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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题3 M# Q% B) M# y
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS7 ^, G/ @% }7 o! u0 Y
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.# u" F6 Q" W1 z4 D% V
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
# F1 H0 Q6 H! D' Hthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
+ m% R# J& R$ j) t; o! hsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
I |9 o+ p1 p7 T' C$ ["We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential, P4 e1 `6 X0 k7 h/ Q4 f
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.6 b3 E1 b6 O* [+ n# J1 x; t
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected$ n7 t; e- C! e6 \
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and, Y$ B2 y+ l$ J
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
) j+ C3 I3 R4 y' Tmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
5 E) W7 e+ }4 d% p! vHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal }2 |: O# V5 u8 `+ z3 C2 W
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
9 G( [2 _ A' W6 d& }" o# ~, Tcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
1 E1 T& F: C. Mfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could3 |6 ?* i* g$ ^) _5 l' v& I& u
not stop her runaway Lexus.# r( c" v0 @4 s2 y
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
9 G) S: P$ }8 U; e2 a. ^: \* @2 HTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second3 H- Z3 Q$ y; \ Z1 m: b
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators./ F7 H- t6 p" `. E6 J$ |
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
: v5 t8 _) l# h, C, Nearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said( u4 ]) r: y7 k$ ~6 o
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
( n$ C0 p% S6 edone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway& y% I1 ^9 h6 p1 x+ N* v
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's% T" b$ S9 `/ z
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."' w- P' c6 R0 I4 M- ~/ K8 Z* O: Q
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an' V+ P3 P8 W# A+ U3 Q* j, H0 z: w4 T
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of, n- D4 L& ~8 O5 o% Z
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
: \5 R- t( B8 N: m, G9 h5 ? }malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he; ~+ C" l/ z5 ~. y8 U9 H7 H
said.; n" `- r7 _, G, B8 S5 t9 U
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what3 V9 c! |! a! p) {7 Q* B; B
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
, D' V( \/ `8 Babout driving our products," Lentz said.
4 k7 c) M7 \& @: H8 }% O" zThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's5 U6 r$ A$ W6 Y4 S
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
, }& ~ u# l% y' ^* Rrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 65 S2 [# R; v' S) T4 [7 m8 g
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
3 ` K3 L% L9 n. |8 U9 kunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking2 P) s/ i" K) T) I
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
' G3 O7 }, z O) Q0 P: z1 iconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
- Z: i F* d* k! N4 B Ltheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
0 Q( o) h7 q3 Q" @& l: \7 Hdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
$ g% m3 ^1 F0 F/ w/ xreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration9 V* O3 m8 z! |2 t
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.+ A4 p7 B6 H* E8 V0 G) w
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
" [5 s+ U. }4 ubrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
$ d9 r$ f! Q( |understood the pain." t# X! I, r4 z; ^* z+ J
"I know what those families go through," he said.3 ]9 c+ B F6 G+ T$ e e
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's" E5 f* `, r e3 F4 c
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.5 q* E6 k7 Z" Q6 X
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
g% u: `6 W# b& L( R* |Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put2 p E5 ?$ H* T- U1 P. w/ A
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,. x6 R4 Z. ]2 U1 Y8 v# L
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
$ ^( Q L& Z/ U0 ^, _0 G; VStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were8 [2 g9 p8 u+ K) ]: G0 U
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said5 A8 y8 \' L' a( @
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas8 N) u4 i, @6 {8 K: S8 g: g' t
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
F9 b9 ~" I. e- A: x/ N) |1 L9 Zvehicles already on the road.
: ]! J4 z( q' } JMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
+ B! N. `- Y) W) e0 f: [before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
7 p% T% p' N/ H2 S0 h& Nresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and: {6 Z/ j0 [) m: L
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
! }: l8 q1 @# h" w# `* F8 U' `killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
6 B5 Q4 T7 |) z3 f# v"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a+ K% d) ~8 } `) u
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
. }' D+ m" x$ ?8 B+ _: Ofor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight0 s3 C4 p. v3 J) G" X" }, Q9 g
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
, i/ i4 A, s# k3 a4 m- fcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to7 F0 T+ w1 a- x0 K1 |
restore the trust of our customers."
: p# d0 U+ g* x% @Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from+ n# p1 B; e' n
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly Q' V: L5 o! w1 O: @* s# D
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
( n6 e9 m. q& ^! K& ashifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and$ {* [& L' ?- f* D
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough# Y0 J! Z) \+ P; A3 j
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and7 Z. H# ]4 I/ j# @" R6 p
turn off the engine.) L. Z% }4 q' _2 @
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
# L# S$ l5 \/ m$ O% l( j. ^October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
@8 r- J8 m: p T+ b' P8 [" I"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she0 F8 w% y8 Y7 i3 v" }6 R% H, Y3 t
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond1 C+ W( k k! F: _
to her complaints.7 }9 h9 B1 E) G, \& W
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers7 y+ h; B7 ?& \/ X* L
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic# |4 M. X$ j& T% ~4 t
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
7 p. f0 y$ s) a5 x% u7 [8 q"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric3 F) j' Z; |) I/ H2 P h
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
$ r6 w; T. D: h' s" H( `"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
6 G) ~8 z( a4 L; _off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."0 ~; E1 N$ Z4 R9 q4 k- U+ H' i
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in) r9 H/ J/ U% f
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were( ? _/ w. \$ T# f* E
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls4 U" `; b3 @5 y3 s0 l' b
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer5 t5 ~+ X$ X( I2 P& c* W
every question."' D8 K: k* ~7 b" ]9 y
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
! E+ \% K+ S; Welectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
9 c$ W9 {! S6 N+ g( P+ ^2 Ifirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But7 n* t. s% b7 P: s' o) Q/ I
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small5 c6 }: m' c' X8 n* U" ~' @% Z% c
number of vehicles' v& w' x! m. X+ s. b
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
8 Z _: q/ y2 U; ?% w6 u/ Pdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
) @( |' r7 v; Y' O! Hmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
, {' ~- s% D ^% m' R4 W$ Osource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.2 ?2 G2 `8 f2 |% a
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,! ^# l3 |5 Y9 F0 R X D
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no7 a9 I6 _" g7 ?9 F
trace at all.: T$ i/ X+ f2 y5 P/ [2 ?/ `
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
3 @- [, S4 Y( H: n, R5 u! E% fdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
# y6 j3 q: f9 U3 w/ A' yacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the$ n' l9 k% g5 B6 d" _0 X
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.' c0 q& ?3 g& \% G! T
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,5 b( L* S! j; ]* B& r* |0 g3 p
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and9 q. m+ G: a) I* ~: q* m
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the$ P; R. a) S+ [: {' H- Q4 o( y, B
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
. X `' G- t+ ?. P, `: \cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only5 t4 V3 W1 ^% e% T- f1 N& O
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained/ S& F9 Q }9 }' [9 M1 ? z
by Toyota's lawyers."* \* A, L) H) o9 ~
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
, `4 W8 N; W' |* ^' c% s5 r# i& r. Pproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our. T; H, [+ S2 U) m: y* ~- q/ A# A
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
' ?6 O5 B% s& m6 [) G- Lsaid.$ k, N9 N* o( S. [3 \
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with) d! d- q6 z. c
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
& T8 C6 F3 ~4 q8 E; ?good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating% o1 [, y7 f( e( G8 ^" _" }
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
$ e. g1 P, W# [& {1 s$ g4 \$ C# x& jSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying) j! n# A* ] T" k
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread9 a6 ~1 w7 k/ W% W; O$ o l! w
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
r6 f$ [0 u6 |3 e* i+ m% [automaker, at least in part because of the government's7 Z7 C. p- P( p3 `& V# P
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
- {2 F/ h* C+ h: n! X: V: n7 uChrysler.$ r' h/ L- d2 x: o
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax8 k+ t+ g8 W. b) R/ N5 [4 d
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
! w+ Q9 @& y" N( ~$ ZHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
. Z7 g/ B5 c5 I# Y3 ]+ jserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
: h% a" a$ D; Y: B) r& q5 Rwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
4 |6 `- o( g' htough."5 O7 w; _& p6 N4 h, B+ B6 Q
---( e9 y$ b% `( I, K1 @$ w: i) P
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
! C4 L4 f/ V- y" ?6 f( G- e' lRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
6 y3 r1 d2 H8 x. q# o' R/ Dthis story.1 W5 d9 M6 ?# _& v
) \( K+ _4 G& ]9 ~-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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