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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
( O4 B- v" } u: L; ^9 {7 Y4 U% UBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
) D) Z$ X2 |9 i- m5 a2 gWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.* w* D$ {* q$ F5 G2 z% p+ a" [+ N
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
j2 r( \/ W+ X1 Dthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
, _4 N% X8 s' q8 X8 esolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.$ Q) F% v& {2 ^& S$ D: l8 Y
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential9 Z6 Z# ]& Y" m- c1 O+ U7 d
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.6 I) |- b6 y5 i- d
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
( z% n/ O& L# G. K( aacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
/ z4 T- p4 ?7 e5 p5 L- utrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
) r' h) P% f; g0 C# Y/ |5 Pmats and sticking accelerator pedals.$ a: C: Q1 b, G* G/ y
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
3 L& \' P1 D4 V4 n+ d6 `and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp2 h9 U; C$ l" P% _( Q% s' R c6 f
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be( @0 i# A3 @ V! I
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
v: Z- _" D6 E+ b4 c$ ~not stop her runaway Lexus.
: p1 \! [3 V- Z7 ^1 U"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
# K# {6 \" g" Z, A0 tTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
; a5 F* E- a: v$ _% t" `; z"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.8 O, b& |2 O3 w$ F. m l
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
: \/ H4 M) J% l' h; K' ?early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said2 m3 B0 X) a: V, D9 I+ ~
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
4 z/ L- |8 N% ?: Ddone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
, w/ A0 f. @! K0 W. ^5 k2 nthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
4 m& K% w) N: ~4 g$ }6 ]investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."/ a& t8 a* O- c& F
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an8 Q4 ^0 z2 K% x& {1 Z9 O! W
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of8 {* N4 D" }( j. b7 P5 @
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a4 D' o2 s/ C. O, I, [+ b# ?
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
+ y2 @' Z" }: b8 }& J" ]+ }. ^said.
) V" i; ?! J, r. zAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what! F& c3 X/ a3 f( N f+ }
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
. o& u5 f) {; [5 fabout driving our products," Lentz said.( G- E# j+ Y4 B' V% K0 w
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's' {2 u0 L& D( y, a0 x
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has W5 S4 ~6 G0 \ c
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
9 x$ ~9 z4 d A0 H3 Cmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
2 Q3 z7 j3 v+ F) g* m8 s Kunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking, n5 `% d c& [4 f; d. q
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
* u4 ^6 ^( O r9 iconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
9 l& G) G8 m2 V( Ltheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow7 X9 y2 y& t; q; h# j5 M
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
3 q7 e( s- i6 r- H. f7 ^' ureceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
- ^2 m( g9 [4 {# h( y# I, i/ Qof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
' Q+ ^- v6 b6 l4 e) f, {0 gLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own2 i8 k# J7 c! r1 d; V
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
/ z7 f S2 w" N3 _0 Z2 h4 L$ wunderstood the pain.; K3 N. z# W1 f
"I know what those families go through," he said.
. p' e: J. T7 K/ @2 |7 K( |4 ?Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
% [- \$ d- Z7 U) h4 E" h! @$ kfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
4 C# V7 q- l- CBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
# q. Q$ Q V" I BHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
* N" n- H3 Q5 Y2 ?! T E7 cin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,& k9 y* J3 q1 D' Y7 L
Lentz replied: "Not totally.") d& N4 B, d6 F w6 e9 T- q w
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
. u8 M1 t' r8 Z" p. y3 u7 Q"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
9 D$ G9 A! M- i oToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas4 m4 {2 d. R; m+ ?& ?, G, G; V9 h
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
% ]) M$ u+ i+ E# f) xvehicles already on the road., @$ d* ~* l6 P
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify' H, o" b" D/ M- {' Q6 y
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full6 V% `' Z4 ?1 M1 c' x: q
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
+ b8 S6 Q$ V0 @& P2 z" I' yoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were: P. h5 `% G' [$ a- [
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.( P. u9 R4 t' k0 ]
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a" d; ~/ |" Y. D3 X, l+ D# K Y) G
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
; a9 a1 T+ Z, k/ u5 Q. Q- \ ]for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight* k. J% j5 Q# j# e6 Q; Q
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal- u, u) x* B! B( G y
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
. S7 A3 Z3 R: d! L3 Brestore the trust of our customers."
- p' n) G; V7 @& Q: b# WLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
( E7 J$ C$ ]: b3 rSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly/ U0 O+ K8 _8 }3 ~* J" t8 ]2 b+ X
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
; u6 J( Y: i) k9 ]! fshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
. r! r X2 g) U! a, [* b- V$ Ehitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
% p9 m& \: K9 z) A6 T/ Tthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
) h8 R/ O5 {# nturn off the engine.5 A/ p- W1 I) s+ ]
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of _( p3 E; g& z+ G) f
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."9 _/ f9 }" K) z; P( c
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
- c: {7 i& ~) C8 C, u" `said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
) v% U2 y6 J7 Z! gto her complaints.
, @2 |( y$ V" m. {In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers, n: F: U6 q4 O" Y% t- p2 n/ g
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic. Z4 Z% X4 V5 K) {0 c4 i8 p5 k
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
, L& G2 F' o2 e2 _% O"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
M F* n7 E& F4 |1 Bthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
0 c* R* `( Q ^8 d/ r: r4 \# ~"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
3 s( g* L+ w7 O, ]off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
+ }1 a* m+ {' u& nTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
1 q% C) k, X9 Fprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were9 D3 w7 F% N+ Q8 v% ~5 e4 A
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls+ F& W9 ?. v7 q( g
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
1 e Z; Y0 z4 T7 b* U" Severy question."2 m3 v$ x K6 h% W
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether Z- r3 U: j9 J3 ^
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The2 }! T( D `; s
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
P- u! c: f, D4 ]2 s6 q" gcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
+ ^3 t, u Y: Y/ Z1 S, anumber of vehicles$ g1 g4 ~; j/ e1 w% l- `
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more% a' F' H6 i0 a* z7 O1 |# a
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
$ r5 z" S. G5 J$ ~* x+ smechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one0 z( `2 K0 v, m
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
* t: G' F7 [. H: G9 VMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,4 y3 G+ A7 w0 ?. P
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
# X7 J; G0 k& F1 O, }* R7 b/ ?trace at all.# { J/ _% P, E% @% o5 g6 g
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
1 D/ @2 q. @1 E2 V( `+ Odatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
( ?; p' E y9 i$ G" \5 @ i4 J/ \6 S9 bacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
* Z" Q. f$ e" |* X8 Trecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.+ c2 m9 z+ `! i% t+ e0 J
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
# u( g, ~! Q5 B) G! isaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
8 Z, K$ Y( M( ?7 f8 C4 ^2 Uother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
) Z: L; Z B k4 k5 @/ d& d6 C$ celectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
1 N @0 d* q+ c/ q7 t" W3 E9 @; Zcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
; [1 g, M$ ~* B) C# e( _* L7 p7 ]3 t- Esuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained5 U9 ?+ Y% V4 j9 I
by Toyota's lawyers."; y5 ^& w' G) F) i& r4 Y" ]! T
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
4 p/ ]# A! K8 R+ N) dproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our( \/ @3 R' T0 A r: K+ R! k- b
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
3 E/ D$ s G+ h9 S! Bsaid.) Y2 \; f A1 K
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with3 v! R6 i! ?' ^+ M
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our d% C' a/ n5 B! \) Y( ?6 K# E
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating/ T/ V+ F4 b9 y) q& `% H1 @- D
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
& s. G2 P6 x) A) N, h* zSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying3 y2 a) A4 s9 }$ V
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
+ }: C3 ~) |0 `$ A4 ]: mrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the/ g7 S' `$ |: d
automaker, at least in part because of the government's+ k5 b) G% s6 g1 |1 {
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and q- x+ [6 B* h0 G7 O) _' U* Y
Chrysler.
" K0 u: J# X( S" y' P"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
6 T- a. A4 U7 Cdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
% ]5 U! ]2 N* q+ \: T( VHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also' r5 D2 y) u0 M0 {3 S" q
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete$ x$ j+ U; M+ k
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
$ \5 v) l6 K9 K4 U4 o+ ktough."' I- {$ Y- f% |9 ^- |& J
---
/ d- x& ?9 o3 D e5 qAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom, o! ~ s, N4 ]4 @" |
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to, ^& S& e( x e# @, `: j- G
this story.3 ^5 \) I! I+ Y$ {0 Z; X2 j4 U
9 I% S4 m) Y" c4 L3 K! V2 C- {-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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