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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
: J' O2 r; B5 h* I4 C7 \0 G' HBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS0 Q. g! H- A" h) u8 @" O. W( z
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
) ~" ^: M0 I6 I9 W- @% K( z }7 Yoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
- a5 i2 u0 [/ bthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"( D4 F8 v- B! `! v2 K, ~
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.1 E" n7 h. |6 j5 c) ^( t
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
1 ~4 x( F6 q$ T( v8 d- b7 Ucauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
- R# }; E5 }7 O$ }/ |# v! o: \However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected$ k/ m( R {4 Q* D1 a/ Z$ y, r8 m
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and* `+ E( s, H2 H
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
5 _& C! Z1 a b' p0 o. {/ jmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
6 F7 U }. H' Y" BHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal/ P2 b P7 N6 I9 _! }
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp* _$ j- G' r( [+ w7 d8 C
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
/ V- u4 B" B8 y/ R1 n! t2 K# y+ sfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could2 D; G4 U# _* \8 J/ f+ |" C: G4 W
not stop her runaway Lexus.3 L" f% C" _' X* T$ Y) o
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
3 q' |, G4 S; W. ZTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second' ]0 j N* W# T3 \
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
' N+ `3 W# }( _& Y1 H# eTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
0 J- d1 r9 t- l9 Tearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said7 {8 y _1 U3 {# k
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
- k, _8 t, J. N6 y3 ?$ fdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
2 G: ^2 P' }' M$ \! jthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
% \% i& Y, C" a5 P' ^6 w* ainvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."7 N s6 T6 G% n) W
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an7 a+ U$ q( h K& c6 c1 X
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
; ]3 b6 U. I; M+ s( E3 Y7 |* _# \8 ?the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
) Z1 d; q0 m1 {1 u& R4 Lmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he. N9 e% d1 | |( w
said.
- ^4 T* e0 J, n# w1 nAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
# F" A2 Q. O0 K* M! |, ?5 U+ d! Vhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
3 t2 }& q. P; E' P1 q& p7 U9 d; sabout driving our products," Lentz said.
' f! V* @! T) `# U2 ?Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
, C' w. w) ]; X# j' Uproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has& I) \- v9 B& M, F# g
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
1 W; U' l0 T9 mmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
: R* k) F: A; dunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking0 D; [+ r3 d4 j! b& l, M0 i" n) H
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
" i& V0 w" c2 T; Fconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
" b3 ^. i, l7 E0 c- W# Ttheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow6 ]$ P/ N7 O) T8 j9 G- @6 Q
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
( o7 w/ P7 d: p$ o4 P, U0 jreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
( i& e& R& R/ bof Toyota vehicles since 2000.( R* d4 ~7 E$ G, {6 `
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own3 s+ O; [: Q- F7 Y3 t% l
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he" P2 E$ o5 B1 W3 ~
understood the pain.8 p4 ?, U* {! q" e5 F% r9 q& G* r
"I know what those families go through," he said.
! }( D# r* D# j# J5 T$ d1 ELentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's- `# L6 p" W3 _
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
$ t! B/ ^/ _8 zBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman o3 J0 s0 A/ S
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put6 V8 i B8 H5 d( G+ F V! y
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,: ^9 \- N2 N3 p% e R) s9 V g
Lentz replied: "Not totally."; W+ }( n6 K: N$ b. x
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
9 w+ o) V5 C! q2 i" |6 g5 K2 e/ J" e% F"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said/ c* }# @7 ~: K$ C8 e4 D
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas( V# a4 V2 b0 r% _) \
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its9 W. i1 `9 h! v& O
vehicles already on the road.* [$ C$ i4 `+ C2 U# }7 k
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify! X5 H# ]- E' _: S% W
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
a* i/ A/ h7 }$ H3 t; dresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and' v5 W8 Y# U8 O& I! i0 L0 k) }
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
+ O2 H- H1 v( O" B2 X0 \killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems., [7 b5 \' `& L: N( W# H9 x
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a l7 d s7 l, B
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
4 G, S; y4 a* j- ?- M2 L7 j- j# Vfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight8 H* n7 W$ E+ G& ?* z
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal- h& @3 R+ P" c3 u/ C+ b6 z
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
' c2 q) O, u! R8 b+ Erestore the trust of our customers."
+ D! r8 k T9 @- T dLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
& B! U% [- h. s9 ?0 pSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
( @; ]: n: c: Ozoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
. r5 n3 A' a6 \; Vshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and/ c* T9 y0 E1 a+ y$ ~" _2 J7 u
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough: u/ z0 V! m, ]& P b, c
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and e/ U! t; n' m; E' O
turn off the engine.
* Z7 U( q$ ]8 g9 [) yFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
1 t& S" I* {/ z* N& x' NOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
: S+ F5 B) N9 b2 h# B"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
& [4 _: }& C2 a. {5 x$ `6 ~said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond6 e3 L, Z7 k+ i& t& D! ?* |
to her complaints.9 n5 V5 O: r4 j# Y* o
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers( O9 g/ K7 j, e& |6 F& ~7 V) b
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
; q" z% e4 k/ i+ }malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
" f' ]$ o# w" E, b$ {4 _"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric3 {. }6 q+ s% M7 f
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
* E+ b; T# Q- \" ~% ]4 p0 Y$ l+ s/ p# Q"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
6 n* H; Q+ E$ V# N) G9 R1 E) uoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure.": d; i0 f8 C6 w0 P$ D4 @
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
! x) `1 {8 P: L# i" h+ Cprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were% h, O+ t' ^' `" \/ Q
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
$ k# M& g# @6 J0 p& e) ~. rwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer* g; V# u$ p, V5 ~# t
every question.": x c1 K3 d- D+ k! x3 Q
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
5 T D N6 G& `+ Oelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
N# R; f5 I# [5 V6 d; o8 Bfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But# U) w# p! |* C: a! H
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small/ u! k2 [3 m- \
number of vehicles& b/ v1 ^( v* m' [
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
" b7 B# ^: U2 t3 q! z6 @difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a5 O/ d" W1 [2 t9 e# m' s
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one! H \4 h9 x& x5 X% u2 C
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
; p, s9 d5 r7 c/ i$ t/ \( f& f+ |Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
D' F) o* V7 T# Z7 o Gwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no/ M+ }; r$ r* M. R6 w
trace at all./ A; B7 |+ @* d @+ [, ~
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call* y2 f, u3 e$ d# j! ]7 w% g; ?
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
# ^" Y! x+ J D$ a, Lacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the9 }1 M6 H5 X' h" D
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
) D) V) G. a8 [( TRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,! J: M+ d5 C' k7 o; q0 R
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and- m, l, c6 [7 W* h' x& D
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the( y% l8 W" Q! B, J i9 { E& d
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
5 ? D$ j0 K# |/ D. t2 F# Ycause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
, Z8 W! ~3 E- M6 \; s1 Asuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained, K1 S2 I! j( H8 Y! Y
by Toyota's lawyers."
: A0 t7 R: f2 }! GLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of3 i% @6 ~( {; _
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
- M# b( o, m# M G( k# k4 I! ]customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
+ _4 x6 X' o: s7 m9 z9 Psaid.0 K& B( y2 b2 K) ]
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with& d2 l- ?) g6 P" |
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our# o5 i0 `. A- P! X
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating- f& }, x2 o8 `* V9 X
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.3 d" q1 _. }9 g3 l/ X+ s6 K& S
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
% _+ ]* P* E* F4 j6 Emembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread% |3 W3 b0 ?3 ~
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the0 F! ~1 b4 X/ }1 s
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
6 i! M8 i3 I9 I ]! y+ ~8 iinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
) i( h8 ^& C# M' I0 tChrysler.
( v& e4 c7 n6 Y- N* m5 l* ~"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
% a- y% |+ U/ i; U# n" kdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a# P z3 M5 j/ [2 |* k2 k
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also' b7 t4 \5 Z- V
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete3 d% ~0 P& j, i0 i9 r' H4 R1 ?( ^
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty, _ ^" u* b7 j( F
tough."
9 `6 }4 I7 r8 F$ w$ a---0 K. o1 {" G; h8 [+ @- w' i
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
( `% y( A M7 ORaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to$ I* A8 i$ K, b1 C) C) Y
this story.
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+ X' s5 T4 ?' O1 R, K( H8 @3 ]3 C-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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