! }1 g2 Ldatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
# `/ p% f$ `. O( @( I" N" g6 Jacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the* `4 }6 O) [. d+ c. o6 \# [
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
' r( I. ]8 T) L; j% C- z0 `! kRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,1 P6 m7 O8 {) u" ]5 Z
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
" X; s$ B* i+ @$ e0 W! kother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the( p. `9 h, N o
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
: h+ h0 u# t0 n. V- }6 ]$ Jcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
" N- Q& ^ |* E- Osuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
7 F6 D( x! d; d' Pby Toyota's lawyers."+ H9 r. ~; t2 z4 K' m
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
& x1 }$ i4 K% |problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
6 p) j5 U- T/ rcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
6 r( P. W" R! Y- D7 G1 dsaid.5 p/ }4 T, {0 A n: m
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with) v! Y; t( @% l- m0 s M& z& \
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our2 I+ J; }8 F4 i# j% r2 G3 p
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating* h1 m" @4 l$ ]- _1 d, J
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
9 s, s, a, |4 |5 q# CSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
$ g6 ~ J' \: S- R% a* Ymembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread0 c# n( L: g9 y( S; N7 Y
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the; u. j2 ?( D* E# t7 Q5 x, K
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
, b$ o2 u! Q$ G3 l- m& Cinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and0 i1 h5 g0 |, Y. E
Chrysler.
/ e; [1 {# O8 J4 z4 m+ ?4 z4 {: N"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax/ L- K5 y7 u& ]1 b6 ?1 C
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a& @2 \. \# i8 |
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
" B1 d- Y0 B' C/ O) Z0 `5 `5 fserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
4 M. O( p$ o8 _8 ewith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
& B2 x- S0 I( L' F' v$ etough."* x Q/ i+ w" u `7 l6 ?. }
---6 n/ ^ Y8 ~- u& \; E
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
, E7 M1 z) s0 d9 IRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
( \3 t9 U/ x$ t* M# vthis story.
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