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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: f9 H N l b3 l
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
4 T4 G8 P; B; \& ^, [7 JWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
% S P! H0 f7 P# }operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that" \" w9 j K7 a2 C. B( v
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
# o6 A7 z! K: I5 N& lsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
; i1 d& J6 `, a* w7 q2 U$ V"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
# p: _8 M, n. B" ?8 U0 S* Jcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
( Y; R/ ?8 p/ qHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected" g. O! U( d+ _7 R% D: _
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and% t) S% l8 [( R; R, @
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor* ^) i$ l! @) z9 i
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
& q: ?: t" J( @. G7 oHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
. t7 z6 E! o' [# w; ?( n- _and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp$ N# x" G) W' G5 Y; a
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be, s; A( f; c% I6 w
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
1 W! w5 G _) B+ I7 b1 n+ {% X5 @not stop her runaway Lexus.$ J& N9 C$ |) M& K8 C% F! T: U" I) ]3 J
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,, d1 M7 k* I2 P+ l8 F$ |& D8 }7 I) Z1 Y
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second: l7 j& O2 v1 k& B
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.4 S5 f4 z$ M. G; G k
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
; ]8 ]' h9 Z( y& T! Oearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
+ P0 ]- m9 ?2 n! \0 G; A/ ["We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
; S$ h9 @0 O" z/ I/ a8 Ydone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway% }: h& _. ?2 t; M/ o8 z4 X
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
' \- p: K0 o9 k7 xinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."( D% E6 M0 O2 A% j4 }2 R2 t5 n7 l
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an+ U1 O+ [0 s! _5 L8 f: w
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of% \2 o, j/ M2 n! X4 d
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
2 o- N1 R; X6 V# h9 L& Ymalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he; ~& C' F2 p0 h. o* p) j
said., e2 V+ N7 [( E) e" O' ~* T
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
4 p3 ?, P# M* y: c6 Q5 y; uhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
- E3 X9 t6 L8 z' v Tabout driving our products," Lentz said.
. G& ]: d d; S, ^, k! @* SThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
2 g# A$ u2 t7 U2 p+ rproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
2 M3 _$ G% F6 v3 brecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6/ S# {) u* O/ o! S
million in the United States -- since last fall because of( Z8 x- j! m; N2 B9 o1 p
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
3 `; O) Y2 V$ n: J1 ?issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
6 k1 G3 U) g6 A$ c" D* gconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
E' W: V; r1 V1 x2 L4 `2 Dtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
" C9 o: X) s4 r4 gdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
7 L8 p" m2 }# j/ Z8 g, i; Qreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
& F3 N' b# |& y& L- D; Y4 c5 s& Hof Toyota vehicles since 2000.$ x2 u" n8 X3 J9 h6 J p
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
0 |4 M% a; `/ k7 c) Z6 Y7 j% Z: Xbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he( [$ X8 u' f5 V2 `# V
understood the pain.- R' N* \9 w+ m [1 P' e* }
"I know what those families go through," he said.4 ^! o' _9 z: h" ^
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's* u: |# x5 z( i- k( E
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.% f7 W8 D! F0 p& P; V
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman$ a: N- [5 f, O/ k
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put7 D( r6 l* l* F
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
5 A, X1 G# t e' i) VLentz replied: "Not totally."7 f8 K$ G, P5 o1 L2 c
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were- ~ B$ R7 o" Y0 L/ @6 }
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said2 |& G' W* \' O9 V, F) c
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
2 B3 N6 ^! b/ X# Spedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its' _. A2 D* v" Z0 _1 M7 p
vehicles already on the road.2 }* q2 K# C8 ^4 v% w( U5 s7 S
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
- q9 [- K8 ^$ U: O( Obefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
" m# U% b: p/ ]5 fresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
" d# P9 `2 z: G2 Y0 l. s( O( _8 {offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were+ z* T7 d9 p- Y3 ]# {
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.* Z: Y5 e# j$ ^
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
4 z( _& _1 P9 ntragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony& R% O) c: g: j( _& U: x8 _; ~
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight- V8 ^( v x+ ?/ p
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
& A/ g6 d( {$ z2 x9 n2 Icommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
+ t k0 F1 r( ^+ _0 o2 A* X; Trestore the trust of our customers."
$ j' o4 M! T/ E9 Y$ S) |( k9 QLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from' R) w% ?; W3 C, i1 Y
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
9 j( Q1 A. ?& v( ]zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
9 }% w% a* X5 U/ b' s7 e5 {shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and+ v+ v+ m* [! t9 M
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough a# l1 m! g/ v9 N$ \ v
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
) f! ^7 d6 [9 o; ^turn off the engine.4 ^) m6 ^& R# v+ |
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
+ s" X6 e2 p1 G6 l* hOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
5 {. D: l: ^4 C7 \, n) I& i"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she7 u$ V( k+ V1 n/ R
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
9 c8 ~; j# `% @4 R; h% f; Tto her complaints.
: N$ U# V; o8 u1 P* BIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
& X' b% L4 d* t! `returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
9 K2 s* T1 L( X0 G3 Q! p* qmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
8 L; G" f3 ?6 R/ j"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric+ y- r4 h) _8 `% x
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
1 D" [7 C3 i: s1 l; a"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut2 ^$ U. a/ T5 v
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
9 r) R% f D3 ]' j- X: K! H" N! @Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in- n i3 X3 H) N' n* u9 ]
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
; @) m, m2 f. h% t3 T0 kbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls- Z' ]( R& l% d/ w$ @' N: @. O0 D7 c
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer1 D5 |+ b& b% C0 l8 U2 P
every question."
. I$ g% S {8 T. t& dToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
9 F+ @2 @4 g# T+ q, xelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The8 G8 K0 L6 ~, `( z
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
! X8 u8 J) i8 j. wcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small4 e1 e! f( U& l# I4 z
number of vehicles) B- p- O' z2 I( U
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
+ v, I. `# V8 E9 g6 r1 n, M+ O% xdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a* B) K$ ^# s- |0 ]) |# u
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one0 N b9 ~! A+ K
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
& q! R: e8 j* DMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
$ K2 ?% z H2 a9 f. D7 dwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no7 Q5 w$ H8 Y5 X1 M: `2 R+ r
trace at all.& C* w# g% K: m' t4 o8 Q' E
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call) m' ~8 X( b4 D E! ~1 W+ o, y
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden5 {; v9 ]- |7 f3 L
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
& x4 }+ Y8 s/ Y! _5 L/ drecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
O, m3 q1 q; c2 u# @9 MRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,$ D( s$ V) s. f5 }2 T7 B+ N
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
d; V2 f- b# Uother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the" ~/ f c8 w* G# r0 k. a) N; F% z) q
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
9 F- R- ]( ?* z4 kcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only8 `$ P" o* a% k# u Z7 G
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained# D" k9 D$ S+ w4 Q( M
by Toyota's lawyers."
, e1 I5 ~. \/ y5 N' r6 KLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
1 p1 P- P. ~# ?& Nproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
t. Q9 t7 n$ |! f+ |( zcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he8 H5 ?; @7 |, H ~
said.
6 U! W( g9 h) y8 ]# H2 K" H, v"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
8 I. l9 p P. T' L6 N- d/ r+ Na rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our$ a8 H, ]. L) P
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
. N& ^1 K- k* o# H( Uofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.4 q+ y2 r4 \' T T5 n+ j
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
! u( L3 i# j# p! T \+ _8 Bmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread5 I Z- A# z& A1 l" U
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
5 b6 |! w3 ^+ H. s) Bautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
" R+ E6 L3 _- l+ p4 jinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and1 d8 q4 t5 Y# N0 r8 h% K) z m
Chrysler.) m/ I( F. t! |9 f* q
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax- H8 N! e! j& M$ ~
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
" ^# X: F, l4 I9 R% W- [4 xHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
+ x) W7 i* Z s: h6 ]# h6 aserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete! c# G9 Y: H$ G6 d
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty J9 Y' X4 y& ]( _
tough.", m' D2 N) G4 `5 R
---0 p( z# F7 {+ c) O+ }2 {$ V
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
z/ v8 G5 ?) E( p+ }4 [3 Q( ?2 CRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
6 a; ?1 ~6 {2 _8 Zthis story.2 Y- f" N' k% e) x5 c$ l
# _9 j+ b3 x5 B% l-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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