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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题2 w9 ]2 v# u/ J/ g9 h8 S$ ^
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS" N3 V( H: b: u" d
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.. J& d% w, T5 P* g8 P2 P, h7 U z
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that, e, @* u# L8 _2 t3 q; i% P2 p
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
2 g# W( j H( N, ]0 {* T- V2 C9 ksolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
9 ^# m* W( o+ i4 _"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential' b( x/ }: R; u7 B# K- V7 i5 C& z
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.- F6 b! |0 S) l2 l
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected& ~ m5 k# Y' m4 k7 z1 q' }
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and) b6 E. k6 j5 _. e# G
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
: G" Y$ {0 S% qmats and sticking accelerator pedals.! C8 D+ g" D) R7 ]' X' D' t" ~2 e
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal8 s" b) I& V9 c. c( ?
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp# F t4 J$ M$ L! f+ ~1 m
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be) S% y! k' h$ ?+ C e
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could2 {+ C$ V9 A; i) T" _3 e7 f
not stop her runaway Lexus.1 X$ v' e7 e+ x8 p' o3 L: W
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
0 X) z3 X$ u$ u$ pTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
2 f: {+ T4 X$ X- A+ F7 m"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
8 M1 t8 v* I" |) s" s+ ETexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues8 L, K" x+ B5 J; I
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said1 B# V* y' \1 h5 n) U; o' ^
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
/ \1 I1 e8 e V# ^done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
7 @. M, ]) U& m, ^through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
' u' O! A+ z8 ~( O; }: xinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
% o5 i% x8 |0 v7 a2 \Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an( Y. i9 X8 M J# h" B- ~' M- t
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of$ |( H$ i7 d% K; r
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
1 p6 L* F; f- ]1 d& M: K+ \malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
% e. ]/ }/ g$ C& \: {% |5 d: Rsaid.- Q' d5 D0 k' C5 j7 s3 W0 W4 D
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what n- |4 b6 D) o+ U) v2 C
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
5 N, M* f9 f& c; x. v! ?about driving our products," Lentz said., _5 h4 j- H+ @
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
4 j2 p3 O7 i: u$ f% p) f: Nproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has$ `7 o6 a# ^1 @- C" @# K `+ z
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6. x# P0 d: Y1 `- U) k' G0 ]
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
: O. M. E6 v6 Y6 U' T+ Tunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
4 Y- A3 {# ~+ C C8 |issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering8 A' q9 ]4 r4 k3 @
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of' x: h. N' \( @+ O Z0 D* Y
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
6 W+ E, w8 I' I- idown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
# C& ?, L0 E) yreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
# H/ v0 R6 g9 Yof Toyota vehicles since 2000., g) c, }# e# t) } x; _
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own+ l. d, K: F. }
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
: h6 h) f& z' ^# u3 }2 P. nunderstood the pain.
* p& z0 o5 p4 |! u2 b. d"I know what those families go through," he said.
; g0 m; J4 G, r+ S9 A# k+ ^" vLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's/ d( t; o3 k; M$ }0 P8 v
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.5 v2 n5 b3 V9 F% F5 f; d/ P
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
6 z" A/ S: M' ~# L5 XHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
B- F6 H% I/ N9 s& yin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,! f5 L0 a; O( }+ |+ M4 V
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
4 L& K% ^; y. r) O) B$ X# E4 `Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were; }. h/ l- A4 Y( ^- U
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
0 y+ k9 Z2 F9 q- ]Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
; [; g, k' T1 w, g9 Bpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
: g- q7 c8 h3 l* lvehicles already on the road./ `9 ?" z& a2 M& l
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
: K& J: z& C jbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
# p g. c5 x$ l' d6 Lresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
% \9 ~, g& \# b, [- p+ [3 {offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were. r9 P* n; W2 R+ [$ l
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.6 y! J. M' b' `' n! |/ V w
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a6 h. P1 o% f5 W. ^! u
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
4 K$ F6 g a$ g8 Rfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
8 u. D; R- C/ e. y( qCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal+ _' Z6 S% \! |8 z1 D. m1 N
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to( x5 \" T+ |- R
restore the trust of our customers."- P7 z9 i' l* r3 }! L5 N
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from. I1 ]( a, X$ r5 P' i4 M. g
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly( F4 X9 m4 \, _- X: E
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
) e9 s: F( @. j+ O) Zshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
" ^' \3 k' d4 c* S6 r2 ]1 \hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough {$ v$ `/ R( z) f5 |6 F: x
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
) b. [& [* |0 l/ X2 ~turn off the engine.
' P' G3 k+ b" f5 J _8 J1 b5 nFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
4 w, t/ g. x: S2 h% E B8 w- OOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."0 T$ j- O% d7 d% K( P0 l, ^+ |
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she; a( }6 M0 n- y% b
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
; y+ q! e2 ]" O5 V! hto her complaints.& L- @0 `+ v! R& \: O2 Q8 y
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
2 D' P0 ^' q' [) w7 qreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
& V' o6 \/ A8 l( D: L: m; c: J3 zmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
$ p, ^7 R: c. K3 }, V"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric- S ?& s1 Y* \( L
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited+ }$ H5 ?% d* ~# Y0 c
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut3 D0 @" G/ ]# b, |* \! M
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure.", V% U. D* N) x8 p6 N
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in# f6 ~4 X: a. B- E) p0 y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were3 e+ M6 O7 m1 Y4 S* A# Z4 d
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls8 [7 d- Q+ v# g$ {3 g8 W0 |% N
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
. M" L1 m: A/ W. Eevery question."
1 h( i3 A6 c1 G4 B0 _Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
3 F( l: W: Y+ [ I. l) E2 selectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The5 D, G" t/ V' K) x% b
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But6 b0 E" z6 d7 d
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small) [9 C3 N* X0 K$ Q0 `1 I- W4 w7 O& a2 _
number of vehicles
; |3 d. a) q# O# dTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
9 \4 n5 U, I9 d" ^3 Z. b' Zdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
. u) o { ]& Qmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
" F3 \7 ]7 S& }source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
/ u' l( I& `2 C" n' iMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,; E: @0 v0 a! p! j+ y9 Y. l2 T
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
$ f$ o8 h( l" M8 otrace at all." h9 ]/ U$ s* g5 G8 {! L6 k
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
; e9 s6 Q% _- h: Hdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden* ~* O# `* f: p( {+ B6 w% R
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
( }& k2 [+ G. c6 F9 r; p9 ]recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.+ B) ^, ]) {! w/ F/ b4 t! M" Q
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
$ q) Z& d* m7 @3 u2 Fsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
& H* G; v0 S- ^1 {) Dother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the- [/ X: _2 J4 V1 }# W, B h
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
: s$ R! f$ x4 N" A ~! v3 gcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
/ L! r f- |6 l9 m5 h! ]' J* jsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
3 e/ g/ i; j. E p7 S4 [by Toyota's lawyers."
$ F% l+ @/ f& J& R+ S4 pLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of, K& m: x- S L6 ^
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
, T# ]7 z0 D" G& A5 g0 s' Fcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
& E2 ]/ P0 X9 H: K: ~, @5 Y6 ^8 bsaid.
( G" a& P. a; _0 J& v3 Y"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with" |2 P6 ]4 b+ c" a/ T
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
+ i/ s! |4 C) z4 ]& V( }. h+ x9 U- ogood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
' \2 I. M5 _$ Q1 ]& [officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.3 }1 L' o. l0 K( K# g+ O0 }
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying6 J$ ?4 ]5 t' F& R" |* j( I+ |) w
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
. u2 G4 @" F8 K& h" O' i2 T4 lrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
& \+ ]9 a" n. k, J6 f1 b! C$ Eautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
) B# K3 K' A4 x$ w) q9 l9 |( {1 ainvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
4 d3 N# R4 D4 k' nChrysler.. y0 w; J5 g) \8 S" m; {+ o) Y
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
- _8 q# x3 C. e) r# \5 f: `dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
, j; N" @$ O3 E `* E& `Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
& I% {) n5 c) ]+ i, ]served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
Z6 N" J# [6 x: A4 |with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
; I# r# W, Q, T" y+ ntough."
5 J% @: d1 M! z' D) ^/ z---
. k" }- K/ k) D pAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom+ x* p5 I+ i- W/ F# G1 E
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
+ k& s/ M6 h2 g0 _this story.
, c) S4 K7 |7 ^& N
6 s% u k n+ L4 {- s+ ?-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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