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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题) Y+ H/ n5 x% I {. V' M; X
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
8 y6 U* U2 Q, G3 j7 QWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
+ F, U5 ~, D, V. @3 o& }operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that) W4 _# w6 t( ?7 t+ y5 ~; }' t
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"( r) B: H! ~) ^9 n8 ?$ d
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
7 }# ~/ b$ [* E. V* K: l3 e% g, W"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential' [- `; \6 j4 E' j3 F: t
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.7 l2 \* O% R6 X! U
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected) m$ @' f- V' Q0 d+ N) l. h
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and1 T$ ~, ]3 K# l& ~. v
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor: y5 f) L9 ~! `, V0 `4 _( K7 O
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.. V$ F @2 `$ N& q9 V
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal+ b( a7 E9 N6 O# ]+ M
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp/ F+ w4 s, X5 U% N9 N( a \9 f/ [
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be1 y* [. T0 d. S1 z! n
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could& ?- h& c3 m5 x* G) D Y; A
not stop her runaway Lexus.; T& n" A* i4 d8 @' u! j, G& P
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,; N5 A% g$ a q# x, _5 g4 a
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second8 J8 k- M/ ^$ h2 A* Y
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.: o0 k; z' |1 w3 c' ~% }
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues" Z% t; q! B0 p7 `, H
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
5 s' A" P0 H0 a0 L! R$ _"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
# A, j9 ~7 u/ ~* W& {0 ?$ ndone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway5 @' E! a: Q( m! c& F) Y3 y, J/ l9 Q
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's# U# f6 [1 ?8 W2 w& _5 T, R' `3 O
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."6 R1 v+ g& J7 p* V' c' Q. L) t4 d
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
; Z* a( q, `9 Z) q: s. Pelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of8 E w2 g. `8 @- N
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
( w8 Z8 g+ x! P$ q2 ]) ~. Kmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
, h! e. n8 [' H9 Q: a& C7 P, Y8 Jsaid.
! L z! {& ], e. xAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what/ F# W/ J( c- R9 [& L
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
/ @" e6 p0 l9 [9 ?, sabout driving our products," Lentz said.$ W( e' _- `; f% W2 a
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's v1 z- D; t6 ^7 D# t: P
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
. O; s( d- ]5 E& s8 a- u8 L7 W" Brecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
. | V. M4 U, b6 Y$ \9 wmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
5 x" G$ q' K+ W- eunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
/ R! ?% i% w/ c/ ]issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
2 D4 |, t2 S, @7 z' P* x7 U& `- b3 Aconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
! }# m$ d/ G! q+ f+ l; ptheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
7 ~4 t9 |' S5 t8 E" s* g8 Xdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has& B3 _% G y5 O+ W% ~( W
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration/ G9 M% ?/ g E0 z
of Toyota vehicles since 2000. @7 Y, C8 x, f, h7 I: Q
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own& e' T$ U$ N {% C. Q9 L$ p
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
: C' J( r0 c( N, y4 Lunderstood the pain.# d5 r& v9 {3 v1 Z
"I know what those families go through," he said., M0 t+ m4 E* h: K! O- I( n
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
0 R5 d6 L2 a8 u) g2 Q" x" Zfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
, ~, b7 K1 ^2 c2 rBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman2 c) j; x/ r8 z; V& [
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put. x j. g; o* }3 `) ^
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,8 L. |1 f' c, y' _' D( q! |6 |
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
7 A+ _" q' W( b) YStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were# c2 k$ L$ l/ N% k% ?
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
: ?# s+ {9 y& o3 CToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
- R+ s" j9 I* @2 W6 ?pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
3 L8 a: l$ }0 @8 l8 `1 C; Vvehicles already on the road.) g+ E1 _8 U) b& V& Q" |! G/ B) S) z
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
) h0 O* F8 C8 |9 \0 @5 l2 c3 tbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
/ E0 L8 E# r0 `% f. i3 u. _responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
5 K( D' F, Y! voffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were+ w! E& L5 K" A: ?1 I
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
! C# v$ \7 y7 `/ N& z; I"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
1 b; t# T1 i, `- t& s' o$ z$ [tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
! |! x. P9 k. e1 G) t7 Cfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight# c0 u) `" _% `! k0 ]( w: [7 c+ a
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
/ O% O' l1 K7 ocommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
& m3 \" I9 {' K8 A/ srestore the trust of our customers."
_9 n' [ t& P ~( f. ALawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from! F- w* H7 M) u/ P: O( o6 y
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly5 ^: h% ^& u4 N. k% e. f- F
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
! a. k! ?0 ]& U0 M% i5 h0 {. g _9 bshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and5 C, E7 V( b: q( y% l, N! P2 ~
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough. W# @ x/ u1 [. d
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
8 y: O2 K7 f- N+ m. zturn off the engine.
/ d1 }% f; q! |& q( T7 b0 jFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of7 h* E/ Y6 b7 d( X8 t! E
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
) E* Q& s# v t i"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she1 D( s( Q6 \, h8 ~
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
3 I, d M: N4 Zto her complaints.
4 s/ Z1 {% E8 f I: v0 I" xIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers! Q7 T' t5 o' ^! z& s) B& X: b
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
0 U d7 O; `" j0 G$ Wmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
4 S0 X+ f6 H+ z$ g/ U% a"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
. w# @3 ]% I; t+ lthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited- \& n8 T `! C: ^, R- u) ~" }
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut5 k# d; S# ~ z8 b8 C
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
- z, h2 a% u. V% L8 W" u/ T9 rTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in. w) f/ |" P ^$ D
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were: a4 h1 b) @5 D
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls% u c7 i2 `) c+ R0 ?8 z
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer( Y7 ^. \, ?" j% r' Q/ P* P
every question."( }$ q, C! @1 `& R# e
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether# \9 O; C# i- H
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
& |5 q" R$ T' j" l& Z* Q# Xfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But" s4 T4 V/ o! z
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small$ _7 m) D4 c" t$ @+ I* j
number of vehicles
8 g$ B/ Q- ?* q( [Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more( R7 w; L8 p; K g7 \4 D) \) t1 Y/ z
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
" S! q# `8 K3 o" E& d* zmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
( \0 i! v) O) Msource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.% h0 b5 L# h; p
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
% T$ Q7 Y3 i# A0 rwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no X/ w% X8 W& S( F- _. S: N, `
trace at all.7 l" p1 i* M6 ~9 N% G
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
( h' o1 W% V1 zdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden/ [8 t; u8 b" Z# w' H# x
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
3 G7 U0 @3 \6 P& @recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.7 R( H4 r$ z L( Y& L1 N$ Q: \) X
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,8 M0 B$ E3 \$ J
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
( X9 R$ }/ z2 Z6 D* rother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
7 x M+ v4 Q" belectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible! r* V6 M) Q i" H
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
, r# Y& F0 D6 ?/ h8 u2 b( ksuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained: P+ P+ k, s" k7 r; s
by Toyota's lawyers."; X3 G/ a' q5 }8 b; A. W- ?
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
0 K1 N8 l* J2 D" a$ w8 i- x, \problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our& G3 {/ Z- o: V8 [( h
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he/ G6 _. Q3 w4 j3 T* P
said.
8 @" T5 \) E) ~2 K% L, o"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
7 U$ Q( s" Y5 d( f) Ra rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
/ \3 V$ [1 U g8 F! Qgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
7 b" l' c3 s, {1 C; y( n/ dofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
6 Y+ D( I) e" y, oSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying" X4 }4 U$ ?; L n) k R0 @
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread. V7 _2 c. V* @# P8 H
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
7 U! C; [4 W' Q7 S$ ^5 G& uautomaker, at least in part because of the government's" P/ D5 E# r. y
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and1 E) O. V) Z5 V; ~# m" x7 ~. `6 H3 j
Chrysler.+ Y0 P& p) E# p* z2 `. b
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
+ g+ j9 x/ B" c& p1 x; Edollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a' Y% d( B( |6 U! i1 c4 T5 |1 |
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also: }# i# {9 v* e) h7 G% F
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
/ l- y' v. Q% Awith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty0 V: s+ C3 L! ^+ z% X& j# K
tough."$ l8 H# S! W7 h- d5 X
---+ r) R" r/ U' ^# r- \
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom) R4 o8 u, R0 o" ^
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
# H& x4 m% r, S# hthis story.8 i7 p1 }, ?* [' h0 W: l% M
9 _ _# j, X1 @ F( G/ P. k-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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