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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
( [$ C9 V' q4 V9 C+ `3 N8 N- vBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
* [2 b4 Y% g* f( b4 Z- P) c* bWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
- d! K, U h N1 moperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
% {0 z% }- ^; `; ~1 [. O. bthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"3 N7 t: H% [# S. G( }& |8 B9 N Z
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
+ ?2 C. V) l% M0 f0 n, k$ S"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential7 U4 @8 {2 ~ [& i
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.9 Y0 u' E* v" K9 u+ I' t6 {
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
+ y( u1 |, r1 l: N1 u# ^( l0 @acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and$ ]" f1 T2 ^. o1 J7 U
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
0 A( s& S. I) hmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
: Z! F1 c7 Z# t& B: o) \He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
9 Q. R# n I r3 Gand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp8 G6 W8 U, m9 P- m* M1 {% W
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
5 S: v1 @/ S! }8 \further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
5 P: p% o& ^# Mnot stop her runaway Lexus.
4 L& K2 a: Y" D. Q7 E/ b* e/ f"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,% B! k: X6 x' t# S5 j
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
3 J1 Y" L8 r9 U& ["shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
1 x9 W6 m7 }! I: o) m6 yTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
# ~( Y* A9 m6 V2 u7 R, L- N z9 aearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
1 l" e) f# H3 Z8 a6 b! F4 P"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has6 w! ^1 O" s7 ]. D2 M
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway$ p: H1 N, S9 [/ G- S" f6 X+ h' U
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
W# }( n6 e8 t6 l4 B* Uinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."$ Y8 e' Y% o8 e; M) j& u
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
* q4 @$ h ~% p2 ?& D `. melectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of5 v/ {9 o2 n/ z. _5 ?. Z
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
1 f$ f+ G; U. J4 X+ smalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
$ n4 z5 m" ~& U$ zsaid.
* z5 X4 |* t# j7 mAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what# Z; d7 s v3 A. V% x
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe) X1 A9 w, W# F3 I
about driving our products," Lentz said.2 O% Y/ y1 W) }! |: K
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
& A1 \ f9 ?# I; {+ Eproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has9 B4 y$ N X4 R' @
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6! ?+ d. m9 D; l+ Z# ]& s4 a: {
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
9 L+ \ }) H$ zunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking# ] G2 P7 v: I3 ]$ Y( K
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering2 }+ i' y3 j ?2 c! u. j: p7 i$ @
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
1 A- m* G6 f: m. itheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow. @, [& w4 I1 y* Z1 y
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
; K8 C! P9 `* ?$ Greceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration" p1 O n8 O' U; c6 l
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.) d' J! |' ^- B9 S. q
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own/ l9 }! I! {) E& J) i- V
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he( G* t3 j( w8 L* f
understood the pain.
6 v' X9 @0 x5 v/ Y+ m"I know what those families go through," he said.: c9 ?/ y, K) d6 i
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's4 T& w9 P. N1 u% f
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.' \! q. i }# ~* N
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman; P& T8 d+ |2 j8 j9 S
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
' l) ~) P ^& ~, W, `* X2 v! s0 x& ~in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
: k6 B$ a) k/ qLentz replied: "Not totally.", q- u" R, N$ E- \# V9 q
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were, V; B ~6 o2 I
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
. r# A' L8 X9 o9 UToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas* w$ M4 p/ ? i7 X4 F
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
! W, M0 W. D) G3 w/ Yvehicles already on the road.
% m" K! Q; ~$ b7 G/ T- L; V4 sMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify/ x# f% ]/ X0 M& Z+ `0 h
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full* u! m4 x& s' C8 Q; E
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
" c8 G* ?$ c. U" U8 Doffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were# W! V* k) u+ @- {2 w
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.1 x8 X/ S6 g6 Q7 B) h7 a
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a Y9 [2 m! _& k0 N! }- t
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
% d/ f, A$ Q/ x# y8 X5 Kfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
) X1 V- l* T+ `Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
' z3 U- q- a$ A" n7 Jcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to, y# ?* A3 P$ b$ T1 V
restore the trust of our customers."% n+ {1 }. C; m, I) Q j
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from9 O9 W, V/ N' n" I0 ~
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly" _4 o" R0 h$ Z, j; b$ ~
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --% r% h0 p0 {$ H0 X
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
& R: o0 n+ L6 Khitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
" a* a0 L7 N8 P$ |4 V# d2 o$ ithat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
' \* Y2 o" t) C% V9 ]turn off the engine.% V: W1 A. f& v" x
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
% V, Z! s# e% v2 s) r# c) w1 BOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."" Z& l. F0 L# {6 ^6 y2 V
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
/ i" t# T* h# u. bsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
7 {2 W; j; ~" X1 hto her complaints.+ H1 V0 G$ g. G$ R, Z
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers) ~" E1 F1 }7 r" e. }6 S8 V
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic; i" B% H9 A0 O8 p( |- s$ D
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars. @# ?4 w# Q' b# }
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric+ R2 o9 s% Q! g+ t9 Z9 a3 r% d
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited8 i+ G! Z2 b: K5 w) p- ~6 K
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
% d3 ~, }( O" O1 c1 r: ?off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
: D; ?# ^% z+ STransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
0 { r0 D1 ~+ S& c S& @prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were1 q0 W4 c M/ V- N1 n: R
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls( Z" u" D$ W( P& ~5 J1 B( U
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
5 u0 f" m& x7 uevery question."
0 [3 D( k' ^/ z( x; Z4 e, K FToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
- N% T* |9 L8 H z2 \electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
+ Q C5 Y6 o0 f4 k, {+ Rfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
" f8 M( X) }/ hcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
* V, v+ F: q0 X' R2 K- D7 znumber of vehicles
# f6 P6 w( ^! [5 x7 U/ Z& VTracking down an electrical problem can be far more1 W+ s/ v8 m5 P# O
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a9 Q/ u/ X& f9 x4 B
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
, G1 O$ d1 T; [: zsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.0 }6 t: S- t9 U% ^1 L: Y' W. f
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,/ w& A, v. a' J5 f f
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no. m% l+ H0 r8 c F
trace at all.7 z" ^' K. \& k7 k" N( i' |6 o
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
3 j- p- T) `+ f; Q0 r, odatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
+ z+ \7 e3 `" p1 N9 ^, I& }9 u hacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the+ R" A4 s9 l D, Y' X' {! y
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
7 l' j8 S/ K' _+ u) Y" p ]0 ^Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
1 A1 [) C1 }0 I! ? W7 Vsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
) j, G: t# K) uother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
( N2 V3 {# N# E4 z6 }1 ^; zelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible$ a& x) _7 P+ M" O4 d' K* c' A& D) L
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only! u; E! H' E$ M- T3 i
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained/ C: B8 o3 a9 M1 _& G
by Toyota's lawyers."
% h8 A% o! ?& h8 uLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
0 d1 @' u& T2 B" _. {' r6 a& Cproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our( K$ L" D) P. e* Z6 n) o1 P3 C {; K- V
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he$ c4 n) f5 b+ P
said.' y: u+ W' o' ^; H/ M$ a
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with& u2 V0 c5 t" n0 ?
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our2 g# w; A. Z4 e9 I* Y3 s
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating8 T; o4 q& `; H* |! ~8 B5 s
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.2 k1 N8 j6 C/ Z2 ] j7 l/ t1 F; x) s: c
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying! Y0 m% A1 j1 ]& ^2 T
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
) `( c$ ^9 v8 A/ f0 Crancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the" f8 E; x4 `3 i* a
automaker, at least in part because of the government's* x5 w" m9 R1 T
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
7 v* g. Y4 b% @! R+ B! k0 R3 HChrysler.9 a% y* j! o# g ^; R X4 u
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
) `9 O3 ]# a4 Q7 a0 ~% ~dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a6 s( K# {8 b; n) ~- V8 q8 G/ ^
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also* R* ^/ i6 A7 p$ e9 p' I
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete0 e7 R2 D0 x' _# ^3 l g# {
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
, U( K) |+ b9 \3 `0 D# k3 P0 ntough."
7 t! ]7 T5 v9 ~' y: j---7 A; B# }* Z5 a# }
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
. u+ O& `9 u4 z$ SRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
/ Z+ e% A' R6 A- {& c( [0 U6 Lthis story.8 [+ k# _ L; p3 j! g1 q
. _4 k% f" y, p* h |-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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