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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
+ M) w9 g2 i( |( j/ C: l4 Y( VBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
7 Y$ U# A. S; o* a4 N+ i" J" AWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.$ b2 O" I) G2 B9 T8 Z. i( x& i. b
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
. V& ?2 r9 }* `" r8 y- }. Gthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"" @8 `5 m( T% X+ S% Z7 B
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.0 T; q* d; z& w) E# L
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential8 R6 C, U' |2 G5 i7 O) g6 E* i
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.0 J. l2 W: ^1 K" ]& M$ F
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
8 w! e8 ^7 a m3 e* S$ [acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
0 {' x0 i* @+ i, Y: G3 Ltrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
' e7 `3 r/ d/ o: T5 k+ Imats and sticking accelerator pedals.
0 H# G1 A: s% hHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal) y) j# l2 w- P Z
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp, k0 C0 E4 k) M- I6 g
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be0 a4 v* x' s& Y' I+ ^
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
' C) U# p" F" xnot stop her runaway Lexus.8 k3 a8 u1 m+ M3 l
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
& }( z: I3 r- i$ x, |' J5 `) _% ZTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second& }& F7 j4 m' c- O
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
8 Q8 o- t" p4 N/ o$ w+ sTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues5 D6 W6 }: W* G* i/ l, i
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
# w/ @, H5 h: R1 c2 Z" ~- e6 n"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
- ^, l/ s. @8 P* Y- ?% G! ?% Odone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
4 S) G9 K) X mthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's! H* N0 L' M; B/ c8 u( P- t" M
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."- i! L4 A# |; S
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
5 ~* Y! F& G: C8 ]+ Selectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
8 W, j K# w, Z0 y5 F1 T1 N/ nthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a) H% @1 t3 T, d+ @
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he: m9 @- I8 }1 Q8 X% P
said.
8 l I4 O5 O+ Q7 _As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
7 Q+ x* h# q% o) k5 k2 E0 j! ahappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe/ a% h4 B" m6 c0 W
about driving our products," Lentz said.% l' d, t$ L6 A- Y7 b
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's: n+ ?' m( } r) Z
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
. ]0 I( j3 r" { v% j9 w& Hrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6$ P8 Q/ @6 I( E8 `, s3 s
million in the United States -- since last fall because of( E; v2 \' C( A1 [9 o
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking" x: P2 ?( L4 i; a" A% l; q6 Y
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering2 k( u: I4 y1 c) x/ h# R$ ]
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
) R+ I' V3 f: M' Ctheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
0 y( p7 m; J0 q2 H; B3 Y; x- cdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has$ Q/ Q: G/ _7 n7 @* G
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration3 u" ?8 V9 ~% C/ y1 M
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
3 O, u4 P( |1 W. w2 P' Q. tLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
, O& K6 W7 i/ M- Y0 |brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he9 }9 }9 l: H1 K6 K
understood the pain.
/ w4 S# b9 x& w, p"I know what those families go through," he said.
1 B+ V0 |! a0 ?. @, J! E4 _* ULentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
; [; i8 X1 I( ^4 m3 Lfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
: Z5 `' B, h" tBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, m' t a5 N/ c
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put/ S( q ]9 T; z5 d/ d% q, L" C% T
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,, f, L2 Y: S( E5 f7 \
Lentz replied: "Not totally."" M: @+ |0 B Q2 W" j' x% z% F
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were; ?8 Y5 o% ^: E8 f( C7 G3 N/ O
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
* _$ V e+ p" X. qToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas3 ?0 H" B- u& Z9 @: p# z# r' {+ Y
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
" I" T9 o( @2 {# M# W6 wvehicles already on the road.
5 _ r d' `, w8 y; l( [3 WMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify5 P6 N% e- m; }, a3 ?$ ?" [
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
2 _8 W+ P. r; W* Z% O1 G6 nresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
: v4 d' E9 J& G& t% W* P# G4 }offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were! y" m1 M; {1 G" J
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems. \6 d* h& N1 {, i/ C
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a: I& K9 H9 f+ g6 x$ m1 S w: {. q
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
5 h0 ~! E) A% {) C3 K8 ~! }for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
( G# Q9 _5 p& u+ KCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
3 a. ?. Z- O5 f X" A4 Bcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
" e! ?0 w8 ` A ]restore the trust of our customers."2 b1 u4 }8 Y, z* t+ ~4 S7 y
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
1 D6 N+ P8 a# `$ D6 SSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
$ A! G" a P- u Tzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
1 V: ], g3 W5 W6 Dshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
8 E1 K% }: @9 w8 L+ A" ohitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough" L5 q) L( p. K" ] y; A; r% P2 r
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and- u) @- p+ Z9 W- w ^7 K( u
turn off the engine.
+ k" e* E- ?: B, K& S( i' pFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
8 h# x+ S5 {& {# L( E: W& {! J& \8 W$ TOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
8 `: c2 Y6 M0 Z8 c. P! H6 G9 U"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she' z. U, s. ^+ P+ O# y
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond) ^! o" A# d3 m" Z1 |9 q
to her complaints.
+ i D5 {* f. |; v. d" _7 KIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
s' m! {3 V( A1 A' c6 g1 d% ]: ~returned again and again to the question of whether electronic5 C3 h1 a9 F9 F) f4 h4 C( J
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
2 a2 v; j M' ]4 r9 j7 t"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
Z K: S0 X7 P& I9 [; E* V7 \throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited+ E( X, ~, D+ d. ]9 Z) C
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
- ~/ g: P" C" W- E; z# t/ coff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
0 f% c: f2 R" hTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in$ }) I" C( B0 ~; W: E" ]
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
j, i1 D" D+ A6 B* H* L: D% \being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
0 S1 b8 `6 ~5 t7 B4 b. _were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
. [, X: I6 S1 r6 }every question."
* U9 e: W; I; n8 e7 |8 i* pToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
) h$ y& r4 W- M5 x, ]# z. Yelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
! K2 W- s B! d* q+ Efirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But3 T6 B* n( [0 B$ j7 ~2 W/ h; a
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small& ~ h% A* O' q6 `/ I+ s7 ?( r0 Q
number of vehicles
& q7 Q2 @0 }# S4 E: pTracking down an electrical problem can be far more! A! b* A( B8 d6 u5 T: a! @9 J' ~
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a s$ s$ R# L0 z& y8 f9 W& E
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one' d" g( p2 [) r# H$ w- r
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.+ a+ B5 t7 K% R! M$ A0 }
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
! m# D3 [! w1 e5 Owhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no) O8 G U+ K4 Q
trace at all." o; F0 h- i; O- X& i
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
/ v2 z' O3 m" }/ t. ]% Rdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden7 n# V$ k1 K9 @2 s( }
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the* J/ i8 E, E) s
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
, ~* h4 l- q: y. o) S8 QRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
" k# y: W; S$ [$ gsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
( p8 R4 Q# t. u& u! L$ Uother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
( a7 T1 c7 P# l9 T* n! Melectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible7 k7 A0 b A2 D
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only$ q; t4 {( N( @0 p
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained7 n( F; d6 y; A+ ^7 }6 g! j* M
by Toyota's lawyers."
& ?; f) ?5 N4 N1 R7 H" B, G2 n$ HLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
2 @7 c) b% L1 X2 l3 Rproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our, M0 e& F5 P( r6 C/ [. Q. E4 c. p) d
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he' o* e6 V2 p( M5 j- T
said.
, p9 w! L5 n! n( I X"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with9 v0 V$ i2 ~! N8 g9 ~! C6 G7 K. |
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our9 l- d- I; a; t8 g
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
1 F* ^, U9 q+ c ]8 v! ?2 E3 nofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.8 F4 v" | q& c. [0 u, C
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying$ X- A: W2 ~& d: w6 H6 p* h
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
/ O; D: M) m: q, c. @rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
% u# V6 S( b( i G& S& dautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
$ }, T4 a8 G4 c& \investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
& t1 [0 `( l9 UChrysler.5 ?# ]% a& v: Q! [. P' a
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax5 C1 e5 H1 I" m$ [) V- {' B0 \
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a" j' n% w( L7 m i+ g2 l8 g
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also: T0 ]+ x" F2 H& O9 S6 C
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
3 ?& h; X0 }9 Rwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
0 `; A, b3 q( S p! gtough."
; g2 y3 E& s F---0 @% q5 K) B3 q1 O+ \
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom/ Q" H$ d' _: F) _9 |/ k- [
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to5 D0 f7 u$ W- X) n4 S
this story.& d$ v9 x$ f# w4 `0 F
6 s4 S0 E; O' s# L- ~# ]( V
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