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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
# c e7 `/ A- [9 o: sBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
: q* T) P V+ b! l M" EWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.1 ?; P' V" ~ |7 }, z
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that- K. G2 a7 P7 @( }6 b" l+ b: p( X
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
0 ^2 v! ]4 r" n& r6 F$ |solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.5 P' Z% D% E& e/ s3 N5 U+ j
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
/ }$ S( C" c' J0 J! H8 M# u/ ccauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.4 \7 f4 |: K+ s4 T! o
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected) | Q+ Z: q4 n# \& g
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
* T! r$ n% Z) Q1 D( c" \: `trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
9 E3 X! B- X) N+ I8 i6 Lmats and sticking accelerator pedals.5 Z2 [9 e% `- B7 y, ?" h# g
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
+ P1 a* s! S" e4 @7 Q q% y/ mand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
5 [/ \5 U0 D [" h. n& @2 P1 icriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
% F; P- X6 |8 ]further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could) d8 g9 d; I( ^& n& E v
not stop her runaway Lexus.9 I3 k% c* v- B$ \5 G3 _) B, A' T7 I
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
, r6 u1 U G1 K( m3 GTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
" B/ F) p6 b2 ~. u. @8 d"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
: T8 d4 E3 ^0 r7 N) vTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues3 e1 F [6 M: J( p m0 Y8 s& |
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
9 G( X- @ M9 ?9 P"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
) W M# P" j( u$ C+ h5 H7 xdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
5 x0 m5 u1 _! `/ ], [8 b; Uthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
" }( A% h* x6 a9 C winvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
! x! Q& `* `- ~: A) z( ]Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an4 s' t) R' G/ Z$ \7 F- R) q
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of9 \5 T) k# \+ d) T" n- \8 k
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
. A6 [5 Q' w0 N. h5 e# Nmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he! ~- I) _ U& t, ?
said.
. c7 Z2 r7 J0 iAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what- d4 v" l- w+ ?# B+ v
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
: m: H# D+ o) D/ Q0 Y: aabout driving our products," Lentz said.6 x4 a( C0 r) {% v& s8 A9 l; `
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's, O6 E6 ~8 D$ N2 y
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
) N( m2 p+ G3 u7 v q! B8 irecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6& H! E4 c& w6 m" N
million in the United States -- since last fall because of" f3 p {' q" n" r K
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
3 l7 R& x- a' ?/ Qissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering" M& c2 W! `8 v' ]
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of. H2 u" o. a" Q" ?9 `
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow2 B% T7 z" u$ F: Y& q% T5 \9 J3 O) x
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has2 e" }2 L2 E, `; A9 A/ ^
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
. A5 W! {* L/ {8 ^, M8 y7 Iof Toyota vehicles since 2000.' J) b/ e# T/ C) I
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own, g5 h8 ]: E# _) y, z B
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he! l2 _; ~0 j L5 }8 ~$ Q: {
understood the pain.4 l5 b. U3 v% @/ U. x u! `8 M6 k
"I know what those families go through," he said.: A5 |- P# {' X3 O6 @& z
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's! J* ~$ S( x& I
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.9 p& a, v3 L A- a% B0 J: z
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman2 t r+ m$ l4 ~ p @
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put. d. |4 e- [9 V4 B, f1 D2 q
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
* Y p) I9 V6 ?' `Lentz replied: "Not totally."2 V1 e0 f' I* Y/ Q/ @; l9 U
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were' @2 y; N# E, ^! e
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said' M& q& N4 B& `
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas4 B" l) ]4 z1 A$ T% y$ {7 L: S
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its/ w3 [7 I# V1 X1 t# |( O
vehicles already on the road.
o9 [/ | c( `9 r, |' k- IMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify1 N z- Q* h2 u
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full% }1 e( Y; T" W5 Q
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
4 o( h4 s7 c5 G& j I; loffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were O; ?+ x# l s. j
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
% S4 ^. Y/ Q$ h, Y) Y+ w- V# D"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a5 K( |1 h5 a, T( m
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
5 S9 Q3 Z4 l/ T1 U. v! `for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight% l2 D1 e0 d! o, [
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal0 d5 J: F' m, Z" u2 w
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
/ s% F1 _7 [9 }$ Trestore the trust of our customers."* ?6 |% j- i/ M1 ^8 F1 ]- s( ~ w. @
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from C7 Q) S1 G) q/ ?7 ~ P3 [3 o! \
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly. P% d, I3 i' E# o
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --/ ]! E+ W2 q2 @ g% H
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and6 R+ q1 q% E1 E, M+ Q
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough4 I- c+ Y" I2 D
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and3 D1 _" _' s2 s8 ?& b7 R J$ ~
turn off the engine.
# Y( L9 {( s, B6 f/ n" R1 t- pFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
% M5 Q2 K; ]+ b2 N: A- u0 sOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
: m/ ~; b& G, Y; l" `7 d"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she, m/ f7 B5 D0 U5 S, U" k* k
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond5 p; i- S9 E' w1 O5 j% E
to her complaints.
+ v) V. g) S" V4 v2 B3 K% {; gIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers2 C- s1 x( ~" a& l4 A
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
t" i3 T$ G8 X) E0 B# Rmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.# a* q( p# S/ o+ l
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
) Q& F, J. u' }0 Q/ Bthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
. B, C, i# |4 d2 N& J" A"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
0 S, W4 T9 N0 `. Eoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
7 e9 D% V# g \5 I: c7 q8 FTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in n) m, U; H, T3 Y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were t% M2 F. D9 L' |( O1 X3 ^; {+ m
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
9 h- p6 ]" F( a, i& Awere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer" L: c/ g, C6 J3 G# v4 b
every question."
/ e D" Q5 l# Z1 aToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether" `7 j2 c/ z+ v9 o
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
- e5 o% k/ ~: Ffirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But5 \& K+ e8 ?2 n. w3 H: a5 _) y
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
) B E1 c8 X2 S7 l! D2 r5 X# Znumber of vehicles' j$ s6 h M# S
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more5 b' N& s2 w V6 F4 }3 k. }
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a; m( S: R; E& D& X/ s
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
1 p9 o; @/ N: lsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
9 [! ^7 `& k' U0 `8 Q/ {Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
5 t; l4 h0 f( c2 T7 r; twhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
/ n; {$ l( E& X1 e4 D ptrace at all.) U- o* X' }: V% B2 ], }
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
5 K+ K- j( ]& Q: W% qdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden' _$ m6 L: `- z. C! o& h
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the% O% ?* Q j! E0 C6 {% x/ ^
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.$ O% k% G- K1 f1 y
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
' w( Z- c" F' vsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and/ w% p0 j& \* ^! N T+ b& q; J+ F* ]
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
" i. z! l- ?# B1 Q3 ]0 ~electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
/ S: D: s) E9 _+ P$ W9 fcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
0 j! I' y7 u* ^: S; Tsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained+ M4 ?$ v9 E% C4 g6 w# o! P
by Toyota's lawyers."
7 n( n6 F, `+ X9 n* @Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
3 o% m/ C/ K" K6 _1 c$ eproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our D8 v8 @8 N6 G q% Q
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he: m$ c& g& S+ q& F1 L
said.
& p% w9 y& n1 N"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
: L/ P5 Y) t" e) K$ Ea rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our; F: g+ t: X: h6 ^
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating C1 _) ^3 r. ~/ @9 r% g
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
1 V. F+ @0 \3 W4 V8 q! ASeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
, \' p* Q. o! kmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
7 U' e7 V, D9 O, \2 {) B& Arancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the; O2 z# h3 F% G& U7 C( |/ N
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
. }( A9 n6 l0 M5 m4 s. B0 u+ y5 vinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and" ]# o. ?/ ^, J
Chrysler.
: I: q, u5 q: q"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax6 M9 t8 L5 N' U5 b+ n
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
# h: w* O/ }8 y+ a T5 W" F7 V* NHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also0 r6 J7 J% |4 N6 a8 }3 H
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete9 F6 p7 q" T# v
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty% s+ M. ?! M- j. D+ E6 n+ b+ H4 _
tough."
9 e3 F4 V5 v* b---
1 R- }$ I1 h' P- ~1 fAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom: e5 F1 A: `$ n1 J; |8 W
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to5 Q% `. {$ s# y9 J$ Z& Q
this story.
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1 A5 o/ h& b3 }1 `3 z- M/ B-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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