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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
' t) v* O. n+ `$ E4 VBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
+ S6 n9 y S( A# w( OWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.8 P7 P1 q4 s' R
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that9 {" W- e! D0 Z: s& Y
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
8 n; Q/ @3 Y' _* u9 Q9 isolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.5 N" k) ] q, L D( T
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential2 A9 d+ j" t/ s/ j3 M
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.4 M8 p9 w# K! n/ e1 P6 H
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
. ]( j2 U1 g" N% zacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and& |- H+ {9 R# A0 C
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
* v) m2 w7 N5 x8 C9 c! imats and sticking accelerator pedals.
8 }; I; P" U" C) O, J. IHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
; X" ]4 k1 l9 ]2 cand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
0 c" v, X) X$ T/ Q: W' ^criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be' o6 ?- r) ?3 n5 A
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
" ?! I6 [ b) ]; gnot stop her runaway Lexus.
- a2 ] n5 A% g"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
7 i( T1 w. ]! ~6 B# [# v; ]Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second& s& n# X8 Y4 g
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
, m* S; z, o" o9 D' t2 xTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
: e" G6 K2 h; \: r. hearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
+ N) s! G& y9 C) I% I/ m( r7 l"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
# z" X) |/ }4 O& ndone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway: o; @7 k: _, J Q+ \) p
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
q+ W( \ F' l: B2 x/ f! linvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."; ?( |0 c. n; w9 c2 G
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
- X* c7 b% @( j2 Celectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of1 g# q) D* y( @
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a4 [; _) w9 @1 I
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
/ x9 p; v$ a/ b! usaid.) G1 e/ z6 e; Q
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what \( G2 e3 y. ^7 k
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
6 C1 r6 E' D7 Xabout driving our products," Lentz said.1 ^. \ `- N( ?( {( r
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
8 L. L/ B! J/ \9 y' fproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
$ M9 s; E k4 Rrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
. g3 a3 k U) O9 qmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
% m5 }: q) _6 B! c+ s* I# J. iunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
$ p% |6 V( b1 r& Aissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering/ D) e- x v( Y( j! ~
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
0 W3 h* }( X h2 C; X# f; S+ b' atheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow! H- C- c( T7 k$ ?9 p" d) n z
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has6 l F: }4 k; ~4 c. o
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
7 X7 `) l) \7 \( F; nof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
+ ?$ `6 s$ }2 T1 W* HLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own# I/ z- ]3 N8 A9 Y% F& a
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
i3 @* a: K& z* s5 p; M, Ounderstood the pain.& e7 w( y; f) H* t& H/ U. e
"I know what those families go through," he said.
( O1 \: @7 L1 v; r6 e, ^Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's1 K; E6 x4 }. [4 k
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
9 c8 d/ y0 Z% t" Q9 R) kBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman4 x" g; X6 s1 W3 J2 w$ Y9 ?
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put8 y# X+ r: I7 _, D) u+ G5 E
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
' G/ E, ~* A# Z# n# W( K, eLentz replied: "Not totally."
5 T* }2 i0 G: H- A$ ]5 r" z; WStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
' x3 U' b; }' K"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said6 R# G% }1 Z" x; s# }7 S
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
& A8 E% X3 l+ L, tpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
; j% S3 o' J+ s1 cvehicles already on the road.( h# n3 l) ?( J
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
3 U) d2 J) t1 Ebefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full& o1 H9 K, `- y! q6 }! {* `
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
5 z8 P* s1 s6 q. B( Voffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
. L7 O ^- G6 [' L8 ?killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.2 r( `% B0 C) ?% |7 b# M" e) D
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
& Q/ J; Y& [; I) c" b g1 @# V# otragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
" O; ~/ f- S r, X1 d& j8 Yfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight* K: T: r# s; m, ^# o3 N
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal6 ]) n' M7 G1 f6 r! F: J/ c0 J" t
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
- @- k3 z' K) F) {( Wrestore the trust of our customers."- h% p& t0 g: Q( `5 ?3 g
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from' K3 n V( M3 X6 F
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly2 p9 a' P0 G5 ~; r2 ?, A* J
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --- [/ x4 E5 F% k {
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and* r C/ o6 Q7 g$ z. u7 L5 u
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough" F" `( G3 q1 e" o5 j# |. y
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
7 E- @4 B/ h( t! {( g( jturn off the engine.# T, Y' \* W/ X( @
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of7 n3 n0 b" ~8 p8 }9 ]% S y
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."1 d1 J% J9 G9 R; C* e
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she, l& y" ]0 ~1 j3 o( S
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
) J. ~! r3 S+ h w1 b) Cto her complaints.
. K; Y- J& q1 m, e5 |) PIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers. r. U2 J* Q3 Y
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
0 f2 I$ P4 L* J4 Zmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars./ i1 { t; A7 s& K. X( ?
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric' n: X9 [0 h9 A/ U+ G
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
# Z7 P$ h* H2 p: ?"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut" Q9 h& I" d2 e: \' l, E) s
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
" D4 S9 z; b# O9 x% Z; WTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in, A! C7 w$ s: r, G0 c# \$ Z
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
q7 T. _- C( B5 E- i3 rbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
4 F4 u3 J6 z) Y9 |$ }were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer! i8 M' a$ o& q* f
every question."
! n9 c) z( [, L+ }Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether( g- _/ D3 S* c) J3 I
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The* U% Z$ P a( q
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But7 T7 Q4 X9 k3 r7 _$ |* _. ]! c
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small, ~$ G, z8 G* |# `$ y
number of vehicles
( C: T8 K2 r; O3 b7 K' XTracking down an electrical problem can be far more: k+ ^& N8 A1 W/ {" O' U0 m# B
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a% ~) L1 A Z4 f; m
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
1 V0 N. P; t# h. U; k; osource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
% v+ _6 l; s/ k; f5 q. l$ w+ T2 tMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
+ f* P1 n! f. o7 f) X( bwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
1 o- J" y- Z3 Ytrace at all.
7 Z; D9 B9 L( ~- {" ~House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call }) ^! t2 W9 b$ p5 ^* k* s* A
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
; n+ m/ a4 c% ] e1 qacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
0 Z; G* k# i yrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
! P9 m# b5 g7 O2 B9 B pRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,( U6 l/ c4 X- ^" K) K6 {0 P
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
! o, T8 o* Y# {4 i5 F3 M* _other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
% t: G) d$ m. N" V6 Q; M/ W( Delectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
* \+ M, `7 w* G0 ?cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
; r& I2 @# V% N& c; Asuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
! K4 H2 \+ ~1 s2 U* o4 \by Toyota's lawyers."1 h' T( k- A/ s; A+ Z k/ x, D+ j( N
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
8 W& O7 a1 T% `' l; v% yproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our7 `$ @2 U; }& g. P' H. s
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he0 r0 X6 y( K, G
said.
, D$ q/ T$ v& ?5 u& {# O! c. w"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
# a v! m M6 A+ o3 r. ja rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our) i" M* d0 \' }5 u- N S- |
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
0 l; n8 a5 p: O$ H9 `6 A6 {! }2 e; Pofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
z4 r% z* u7 z5 S4 KSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying2 R, o( N E" b8 F7 A
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
. v) p( p2 P- I/ F$ ^+ {7 Yrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the* s2 v) U, `" s0 P% \- y6 k% ~- `
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
# ^% _" E6 ~5 ^; r8 oinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and( o0 H% r) F, @3 [* c- Y
Chrysler.
& v2 f4 Z" `0 x"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax; j! L: `% c j6 j8 D/ U& S( b$ A9 @
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
* |$ q5 N: u" {& QHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also1 O+ D. X- }# y) L3 _+ V
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
9 b3 L( }6 z+ ^: y. Pwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
5 s7 S# D) p, R( U6 ltough."
! U( w4 d+ c$ V# N" |& a# v---
! z7 d9 |2 h7 [* o w" c! RAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom+ R3 z: ?6 \3 {. x T
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
, L( b; p: }$ ^# `$ Ethis story.
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1 n6 l! g& t* H2 @# N-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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