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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题0 T! H% S! M* z+ ], W" e6 y [
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
# ^+ L) b" G! s4 l% XWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
9 X0 a# j4 J( zoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
4 Z% y6 a$ [) v- w* t2 |$ xthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"- o/ j0 ^8 \. T, q6 k' d
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
- z4 R) l! ?& H/ d"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential q4 C: O& Q" L% p8 f; T8 |
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
# m% p/ ^# u) l! pHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
N; n' t% b% M" |6 uacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and5 z2 y$ b* M: F, Z
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor, R! L" A3 { g7 y q# ?
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.5 \' ~0 v+ l, k$ O4 D' r
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
: x8 Q y1 Q# g0 G4 K, oand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp+ ~8 J/ }/ x6 B7 u7 g2 P
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
- B" o \+ i, ufurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could# l h" i' }+ `9 g6 ^( j
not stop her runaway Lexus.
& r2 \* |8 N: q' {& A' b; i"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
3 W# U" I4 x1 d, nTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second5 E% H: F& a* U9 i4 e5 F% E8 p" A
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
3 N1 p/ c* E. }: s: \! u7 }Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
: |; F& [' S, r. L% t9 D$ Searly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
, h$ X/ _& @1 v"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
% V2 E" v/ U* l/ F2 q, ], U) Ydone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
9 U- t" w% Y# Y- m& H2 K# K9 dthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
" ]" c- F) K3 L5 einvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
' I: t, g. G3 z- h) E/ MLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an* |& S6 M8 n$ k3 S, i: T& ^
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
/ S' T S( H- r% g3 p8 q8 l! pthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a9 ]' Z2 ]3 `0 Q) ^5 z$ D$ b
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
: y+ B# R7 |( E' N1 qsaid.
+ F! i9 @) l. _ v; a0 qAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
% o, H" ?; k. c$ W% ~2 Vhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe3 M2 J( _- A+ \! m" ~
about driving our products," Lentz said.% x: G! A0 `% b; G
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's0 t% t6 q$ I7 N
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has; P& @/ O7 |1 G
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6 Q ^; S% d' k7 s
million in the United States -- since last fall because of. ]0 w4 E' m7 h* z# E/ R
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking8 h" T! h$ p: C/ p* O" a
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering, r6 j* j- F* m" E& h9 O5 H3 a- Q# w( M
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
& P2 x# o \. Q2 l) W9 ftheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
0 g$ J- B3 \* z+ t0 u0 Ndown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
2 J8 \* I3 @# G( breceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration8 V9 N! k1 h3 _4 a
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
/ n& Q" z9 G3 A3 i6 @Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own5 f' N/ V4 ?' p3 Z B3 X0 J; U
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
6 n6 S% q8 V) a1 G: e, Z- dunderstood the pain.- h5 S- P; h; p- @" l$ ?
"I know what those families go through," he said.
$ _: T* x# t" O: ^# QLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
0 s' x$ Y9 W; p; e* v+ zfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.; k' p6 t; `9 |4 ^
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
. Y; k! x4 \* C8 c9 V# n0 {4 FHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
1 F5 s' p6 g9 g: a' }* iin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
' W( N' k$ W n9 i% s+ Z" d$ NLentz replied: "Not totally."
1 X7 t' U7 B: q, ~5 b3 F% VStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were9 [9 G- z. R4 E" l; M6 _5 r0 M
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
1 p; c! h; L. t5 c* s! u% yToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas! x" d# F- M; O7 U, {
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its) A, f) M8 a, @* y, Q- U, q
vehicles already on the road.
! u/ G8 r! o, t1 l! I3 \/ @Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
. m- Y3 ]9 O! U$ k; V1 sbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
# E Z6 y8 F- `+ bresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
2 Q9 Z7 Q/ E. K3 n. Aoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were3 D6 Q: t9 ^) p+ p. D
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
: Z( W: ^+ M0 q$ K# \5 P: G"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
, `1 @4 I5 `2 T7 ptragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony- U; u/ g* N- y3 {
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
/ \& C3 n3 M1 TCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
, }) r! L. Y% a- Pcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
: z4 g8 O2 ^) J5 v: M9 H; _restore the trust of our customers."
~( d& _9 C4 u, Y9 ~; [9 Q+ M3 d6 S' P' fLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
7 S$ E( n' Z- ^0 k& Q0 DSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
+ G$ \0 @' f& v; g8 J5 Czoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
# r: _ c: q( t3 r6 i; Cshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and" ?% T l8 N: E+ I
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough. J6 W: q& z# A- x. z. u9 c
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
5 u6 K+ A8 X. f5 o) Gturn off the engine.- S$ p' S6 m7 d, V, s9 M
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
; q9 ^. B M' i2 l# N: YOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
8 D& _, Z3 _* T0 w2 S"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
! {( P. V" O$ ]# C8 [said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
( P' S# _# G+ X; n, Y8 {( b' D) \to her complaints.
+ Y* h$ X3 D6 Y2 i8 rIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
e4 r1 ]. t0 G/ u2 {3 ^3 \returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
2 \5 o. |- {% U ^malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
2 B& q; t; G' k) I8 `5 R K"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
% Z) ^' r9 Z7 c* O; i, o3 Athrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
! N; p# w, c W$ X"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut, P. o! o& j1 B+ T8 M
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."5 K! m3 p' [# Y2 u( x
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
5 M% {2 x5 F6 Y9 J- _7 pprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were, @# t5 N; K I, O- q3 O( ~, |1 s/ j( J
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls6 H8 y4 Z8 [4 A. K% x$ C
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer6 ^8 L# H9 t4 \: F0 A+ M
every question.": K Z) O1 U W5 @7 G( a
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
+ I \$ b f7 ~1 X( velectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The; R+ `1 A0 d; O2 k5 k
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
5 c) \+ o k4 g8 W) @! fcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small c' L7 R) m+ k) D; f0 c: p
number of vehicles: x3 g! ]# z7 N* g4 c) |
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more, ` N2 u/ M1 p) [( T% ~7 ~
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
) H! k0 e& W2 r% A7 Y8 z( c7 qmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
! N+ s$ z- d# d B& {, Y/ @4 P9 fsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.3 T5 m" J& P8 E% ]- u2 h
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
- C* F) \& H2 i* f7 [9 vwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no: k1 V: [8 b* I! {4 V6 p6 J
trace at all.2 b" K8 U* i+ I: m; k7 g1 a2 q7 T
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call$ e) _* y8 K/ f% [6 f0 x
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden8 u! a( u$ j. Q1 d+ v
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
. T1 Y5 y/ }2 Wrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
, A7 x$ ?2 ]7 A- I$ }Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
0 X% r6 P; w0 F {9 C9 z# osaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and" k5 o k+ f5 d- ?. \, ~
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
. ]( P- z3 |' ]0 [9 C! [4 S$ o; G4 Kelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible- p% Q# w1 L3 ]9 h8 i3 Q
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
/ I# }1 V. M9 ?, Isuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained, W8 M+ s8 D# f: G
by Toyota's lawyers."& O' U2 h$ k# X a% G# l; `5 A
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of: |/ f* x3 _0 |/ u: ~; N
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
3 k$ N) r/ g7 U' W) j% `6 fcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he4 m* E: Y! _& [: @; ], X0 m
said.
/ f7 _( F7 Z( \3 ^( ?) }"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with' H/ z u1 h1 p" N
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
! M$ t) V4 ^) o/ S7 A. f" rgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating, \8 \2 X2 X* h/ c7 ]1 X
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.1 _7 T8 y. ~1 _" V0 D) N
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying" d4 w7 Y! \/ h; v. S
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
' d* Z0 I' Y, x: f6 wrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the* R2 I! u" ]/ f
automaker, at least in part because of the government's0 R. g3 E4 R" C! A
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
: A8 }2 [7 ?, KChrysler.
4 b |8 \- S* c' ]"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax( q; d3 |/ F0 E9 r
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a4 r# k6 X* x3 \9 C
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also0 A+ O5 w/ K. `" Y% @
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete a; k* J8 }$ w8 T, n3 W6 _6 U1 G
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
- G9 u- |9 H2 Y/ E$ X5 M' }" |# Btough."9 P: ]9 v3 h, E$ d# u
---, `2 _& V9 v/ r+ I( F0 H
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom) H1 k5 ?+ m3 ^* v `% E2 |; f
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to, }7 T5 B* `/ l& S. G" I) K
this story.
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$ w9 J$ a4 O( X1 N+ q0 c/ Z! V-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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