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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
2 N: z9 ^& g3 _. eBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
2 {" r( G5 N& M, e8 lWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
' w! W" f" O& {0 B4 x2 moperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that2 T" x$ c# w. r7 O- T( k$ H
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
* K' b6 G# d+ `' O+ j2 psolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
6 o6 z$ ]1 C% K2 g# W"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
7 N0 [2 q5 `- o7 i0 }6 g, Ycauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.* u7 L$ J& C! ^* n8 d- r) l
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
8 m2 I2 ^$ ?6 o6 [9 _8 {: w8 ?acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and9 \& ^+ i9 o0 z7 E7 T
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
2 v1 D j- m$ Omats and sticking accelerator pedals.6 u C# C4 Z8 b" j; H* j1 H
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal' W% j/ B0 L( W
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp8 B. r j) Y3 N, @
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
" N0 X2 ?4 h' B8 q' R: G9 j) afurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could+ Y" [; s) G& o4 Y/ A! K+ |* G
not stop her runaway Lexus.
2 W% y, o8 l' l4 p Y6 _/ ~. s4 J"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,' F" {4 r& G/ U. S- j
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
# j/ ^9 G2 B" e- I9 q"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.# w0 p' c# w! E7 I" C
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues8 O5 x8 H2 M6 P/ f$ v% Z
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
* _4 A2 i. _5 I6 t# x"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
; M9 o$ X: @: m, o9 @, u* Gdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway2 C) ?# s* [$ G/ i
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
. b" z/ T, X0 ^# G) Q! Zinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
. u2 Q6 X6 ~: d( bLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an8 W; B* J/ U+ P. \0 A
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
' |; p5 Q0 @6 e* G3 Z, j$ C3 N7 w5 G/ Tthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a/ ~5 U8 J, X1 }* V. \8 e9 y
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
8 X! i; z2 H+ B* N7 rsaid.
* E* Q2 [) W, x. X0 m# ^5 a/ A/ |As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what5 ]0 c; C) ]2 J0 M2 x `7 C& g
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe+ {% [3 |, V6 Y/ ^
about driving our products," Lentz said.' {6 N" S! U0 O5 A# g# E
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's k7 `5 s' X- o( {
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
8 w9 [: i9 _1 B) e3 Urecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 61 O& Y3 @- b U
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
@9 l* w+ j7 U- Gunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking0 {+ a! T* J7 ?
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
% C3 i; v) G% H' sconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
- W& v. O" E4 }* G# B+ Xtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
) c& K2 j& y1 l* a& ~- s4 vdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
3 m3 F- m) F8 c8 W7 ^4 E0 Wreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
6 w4 Y% o5 I2 t1 r1 t) h& @5 v: |of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
7 B- @( E2 {7 ~$ |( v! TLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own! ^$ w9 B) w! A5 {% r% e6 {
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
1 `6 [7 {. Y) V- I4 u5 V- }understood the pain.
) F' E8 I3 {, x0 _9 Q7 X"I know what those families go through," he said.
4 n2 @% n$ A. T" {! vLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's2 ~1 \) n8 t, n. [, k$ W
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
$ w9 _6 V# N/ y$ ?; uBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman- j3 q8 r, J# S; J
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
# S( X2 h8 L V$ L/ min place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
5 X2 t& x1 b& L0 |Lentz replied: "Not totally."
6 ?! C( t- x) u9 h @3 KStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were2 F! Z ]: F. a' |) r1 u
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
; Y" H% }* Z- _0 y rToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
8 ?' B e# b% j; o. v9 l rpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its: P9 {( J1 ^+ l
vehicles already on the road.
% f6 m# H1 s+ ?4 G1 WMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify6 f' Z+ d' O; t1 i
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full) K4 @* Y+ n" t, r9 W( m1 i( _
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
0 C* S( W; o( coffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were' _% y: [2 z- ^* {" H
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
1 R; ?1 k) ^- h0 l"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
$ @% q# \9 c: _4 r. z1 z. ftragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony, p9 z1 Z/ p" \; y2 P) C
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight! u( j8 y/ g( K0 a7 x! s. C
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal( _ n, C1 h) A, M: |% Z- l6 \0 ~2 c
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
# S( H8 \+ B' V6 D8 r3 jrestore the trust of our customers."
* z3 l4 C5 Z: r! S% YLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
4 b' k. c) K% k/ {% DSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly' R' m" w. Y. H3 t7 t+ u! r, \. `
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --$ b7 u; ] c( a, d- v
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and4 B* X/ w7 v6 M2 x% D( ~" i
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
9 Q+ ^1 ?3 Q0 q/ w8 x4 Ethat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and& ?, u9 q i6 U
turn off the engine.& C1 o3 X# U3 n2 [! Y S! B
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of( u, P1 C4 k9 i6 H* a) c8 y. X
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience.", T. Y; m0 m" W
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she. f: _" W0 t$ B1 j/ Z
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
4 a( I! r" m7 ^+ u* f) m) ?to her complaints./ `. X8 }, c! ^8 J
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
7 g/ G1 z8 s( B2 creturned again and again to the question of whether electronic1 q+ F. T. i9 F% h
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
" i$ J6 I% k) h4 X1 p( ["We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
- \4 t; A- Q. ]+ Q) e @1 Fthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited" ^; j6 [* d/ M1 g, V
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut( K# D" j) j3 S) h* `
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."& T: ~; J/ j# O4 C2 j" j( h
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in/ J' x3 y! G# X9 A j9 V' z
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
- ?0 A' ?0 E6 Z# `2 @: zbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
9 C* y# ^+ k4 p4 P$ L& J0 Hwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
: ^8 l7 v( c6 o9 \( l5 r# gevery question."
5 N/ }) i/ ^' J7 p+ bToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
5 P' \. G! {& y8 `6 M! [3 N4 Relectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The2 a' K7 p. d0 f* O; E. ]; P+ z. h
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
& y5 y8 ^+ t- @1 _; Ocommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
3 b( ~# H' Q$ X& y& E( s- ]# ]number of vehicles( j8 [2 P/ v/ W3 U( M% S/ E& O2 ^
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
3 H5 r: l B1 Z- _+ V) bdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
1 |6 {3 [6 j6 u+ |" s( `; J, _4 Fmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
. F W: ^# ]! Y6 p. H5 Hsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.' h; W2 F* @' E. l, X8 k( o7 C
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
0 T& ^" t& @2 ]4 V5 Xwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
7 X) e1 a& p* Atrace at all.
. g& \+ {; Y p. e" L2 @9 rHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call1 t& \3 ?! @4 ]! w& X# D4 S! C
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
$ Z% s. _" C* y% r4 L; l, racceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the4 x" R, g& q5 J" Q1 I3 k
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
% y% C9 |+ H% W, p4 Y8 Q4 q" L5 pRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
5 @3 G- {3 j" f7 X/ Ssaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and4 B. E% |4 Q; m$ B4 Q* ^ _
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
' Q" T+ M m0 ^: z7 S1 S: Lelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible) d0 n. ?0 w5 ]* g4 D) }
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only5 G! D1 H; ]# r3 u) d! S5 |
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
$ z7 [+ [1 u8 @; P' P3 C) Xby Toyota's lawyers."
+ v; F q& c0 u1 t4 `: DLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
8 R3 w4 s. P' G h# ?+ E) Fproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
+ T! T9 N; l- W y. V1 ~! ucustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
9 {( V8 a) f( C. X& Lsaid.
3 l% |5 o. j/ m+ M"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with* `5 P" ~8 x7 ~2 G! v
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our8 H9 e& c$ b+ S: s
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating. \% V0 k7 x: [$ e6 B: }1 C
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
( K7 g$ W1 V9 o* w4 z# vSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
% j4 A& Q2 M" D, Z$ w5 m7 L; qmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
( E, Q$ t; u8 E [2 w: I/ Q% zrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the7 V- i2 ^, s2 ?, N( w. q( I% w" M
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
% f/ n& U. B) R3 Vinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and2 Y$ r% |' l8 t3 d
Chrysler.
1 w u; }6 A, _! o! S- j5 \"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
# s' j/ H: g& `' u u' o( N, M, Tdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a/ \3 Q* N5 a! G! `! g; L
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also4 ^$ ~$ F G: q1 t. i5 h! X
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete! h: |. o6 p% B' [/ v
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty( r6 v- \; D, w' M
tough."7 I0 u/ _4 J. g
---6 B2 p, f: y/ A
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom z$ N5 ^, X2 _* _1 U/ t
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to; j; v& z. n0 W" v
this story.
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; Z" A" W0 n' h4 j {2 h# c-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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