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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题4 d9 V" J+ o! Z. B0 {
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS8 z$ q# z' o1 Y
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.! r8 S# q" Z* I% ?0 m
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
6 G1 F: z' O7 ^3 Dthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
" p2 X* b$ F+ G: T/ [! e5 @solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
" L; W3 x. M; H& J" g/ D, \"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
8 Y3 f7 s, r8 R2 ~2 T! mcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.& ?1 l5 p, e9 u/ @0 s
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
; o* |/ f) P; [# e5 k+ l- nacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
9 W5 L( C% r4 M( c! a) _8 Utrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
; h1 B( A$ H G; [% imats and sticking accelerator pedals.2 Q$ p# z; t0 C$ w8 t
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
; l$ A8 \ L$ q! l* b/ |, v4 Land fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
$ }2 n9 S. ]. i6 Icriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be* M& L) f- X. R2 M
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could4 t ]4 {+ P3 r% S2 j' b5 U
not stop her runaway Lexus.
2 w* m' i. B: R5 m; A"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,' I e/ R! F( e* w6 d
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second5 e. S- r) t' @
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
/ l! m7 j: L3 c w E$ aTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues! y4 B+ i! D2 y/ K- ?
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
9 W7 P9 h& w1 z& t B"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has9 I! B/ b$ b3 e; b% D* D# c
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
( Y/ B5 b: b8 |through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
W* C+ K+ ~# Vinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."( O x7 S9 C/ G7 v9 ^
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
0 s1 f1 ?5 K' t4 telectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
, M ]5 |' T! ethe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a2 {. N, }: R3 o0 g! V3 Q, {
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
) T5 \( w$ O# u; T6 l. ], Usaid.7 A" V# F# M% k. T* T4 m, h
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
3 ^9 a. Y4 T0 g" [happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
/ A. P, c* o2 E7 d9 b4 Xabout driving our products," Lentz said.
k9 V4 H- ~3 p/ |Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's; G3 {9 q6 p6 Q& u
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
@ G4 R" d# Erecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6. {9 ]% k0 V6 z
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
& H( ~% `% V0 E& Punintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
/ b) Z+ v6 \( P6 g( b8 [issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
8 l# f. x8 Y) l! Y4 U, o! rconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
6 A1 v& M2 J6 p8 F. ~+ U# Itheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow* W8 @5 w* ^0 h
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
$ m* g8 T3 [: s" q9 n8 Lreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
3 Q6 a' _6 d- _3 Qof Toyota vehicles since 2000. s5 m# o' }4 y* W$ N
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
# X7 d; Z/ s+ b$ ?* Vbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
" k' ?( g' Q9 r* M2 R: punderstood the pain.
; }2 s) e7 ^3 p, I8 ["I know what those families go through," he said.1 u$ I4 ^' v8 R5 E. z1 Q
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's0 Z9 { \* x% K: U' M
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.8 P% v3 C" a! H: U2 _1 n
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman+ ]# O7 J ]& `6 b5 F9 U; E5 e
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
% M+ x! G5 U5 K. V. zin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,$ S3 c4 C' ~% B, S! Q
Lentz replied: "Not totally."2 }! J0 }, I& \
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
4 U! v. T0 B' h) N"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said0 {% {) C. ^; m& H
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas a; j1 H4 z3 n. I( D/ C( G! G
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its3 A+ B& ?9 z" k. R% q
vehicles already on the road.7 O$ f; G1 b% b+ z7 I# {* k' Y
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify R) q' D/ A+ V6 G2 {5 p0 N
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
' K0 d3 }- P# Aresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
1 K6 O0 _4 D w) X& _ H5 T5 Y' Uoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were$ h0 X1 t9 b+ G$ ]' R
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.* C7 f; a0 I2 c' H
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
0 n+ [3 n" h% Ztragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
j8 s9 z- J+ L" Y: @0 `for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
u" ]2 d$ R$ ECommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
2 v2 m7 {3 V. N0 J' s/ Fcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to9 H: _4 F2 y: g, X9 l) U. v
restore the trust of our customers."
6 d3 {1 Y' U5 k# q+ q( R# OLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from @! M' H! S( t# {
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly' O2 W. P! Q/ Y7 w* `/ k" `
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
! s- G$ b5 L6 A1 z, |shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
& K! ?0 y. t) O8 j- x5 O" R; Whitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
. M& y# t) N$ b k! sthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
5 q/ m( }) y7 q0 k' rturn off the engine.% u4 e. h5 D* K' E+ D; W. N, n) D
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
# ~2 P& c- M: R5 jOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
, G( W- Z j! y"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she \$ l2 H) M0 v7 B# H7 Q. T
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
/ x3 T& |- q3 m- e) `% k" cto her complaints.
; ?, z. N. q ^6 pIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
+ F8 T1 Y# P f9 g0 [returned again and again to the question of whether electronic0 P4 c* R; c* b+ V& F: H
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars./ B9 `0 |0 y" E5 S! o$ T
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric$ [9 _8 d2 W! f; m( y3 k
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited) Z6 ~8 S- Q* ~5 e7 l2 d
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut6 k8 C6 W, G' |# u$ e
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
" K. x4 L/ I, @' VTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in4 S) }- T0 v2 A2 d2 z9 a
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were1 a) I0 \" Q+ S
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
( R8 L6 X) {6 c# z0 {were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer/ A6 J/ n# t) P6 V9 H* V- T
every question."9 p! `' h+ P W! r( _
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
^6 `/ x+ u" I: Y* v" uelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
# n& |) O; \1 W, Z6 Ffirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But" }+ B% L9 u1 a9 z' E' p+ d/ J* C
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small% h U9 r! D" ^
number of vehicles" P: J% u# u+ y8 B. K& S+ O6 E) Y
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more. \" b9 s/ q. }! C
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
, P6 b& Q8 ?# {+ Emechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
* q9 P, b Q6 b6 o5 E; l4 a. @source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.; o' s* n s" x9 t [4 M
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
* j* B6 n# j! o" }; k% B5 Y$ Zwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no2 t$ t( L. [1 k- T5 ^9 k
trace at all.
& J5 O$ |* Q& r V3 wHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call2 J. d, {) W; x: o# ]) a. c
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
9 }) g* K! d" o7 lacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
- m( }1 u( r; M' ^6 \recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.6 G' g- ~3 m: w$ X
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
, ]( H7 H! `* ]7 l: K7 K$ ?, lsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and! X: _' I6 l+ W8 m
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
# {3 j( F3 G( L5 A u7 Velectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
3 g- D6 A6 v( S4 [cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only7 J7 `# [& m6 j3 {: j: Q1 }
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained( x! }* k7 F \9 C) u1 g
by Toyota's lawyers."
8 w% v# M+ G N: G+ P9 zLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of% R) Z# S( | h
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our j) X5 b+ B+ q3 v% b7 x6 B
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
" E* v' @" m3 }0 I# dsaid.7 j- \' F" {2 k0 @' O
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
; \! C& w# N9 T, Y+ F8 ^a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our' P* L9 E! C! ?! w- Z, o) H4 K6 y7 P/ b/ m
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating( ~9 l- A. b1 s7 t* N( o
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.! J3 y: f* _) f0 }* H$ o6 x% M) V
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
( C7 i6 c/ s4 u; I; ]2 smembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
, }- _* y5 g: A$ A2 Urancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
# L, @6 q, Q# W0 n# R" ~& Aautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
4 F+ X4 z$ p& P% f1 ainvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and, B, B' M/ g5 m0 x( q$ e
Chrysler.& i. N+ N, [$ Q9 u& Y
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax# `8 p* W& |9 | J+ u& N
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a$ v* d, j$ K( c8 S K
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
& ^8 F. k+ Z0 G" S8 f" @/ R4 mserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete! p4 D" i/ ]( Z4 M* U
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
! }- b% c4 m$ \- {5 Etough."
" z& R1 o. r8 D3 v6 C h---
7 g) A" @/ o& Y0 NAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom# ]/ ?8 \0 g! J& p5 z" T% d, Z
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to) M' ]. ]4 { w9 `
this story.
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-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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