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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
% q: n, p; j: U$ {By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
B5 y$ v; b( N3 tWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.1 f1 ]) L7 k( P/ x& a9 Q j' O
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
/ r4 O; I5 M) ~( d' bthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"2 p% t6 V$ w u% `# E2 ^
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
0 Y, T* _. X) S$ @: n, @7 I& @+ M"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
9 ]& |9 g; Z* Qcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.: f- ]( k1 n( C/ v, _- U! W
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected' P! T+ I0 X- M5 V+ r
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
n3 K. l$ W! w o/ z( \) s' ztrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
/ a5 I R, R" D2 \mats and sticking accelerator pedals.* l/ K2 s% p% T; R4 K
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
9 r L) `$ E% K$ P1 g' @9 Eand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
4 |+ \8 I2 C: v$ o5 W, y0 Z* ecriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
: l; i; a" t' S% W3 bfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
( @0 B3 V2 r* w; y% qnot stop her runaway Lexus.
! X4 I$ D f& Y"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
+ T5 R( B4 y X7 M6 o; CTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second/ z; c$ m9 v* C) G3 \
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
0 F' _! f0 Q1 `5 n) z$ T4 G! ~5 ATexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
0 K2 V# j9 ?: r3 N2 tearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
( w7 k0 |3 Y4 C% @"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
# z( i% r8 X) U0 L$ a8 f7 m9 H. a" ^2 tdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway% \* y- t& `% ^3 ~
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's- E c5 j! Z! x9 S7 t
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
: f; V! ~# Q' v" G0 \) ]Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an; v* `$ X1 @. c) y3 N, l
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of- _# \: E2 n+ p) I. K
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a6 [$ {0 y. O7 s9 E7 x" t3 ^
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
; I( r" A* A, X( z. l, R4 Lsaid.9 x# b. F) f- E+ w) A9 A8 y
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what* {$ ?! d9 d" g
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe" J$ I; k9 i8 s+ p9 t) q
about driving our products," Lentz said.( z) y3 f* g! V C* Q
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
; q$ F/ y" i& B# D( ]9 |. rproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
/ J0 e$ J8 O/ Rrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6% a0 _; l: w$ d! M& Z! l5 \
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
. _! ?* b2 e' u8 q2 Hunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
) ], P9 ?- d7 c e* ]% Qissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering1 w3 E0 F, J3 f$ q2 G
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
3 h, K3 O2 a) ptheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow) T4 K$ k. Q+ p5 ^+ _/ ~4 O2 T# e
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
( u5 e6 E! w' S, p+ Ureceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration. j5 L# }- i) N$ O
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.& d5 l' _7 [9 b, [7 }
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own6 j3 u; P* W( s* k4 u
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
3 L$ E8 c: H: z# `3 J( hunderstood the pain.
# ~: y$ V I( A8 Z"I know what those families go through," he said.
+ A) D* G: n& C+ U# QLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's" c h9 L5 c" _7 j9 [9 i- i
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.1 G- Q' ~0 X |7 }# T/ b
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman' p1 h0 W' ^% d9 F. V7 B: y
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put# K. B7 \: k; d: G9 R% f8 J
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
6 C. `; d) l: {( dLentz replied: "Not totally."7 l1 T9 I# `& P! g
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were% u1 s& H, [) H
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
+ _% K$ Y1 o. A" w+ l3 L* c7 V% ?& YToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas, ^+ o+ f1 g r4 ], v
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its7 u0 o$ M; u( Z! o/ I, M
vehicles already on the road.
4 }1 |5 r. M' L0 Y0 SMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
9 ]: p0 b3 V9 nbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full+ `5 o# {) ?+ a4 ~1 A- m3 [' y
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
! W7 p2 y. f) u. a1 ]3 z% xoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
# Y0 m6 l7 B- z. f% @8 K6 rkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.8 }8 c$ M4 G# i
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
) Y( K; G! |! i; N/ u) x4 Qtragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony- \4 E# f( ~: G$ {- i1 A
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
: z6 B3 y2 ]" Z* C9 P( CCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal5 ]) s$ I9 ^- s( w- w& \
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to/ S9 E) L6 f7 y
restore the trust of our customers."
7 W/ @' u2 W( z9 c- `3 BLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from/ W6 L% [' y9 t. }5 h. u6 F* g w
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
# P9 L/ E; Q% D+ E0 rzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
- M& b$ [3 p' N+ p& hshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
$ z0 O% r) Z. z' {hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough6 _$ y7 {7 q: S6 H/ _
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
9 B/ y; @0 ]' K2 `& |# a: B3 F. u# cturn off the engine.$ e, ~0 C4 c, R! A9 b
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of0 ]% O7 j. ^+ B! w3 s* \0 B
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
% |" D P! X9 t6 Z& [3 \"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
2 D/ I/ n0 I$ d3 p. |9 Bsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
( b1 X, s) h% Y* U! n# j- Ato her complaints.: Z5 r* g' B7 \ [" a& N
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
7 y+ x% ~: ]) Q, N N1 q* _# {returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
* h0 P, @! \4 Y `3 d' p4 jmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
' K) f- d8 F. [* C& Y: }"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
% { N" A3 D+ h$ O+ a6 hthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited5 p# U: x' D5 F
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut X: s' o. F2 }5 _% y* M F
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."/ Q9 h$ q7 i7 u5 j, Z! H, B2 F+ |
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in; {+ r6 W/ a$ N. b& L. ^7 p8 G
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were' G* T" Q8 E! |: K. c- z
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls" ^% d' s! `# D- f
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer2 F& O: a! c- v9 ^- J
every question."$ T7 ]9 A; ], g1 u; n+ j4 I
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether- \% V6 c/ r; s; z) i5 ?
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The4 I8 d0 O8 u. K/ F3 y# s1 x4 ]
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
/ g3 F6 _; q3 n- Bcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
5 Y$ o) t1 V0 C" Vnumber of vehicles/ A* e/ N& \ B
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more1 u) ?/ X/ _" C+ Y
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
" @" J/ X; _" bmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
/ F; u4 h) {$ U3 F' r8 s8 h8 p" Q0 Tsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
6 `' X, y; y {( B5 N" D3 cMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
# |! a1 B5 P7 A j& nwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no5 k) _+ \8 n( o) s; f `% L0 j/ ^
trace at all.( l8 f" S& l1 U# s
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
% g, f/ R3 `* x' h7 S4 F" wdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
n e- S: g3 |) L! racceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the- Q$ W; Y0 F4 A9 R
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
2 b% y% G! s9 ]5 xRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,$ f. h" X# |5 A& j1 ?
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and; k2 a# Q+ P$ A' u* j f
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the K- n! [, w E2 N1 @
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible) t" p2 _8 Q& m6 t
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only9 {9 Y/ J- `1 z3 n. c
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
$ S% p5 _) i& W- c, d4 W9 t! i/ |# ^' Wby Toyota's lawyers."
0 M( u4 g% K- ]$ G; C; m7 cLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of5 G) d, K5 ]0 D$ ^7 v, O ^
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
# g) @9 H9 E! Pcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
, e \" W. a( j3 \; Ysaid.
: e( V. ~# E K# U* O+ _"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
2 R' _" h/ R+ W% r6 O3 Qa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
+ D& \; R( Z X9 ?/ Ggood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
( r% X! G% K) x4 V# ?' O R" hofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
7 D# F$ B; s* `: P0 sSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying7 W# c! G5 N0 W0 {9 d
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
c% Z4 a' q; T0 ?! rrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the- S9 ~ K( b" I* a
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
: E( l; \7 ?- v; V, Vinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
, c' ~; `4 v# ]: hChrysler.
: }4 H! R9 ~# m, |" |& X; _"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax( f# D# t: b4 o
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a) ~0 P0 l. i7 l' @' @
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also& _0 r1 Z+ G: q$ }5 m2 B
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
z- n5 R' I9 _5 }3 W: Ewith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty; @" K$ v1 L+ p2 r1 R; e8 F6 b+ p$ L
tough."
7 J0 h% W; {$ q- l4 N; X8 |) P---: B$ K0 G) W; R# r2 _1 G- `
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom7 F' E. Q3 U2 b) E3 M) v# y
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
; R+ j& @3 y1 t/ R# |$ ?* O4 ]this story.6 h, a9 J7 s" J: W
% K5 h5 I; O- W
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