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发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
N" V$ I7 V, d' w2 X# R4 n4 sBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS5 n1 `1 g, X1 r; Y! V; K0 k8 u
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
0 @) O5 n) w8 ?7 woperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that5 H$ h) f* ]9 U
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"1 @2 K" Y5 l% _' G. }/ c
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.) s1 i9 R- W3 U4 y
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential0 J: t# S' L P5 ^( D
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
! A& p- o/ C& M, O2 B, u$ uHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected) l) \4 K" _! w# _9 I4 n
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
; h/ z9 ?. k3 Z6 {1 l; u$ ^+ p, Atrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor2 ?/ |" v7 i! D0 Y0 d
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.- y0 h# k, w* K8 W, x( y
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
6 Q, M U$ Q5 P1 ~3 v# N4 c9 D' fand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp! _- m8 b% G& Q5 X: ^
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be. m' L% F1 O+ Y2 V' s" D
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could4 ~; g9 g0 {) X. @0 Q
not stop her runaway Lexus.3 {: u9 u: c# q9 g- k8 r7 w
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
0 P' G6 @' ?& OTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
: a& C* l D: ~# f& y" Q% N"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.- z+ B8 x* @* v. v: p: B7 L
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
1 [" |. M/ a+ u jearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
: r! E* r& s- }3 V" v. M, n- O5 r"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has" U, C2 u1 O2 R/ o: R" i5 p( X
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway8 |* V; w& J5 L' d- h! z, w
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
& ~! g5 `- q! T: finvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
4 w; v* d4 m! m. ULentz said the company had not completely ruled out an9 @7 e# ]2 x/ I& Z+ \" c
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of# B2 D7 X4 l) n' m
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
S, n$ p3 k3 ~ f& g6 Emalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
& A1 t. z3 P; Psaid.
, N C( ^( R/ {- m3 pAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
8 { f: B$ g, H X' H8 Shappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
5 i* u% P$ s; R. }about driving our products," Lentz said.
( I0 G }* s/ H1 EThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's7 m5 F4 R+ i8 U' z
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has. ~3 [* {/ C' p# A
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6 h" R' j9 r7 X7 A6 [
million in the United States -- since last fall because of: m: s4 R0 I$ }- B, } z
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
8 p7 |+ {8 j" q2 g# Aissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
: ~1 ]8 h2 Y6 x8 s. C7 q% Hconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of) u5 R- [3 ~: n. n0 l6 e
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow9 M" I% O! \ I9 y! D u* o
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
4 _% B5 O% w i9 b+ n) Freceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
3 E0 I4 W: \. G e: Tof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
* T9 F/ g" _# z" N' OLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
5 k2 H* S4 j" K8 i0 t, Zbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he: o" H/ R) x4 d# X. ?: v! d) y7 o
understood the pain.' Y! R- e9 N3 D; F& \
"I know what those families go through," he said.
L" o2 b T0 H! P/ m& MLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
' R, c/ J$ W; F a8 \3 W: ` \' y9 f- @fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
" j7 i7 s- u( jBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman% q( ?% O- `& u/ u( X) a/ ^; b
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put% j8 b& y3 f6 S" Q% `. ?
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,; J( e, d) h7 W: Y
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
( x' Z9 S7 p% E% ~# WStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
! O% F' Q- v( |"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
2 a3 a; a) v! A0 G% vToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas- [ @$ K! E' ?; m, ?% y
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its* d0 R$ P3 U0 k
vehicles already on the road.
/ V) Z5 ^3 a9 Q5 H7 h5 j8 O, f5 `% nMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
) W7 M& q& v, sbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
. {9 Y5 @+ B; gresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and. e3 _, q. h0 b2 h: a- t" [
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were4 c2 [4 `6 u1 h w
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.9 Q% U/ C8 f7 O, y2 r k
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a7 c% W! m8 Q A- s6 D a
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony2 n: v' D0 X4 _: R h4 \. B
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
# B+ K5 M: z: V5 n; J7 C$ zCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal! F/ g% h" K+ O: m
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to2 a6 G$ _* y! u( S+ y4 n
restore the trust of our customers."
9 X1 @# O- ?. V3 dLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from* c( I* q" w: U, v' v! a
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly" p. X) r& j: B5 |1 |( i# ~6 w
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
* b3 I t! N/ gshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and0 C& y0 A, N* h7 W- r) z
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
5 ^1 V6 {7 s3 p. Pthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and9 k6 h; s( _/ V- k( h
turn off the engine.
+ \7 S* {% U8 b0 F x4 c" g( PFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of# s4 v2 q4 v3 N Z! [
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
( d; ]% U1 s$ s" Z6 S"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she; i6 }$ L8 m+ w8 m
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
: R0 C. w9 |/ o2 o' hto her complaints.- z% S3 R: `* @+ F
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
) T; N# U+ w. P0 Rreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic4 L* |/ R! N6 C* d& r l4 ^) i9 r: ?
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.. x d2 u, x0 d) T" d& `
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric, G7 e% J2 r, y4 \
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
3 W7 M+ R# S' s, j$ B"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
! b3 i6 D6 B! z: @: o) noff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
/ `0 m& L3 w. v4 |4 |* @2 b* uTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
( S" r, A* q% N2 s5 |prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were/ P# e3 S/ @. X( w: D s6 v
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls0 f `! N5 Y. e) i
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer( u7 x' e" _0 A' M% k
every question."
+ x" m7 Y2 o4 D9 ^/ }; mToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
5 \# `7 x$ v0 ^2 Q2 {2 r- helectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The! B2 x! b1 E- }4 `( x D! o
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But/ {$ Z% ^0 v" A- T9 k
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
$ J# _' \; R3 F8 gnumber of vehicles D4 K' R) ^/ \5 J3 c
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more- D Y' u5 G0 i
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
7 W! r5 S7 _, lmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one& \( x3 b' ^) ^6 {! G. U2 E4 I
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.$ H$ P$ M8 y2 c/ c- {
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,( l% s) x: F/ o; ]
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
! k( C5 d# R5 X4 R$ g2 ztrace at all.. t2 P/ K! w* B. j
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
+ x3 Q" E% W; O* r4 i3 e' b. odatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden" k8 }, }1 q& U2 [$ k+ e" r6 K
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the. _ q% Q9 a6 c1 }
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
( O6 A2 s7 T e' cRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,$ H& ?( P8 E/ x, y# E: |. F
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and& z- T) [3 R% O4 y" S9 @7 R
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
3 v( Z6 d0 U: M yelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
5 N2 }/ m1 N4 f4 gcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only( i5 y8 i1 p. t) x& K* P( d; n
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained2 {3 i% C1 K2 X5 W/ x8 I, j) E
by Toyota's lawyers."
( ?# w% K& o5 w8 T* k6 KLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
& l( P% l6 G3 C6 x. cproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
5 j5 i: [# G. B; Bcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he- `: J& p3 u# c9 Y. ^' B: A
said.( r' H+ M% v: j# w1 Q
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with, [0 ]: ]7 @2 h8 c
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our* G0 u4 y$ y0 t0 `2 K; }
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating5 m5 S5 |3 | J
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.$ V1 x1 I8 }. Q7 q; ]3 J8 T/ R
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
; g3 x( k4 {$ T- c bmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread$ s9 H3 H' |1 S L6 w( [
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the' S; F' ]" b6 n9 ]# F, y
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
9 v. G( T( d1 x, ~- c6 Linvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
$ N+ l$ d0 K4 GChrysler.; g3 s Y. j) M3 j* G+ u* n
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax" \. l$ `+ m* S, A! `' {9 z% N
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a2 ^5 _( p( _6 H( b9 g
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also& G, q) p ~, i+ k# i% q, m; _4 ?
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
, K6 n) H% x3 Uwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty6 N, e3 Y z; R2 J: ~4 h; i
tough."0 m! C, O& ~! |0 `$ w# K
---& o- d6 V$ N) A! l1 R, t; d% a( x
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
/ I6 B5 U1 Y6 h2 J1 JRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
0 [4 a6 f7 M+ Z+ a3 Jthis story.
0 j) r; d+ `; { n, }! X9 u# F3 a& s* l/ C+ m( y: S
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