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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题& v+ G! [/ V9 }6 r" e
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS7 \' T( z, X7 m) x% P
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.5 J Y% _4 _) s$ ?6 t8 E" G& q
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that! Z2 ~" j4 \- b) c7 q
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"9 |! ^$ j+ ]+ X$ z% L& W& }
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration." J `: F9 p& c8 C) n: `
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
# s# K1 U8 v/ K, e& O2 ~6 X" hcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
, H) t7 N! p# n! L+ S VHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
3 I: W# ]* ]4 Racceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and! R% l' A) z* e! Q1 E+ z
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
# W3 S. C! y- J# Mmats and sticking accelerator pedals." C2 S3 ~1 m( J4 X9 `8 D( h
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal5 v. e& |3 q. D' ~
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp/ D. f5 h) C- q1 e9 \+ N
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
0 S8 r; k+ @. ~& Jfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could |; ^/ q1 A( ^- I" O6 ^- K
not stop her runaway Lexus.
, v% z. L! o: e, R% c"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
& [" A7 F5 _5 K4 UTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second- b5 z; D% Y$ ~/ H4 F
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.% s e) e" J% ?, g6 n( ]
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
5 ~% I! b U# j* Jearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
" t$ c8 H) {) K6 C% f7 n& e"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
8 K6 @( }9 }% }! fdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
2 g% b& l: a' d- i+ {- A. ]8 [) bthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
, T( e1 Q3 U5 l! `- ainvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
: N! v* l" q' N* k8 ELentz said the company had not completely ruled out an5 C# o. I- g8 s, i
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
, }( n+ e- Q. |2 bthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a, N4 t& ^0 j1 p+ n/ W& M) d
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
1 |2 F" A0 |6 L6 \- Q; Vsaid.
- M, }0 `) M0 YAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what! J8 m0 I5 G. a/ h$ E" C
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe: `* v3 c1 g ?# A
about driving our products," Lentz said.1 @( ~& ]: u% L$ g9 i" n
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
9 p6 G: Z! R9 A# b$ {' ^problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has, N$ m c- B7 L/ H, D
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
, O; A, ^6 L6 ]% lmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
- q" s1 d2 a+ Runintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
; [0 Y# V! J4 t' @; u/ sissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering; x3 P; X2 g* s
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
4 `4 U6 q2 U# G0 x5 T k# Ntheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
4 w0 f' A1 F( f* j1 H+ H7 edown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has* A% I# j2 Y2 h( Q; h( Z% Y
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
d F7 ~, t: ^+ ~# i# |of Toyota vehicles since 2000., k6 D- \5 I* w/ ]
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
w: E: a$ r( S0 j6 k! x6 g3 @% nbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he/ h; Q; x8 h- l
understood the pain.
# q+ h1 Y* X. t5 H4 |3 \"I know what those families go through," he said.1 V8 x& v# i: m, A
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
6 X! C3 S! t& n6 p+ ?1 G' Bfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems. A0 j$ G) S- G3 |! H
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
6 Y2 E A% s& dHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put# q% X/ D. S7 Y( v A
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,- q6 g8 }. p7 C# K
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
: h Z/ K, z; I& KStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were( y; \; h' S7 F/ U4 c
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said$ y0 b4 P3 Z, {
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
/ I5 k2 W& g) \" Lpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its$ C5 ?. V% N+ W" m
vehicles already on the road.
- `+ k, V$ ]% \0 g# B0 o4 `Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
: L! j7 M& i: C+ `5 I3 v; |before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
3 W: U% n! s- Z: b: V) ^, rresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and3 n0 Y% e5 Y q
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were- m2 \) N d Q2 k: k, h
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.* \- R% F5 b& r) h
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
6 D. }: g; J, e0 {tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
8 l; {! Z3 z" e F/ d) N2 `for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
8 _! N2 H# W0 p* s$ j8 gCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal4 u( p+ w7 {* O
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
4 z/ B* V/ ^+ b) M$ x, U% Yrestore the trust of our customers."
" {8 T, ?5 Y# bLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
3 Z' H% k, z7 p$ A* ]8 CSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly6 c; b5 }' W( \7 L4 v
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
/ l( C5 c5 @5 i- L' k' Jshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
0 ^& Z0 F! b: O. y# f. q; e) ghitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
, k- K+ ~9 y. W) F7 }that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
0 w b: M9 @# P oturn off the engine." F4 p, i. e! s7 }* S6 s% {# ]
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
& p- {; f+ _, z/ f6 UOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."/ T& p- d% F' h# J
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
/ ^* f! C4 x6 J8 p0 U- ^/ Q4 fsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
4 _1 W( D! H. Q9 kto her complaints.2 s0 f5 c0 Z: o$ E. o% n# d
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
, N& G, C" X/ {+ @& ~returned again and again to the question of whether electronic* _* E1 f& C9 v" c
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.- h& E/ H4 W% Q" U) f
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric$ X0 D# A1 A' k; b2 v! t
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
! e2 B: p9 g8 q, o: v8 K"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut$ H/ b1 W! J- W8 O1 j( e, K) g
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."" y! f9 j) e4 m* s# E
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in2 R/ @( G+ T. T- B- u
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were) }. x9 m C8 g. O& X
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls! T5 N' \3 T) O& ~- q+ ^; K
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer: ?9 |! G4 I; O- C: G
every question."
! Q% s B6 F4 C$ K9 m. PToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
7 H) n2 U1 ~0 }$ u. @3 s5 d- T3 z6 a$ Selectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
3 ?' _+ b/ u |! Y, h6 C2 x7 \firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But4 D% O3 z! m0 J! d- S; ]" u
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
, W* E e+ O7 T' F) I9 bnumber of vehicles# t( w; x& t* a1 D
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more' x7 j) V! S5 v
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
# S+ O8 @, [8 Z# ^* e ^" C+ j0 Z0 }mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
6 T" u. b* w! S4 ^+ e0 H, ?source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
0 n1 q. |9 h1 a, hMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage, d# z3 z0 \% p
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
) Z. I" d0 X$ b1 p* y; K7 Btrace at all.
( s/ S9 |$ b$ Z5 R* y( D! YHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call7 z0 V/ U- K8 Q# Y0 L4 ?& M/ v
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
$ |7 b* G7 i. F! t' Q% U% Zacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
& s M6 R4 D" o Drecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.1 E8 {$ z3 b: v2 x- a, J* `
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
, D. V1 [+ |, y! t) jsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and2 }, D* c' N+ n X% ?3 u
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
( ~& f8 ]/ K0 |. [' S# Nelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
4 s& k% b# z2 O( dcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only0 O% a: ^ f; C; g. v& j( F
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
; g, k0 w" T! Rby Toyota's lawyers."
- a: u# T2 I) y# ZLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of4 G9 N, }) v o5 O
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our A, }7 H2 R1 G1 c" X
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he. V3 ~* v' i$ H+ p7 B
said./ J, U! V0 \* @' g
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with+ m$ f9 e4 m/ {! J/ J' ~3 m( P
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our4 ?+ F; w" I0 B* F) X
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating+ f7 \+ Z( S6 G) k
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
; P3 e+ N; L: M) Z# W3 x" gSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying6 p4 P6 ` Z Z) l K" i! r( ^$ l
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
6 T( S* v7 r5 K( L# c7 C6 {" {, qrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the& f' l/ P8 w. y, K" o% Q
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
7 a% r5 |+ m! y8 ?: Minvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and4 g) q4 A! z# J, ]& u5 a- p w
Chrysler.
, V4 q8 J& |) |* g9 i) N"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
" X7 M& ~' q% u! ^8 x Odollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a* w' M# }# i& s0 |
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also4 }6 U G V8 T2 \9 _
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
& U# J9 X6 q ~8 c/ @" u- w4 Xwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
n, E) f% N' p0 r1 y- e5 Ytough."1 I6 `: r/ h4 K
---0 v2 w3 ^9 F, Q
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom1 D, X: J: e/ C8 A
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to6 b# J# \; O9 h0 o
this story.4 e% ?& ?* u8 N5 @$ r+ g9 s
' ?/ K2 T4 }0 r$ E( f-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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