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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
5 H% c! i1 ~4 Z, x5 i aBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
" V: i; {7 N2 q) n% X3 O* y5 J8 fWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.3 z n6 f2 V5 E, h/ i
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
1 H9 P$ `7 B: K: Athe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"7 N+ ~( J) {' h8 \
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
; i2 M8 d$ j" _5 S/ j, ^"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
/ D! A4 M5 P: S+ Y Q- hcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
8 P3 R! Q6 L9 n$ }/ m, BHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
, T4 R7 r4 @- u0 tacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and" N9 W- [# X3 F+ W- Q$ |6 n# ?$ X
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
( j p9 f: {8 E) U% l8 kmats and sticking accelerator pedals.$ r) i- I9 ^+ h* @1 q+ h# B
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
7 M$ w9 b$ _/ r+ X( F7 o1 ?and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp1 J8 D/ L7 z) ?
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
" x/ e F" |: rfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
) `* V# A/ ?4 C, Z$ Y' snot stop her runaway Lexus.
* B& X# ]' x7 j"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,8 c" Y, E' j" k: e( @3 T
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
6 `7 e6 O) [ E* {"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
! s* t* b; n# U# L- ]/ dTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues M( W9 C5 {% n. w
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said0 l) k" ~5 h9 t$ I$ B4 w& a/ i) v) }
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has6 E# M) G. {3 S
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway- Z9 t# A. c& K" K' B
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
" E/ z# h; \, O2 P7 V% N8 pinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
5 n3 T/ d u- ^( g. l' LLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an& f- c) R; Q$ m
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of" G- R0 Y( C4 a9 n
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
6 }5 C: `. d5 bmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he% f% a5 o6 R s
said.
, C# l+ }5 U4 o4 H- N5 T; qAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
2 f5 @6 r, f. [! i' K$ \& t Phappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe2 ~9 s& M/ h; F
about driving our products," Lentz said.
' t, ]3 B- l% G. g0 c9 l! }" s+ {1 {Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's! |: Z! ]) R) |' P
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has9 _- z# D/ d5 L) a5 E; \
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
) Z% V+ P3 [1 T* W' ]4 `+ imillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
/ |' g& h0 _0 N0 V7 i8 s% Wunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
& U3 X+ y( j- A/ V9 T4 {$ ^/ cissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering' P, E1 n. s( X; _0 i
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
: c8 Y2 N7 w$ {their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
" o: W* y# s" f5 T J0 Idown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has: _3 B* h8 ]. K) b7 p
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
! ^2 S; v3 w/ u4 z V6 {of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
! y$ R! S; O+ i- X xLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own4 D1 y; I9 i5 T/ Q% T8 _
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he; H0 a; u/ D& H
understood the pain.) [ l% f/ m% [$ w9 i
"I know what those families go through," he said." q4 v+ m" n: R5 P) i- O- C
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's, r9 Y5 C3 d$ Y: T, {3 k
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.4 d5 O6 K+ j/ S3 e
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
, F2 ^" W" a7 cHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put- ^3 O: {( g& Y/ H- U- I" }" Y" a
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
+ m/ I1 \5 g; a7 p8 ?3 [5 a1 S2 M2 W1 uLentz replied: "Not totally."' K5 ?3 [/ J8 M
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
3 r* T+ C! k4 f( W* j% k: p"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
5 e. x5 ~' N+ eToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas1 @) s% J# W) C; o! \1 L
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
! R+ V$ r* S) h; Jvehicles already on the road.+ l \- U: I) R9 b& `# `, d/ D' o
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify _1 R/ z) l" Y% V; Q
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
# ^1 s) `& l5 C- Cresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
. d# N- S; q/ {+ Coffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
$ D; m# e! d) a. Mkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
+ J* _; B; S& a* e"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
8 w9 i7 j& [( Q- etragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
7 y" W+ M& z! M3 y, Kfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight+ [' B* J$ R( _
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
, f" K4 [& t6 f2 lcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to$ i) K2 n& [( `: d" r
restore the trust of our customers."
6 m: g' M! w8 q2 h% aLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from" o. n2 H2 ~, L5 s4 S& E2 [, X
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
9 q0 n5 D+ w- I: Xzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
* T' O5 J8 u8 f/ k& }7 vshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and' A v! \# O( C6 X
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough' C% V) O1 Z) M
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
# T& P9 W/ P/ Qturn off the engine.0 r6 B8 F8 v3 Y8 k0 ^# p+ P
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
I9 K; u; F/ }) |2 JOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
, j4 N8 W/ k* f% a"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
1 I/ {- z( s( m9 p$ Dsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
6 `# T# n! `: }$ S) Yto her complaints.
" ^/ V# g& A. FIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers! R/ @5 ~7 g$ ^) q. Y$ e6 _2 m
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic3 a2 q; t1 N; K
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.& M! J; d) l+ J
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
9 J9 ]' i# V! [8 N8 Rthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
B1 {3 y d4 h"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
7 T( p: n( Y4 }3 s# J: coff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure." p0 P4 {3 ?* o1 x# Q
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in! v% {, n n1 s5 f: ^5 y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were3 ]9 k5 Z5 h+ p+ x5 B3 q
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
6 Z0 o3 a' P8 n# p" Wwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
8 h e9 `4 S( G" F2 K6 u; W5 g( Uevery question."3 ]8 ~; E! ]/ S9 a- S
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
2 Y& h" r% o) v* ]) ^electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The! K5 G5 A8 z) G5 W6 Z& u
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But* p: A; m- O) M0 W+ G, D6 Y
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
- y0 Z4 ]: n7 d9 J, p0 ~+ Enumber of vehicles: M7 _" ~6 C! m8 k
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
* [2 m. f1 [1 ?4 Rdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
% t. a% O8 ^! C( v/ {% y8 h" Jmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one2 @/ _! R; D1 g Q
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
9 |3 _- y: ~; S3 r& o3 d' _Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
+ T! e! h/ A; y! ?1 W/ i# V F; twhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
3 j$ T" i1 Q) Ktrace at all.3 K4 d0 C0 `' r4 S" c7 _
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call7 P- y/ b/ ?2 w. F! s& c! i. h& a
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
' Y n4 C$ Y1 b1 e' ?* b& Tacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the* J! M8 V2 T0 h; ~5 V" f, y
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
/ ], T. b; p8 fRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,; c! B* {. C- M* m' i7 l
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and4 q2 ~$ J( J" o4 _) \' ?9 O# _
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the n$ E V" O- T# I6 ^4 r" a a
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible4 D. e) J6 i8 n0 ^9 ?% T$ j
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
0 D k- e: Y! R5 H; zsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
5 S" X* w+ R* O; `$ e6 |( Jby Toyota's lawyers."
- E* \3 ~7 ] o/ @ C. Q: m* ALentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
0 S* t0 b/ D7 S ^problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our, w+ A) w- v0 g
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he; w3 ^, ^8 r# T, ?5 F" ] {
said.
. g; g* b: b8 j7 k' n, Q"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
% z" K; _2 N3 I3 aa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our9 k# C) A* V' c% i! a2 Q$ J
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
0 \4 _( v# s5 a$ L% |officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
- T0 Z2 X3 C" W) u7 p3 eSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
1 c' B* d+ m4 [' A5 H6 w# b' fmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread* q3 m- d/ W* i- `3 ~# q" f$ K% v
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
. A: h( q% T4 `! }# y: o. k6 D& sautomaker, at least in part because of the government's& H* r8 v' h& ~2 _% @
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and- ~. P! X' C) C4 O1 [' p
Chrysler.
8 X( I# n" o5 M"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax2 `: t2 \$ v) \$ F' E% ?
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
! s7 U: m6 [8 i1 \! uHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
& O' x& j) M( iserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
0 z, d5 S, m$ |with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty4 @2 f) G1 b- M- H# Q% |4 x
tough."; J# o3 N$ w" w- w" A8 |7 F
---
- [" `# U* P1 R4 I' LAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
' H$ D( \* ~# P1 r Y" oRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to" w# @$ }* i+ V
this story.
, r4 v( W9 V& ?/ ]) W9 C+ m( j' X1 L4 k% i$ o% I# h, [
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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