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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题8 t! s- d$ v( K+ W+ R V2 a
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
# L7 l G0 T5 n4 q& v0 BWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.7 v7 N3 S! y2 i% p# e/ X8 d
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
( s" h% n3 B: D8 M# jthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
7 Z& @9 Q* o$ S8 k; Osolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.$ T: D7 W$ ^9 _% @& S) M
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
6 ^; L! { |, F" p& Y) Jcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.! P& D5 T5 c1 `8 d+ ~( A
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected/ z( U( I0 U$ I, k' i. D6 Z9 t
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
, G1 Q# X, g. ^+ o& ]0 ], d9 u. {trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
# U; g( a4 E8 i2 [# mmats and sticking accelerator pedals.* W+ h+ ^, ^: S8 t$ q
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal! ^! H9 p! z8 s
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp, T1 _* E% }* m' a- n2 s
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
2 X5 S! q, T$ X- [4 x( r2 jfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could Y1 N% Z* Q, C
not stop her runaway Lexus.+ b8 R* r* \6 h a: n
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,5 W0 q0 G/ T3 o- o( O$ I
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second% y. y, v2 n0 o- Z8 A
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.; F2 I: b" }% i
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues1 h- R% g, I5 u& _6 w* d
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
* m2 e& o( C) @: Q. m"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
2 z; T8 b6 \) Q7 f R1 W3 Ldone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
u) W- {4 n( M" ^% hthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's! S7 d, G: q- T; c* L6 M V; q
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham.". }# q/ y- N2 K M. u [+ \1 D
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
, ?6 a8 r& u! O+ D8 Q8 helectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of, w9 T6 {+ |, w" M2 I: t5 @
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a! ]7 X' x8 u0 Q- @
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
) \, z" h8 h' c% Y$ Esaid.' e7 f) Y b& ?8 D; ?- X- L
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what9 B0 R6 v" m4 H- e! b
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe5 O+ ?2 v1 [4 H- k9 }
about driving our products," Lentz said.. E! J- F2 s0 G% ], T
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's6 u3 Z! s3 I% ]5 u6 s4 n6 V2 J
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
~" v" |) ^0 a- o$ f8 j; Mrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
1 {/ k( n& ^9 f; q/ r, f" m' imillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
+ }' G$ g* x$ _8 _$ Qunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking0 S( X7 O3 `' @- o
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering1 S, F8 A3 o. n% ~
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
! M5 `5 O1 X! y/ ]0 h9 itheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow/ f, z9 ?8 j" [4 s
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has5 N0 r5 r4 d' T/ j, I4 Z
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
+ R& g: B2 S* j9 X/ t- o2 S- zof Toyota vehicles since 2000.% v' I$ {! n, O7 w% E5 L# |
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
, I4 d# w1 h6 ]% N% m0 ^brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
% s3 G& W" }9 H8 l1 I+ z: X8 V0 }9 nunderstood the pain.
4 e8 J) C; x& J! h" M2 [; a) V"I know what those families go through," he said.3 |2 U' b+ D7 V3 Z: ?7 c; L
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
" P, ]+ N: O. x8 d- Ofixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.- @; z9 q8 G) I
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman0 L7 n- _0 i) n$ B ]2 C C
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
' p6 L; f" h0 [ [in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,5 q" l' ?1 Q; Z: u" S
Lentz replied: "Not totally."6 a) X0 @% [# l( Y! p$ o. O9 h* n
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
4 @: @6 z" l. _"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said% }; ~3 `/ b% K, b# I
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas# V: I, ~. C* t4 }/ i# h0 I
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
7 ~3 C7 b/ w; s; m3 yvehicles already on the road.
' O- I" q e+ Q( P* O) @+ s9 k4 ^$ U, BMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify/ o+ t, J3 i/ d0 O' Y' @* i
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full) ? e5 I$ s& r5 m, J/ j
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
1 E4 h; z0 H+ p0 l) xoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
& x' x: E# y2 K3 Mkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
- j6 ?6 J, u% _) I- d T: b# a"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a4 {9 N n7 y2 F: ]
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony$ c' ]; @8 ~0 T9 b M ^8 X
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
o0 E/ K6 G3 `0 o3 ]1 XCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
4 A* n$ G) a( m$ ]5 Ucommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to& a$ [" ], M9 x; q* A
restore the trust of our customers."
4 M1 o1 p! V/ ?4 C+ K" \! K; aLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
( i# |. P$ |8 \+ w6 Q" ^# X) WSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
4 ^% a# {' k# `) _" u* @zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --2 p/ _7 s2 A2 D2 v* d
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and" ]& u7 r$ f4 n' S$ a: e( _$ Y
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough/ S: d2 P) x+ U% v
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and; @- }8 G. o) m3 d, J
turn off the engine.% H! o+ ], X+ m7 o S# W4 D! C
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of4 l) v- C# B2 x
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
" K" I' w/ K4 W. q$ G) T"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
& B8 V% ]- q' ]" n* H# q% F5 [! jsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond. t2 d' y( _# V+ R6 m- i
to her complaints.
& Z/ X( k1 `9 o3 q+ `( L: KIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
- W* f: _9 U9 f' jreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic3 j4 b6 _+ b/ D5 U2 c
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.2 C/ b* Z" Y( B( @
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
; q' T+ s: ^4 i3 a xthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
) c$ Y9 E" f! G8 v"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
- M" G$ [0 O& t, g, u5 b& G. J" [. Boff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
" g. h. W* a3 ?Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in, `/ E8 @7 s6 w/ {; G* s4 ? {
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were. ?9 n# |9 L, t9 j6 ]8 m
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls! P- p$ k' j7 o0 Q) f3 u9 P7 \% V) ~
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer X4 ]) h7 H% u3 e4 N( V: U3 g
every question."$ v% U5 Q) J. w; }
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
1 V/ d/ y: u& ]0 t Y7 nelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
( g. b _! V1 B+ Q, ~. ]1 Mfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
1 W: s# z/ \* a2 P" ~# gcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
5 v2 h! O2 E. w% h: B$ U$ f; lnumber of vehicles1 m5 @( z K; P1 K8 p" k. e
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
6 X; O# ?! t7 y6 Idifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
# h( A# E" L& cmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
" \4 `+ A3 v; z/ S3 zsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car. g' @8 f) `) `/ q9 ^3 X
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
4 u# u- q) j1 ~5 M% _2 ~where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
2 h- J& E# G P% M# E5 s' dtrace at all.
0 Y. K0 J# |: U$ P1 H @$ A, H yHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
/ W0 i5 H$ q7 N( G, L* z, cdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
' W; x& h& p) t) j# _1 |7 Q+ K& Macceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
: Z+ Q8 ?/ h3 ]6 K0 Precalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
4 y) N+ I' q* i kRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,) S4 ^# q2 }5 w
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and9 c0 X6 k& C9 ~7 t5 K) T
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
% ^& ]# s% M! Y5 b- H4 j% `electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible) g7 o! D" F# y! z
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
) \3 r2 v3 [2 L' p9 |+ Qsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained1 x4 E3 Y, n8 j# u: {
by Toyota's lawyers." C; c6 `# l6 O9 y4 e
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
$ Y% p% W; N) Bproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our; |: o9 ^( j8 h, B6 T
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
. Z4 o: s6 X, T6 O5 |4 Nsaid.
; Q$ x& C- O. O; Q* m"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
! C3 U: E1 ]2 L5 ^( \8 w& [a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
( [( o/ m' n2 r5 E/ i, \' lgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
# A! b/ Z5 c* W! K$ |$ D% ]officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
4 O! i/ M: T2 d5 |9 z) ]Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
# y( w( e/ k/ r5 F/ F/ r6 `members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread& |# V% |3 Q* b* B! _7 K2 O
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the }5 k; |1 P8 O z6 \
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
* U" d" Z2 \6 W! g& O( Zinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and3 g7 C( ?* R. A8 Y& \% X
Chrysler.
% c; }; b, w/ e" V. F5 i8 D"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax* g+ |; N" Y2 s9 k) \& r
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a" J5 q: w: b* Y" v' p
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also$ n* f$ c6 u1 f- O: m8 y
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete( ]8 H- ~+ E. u H
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
4 |/ m! h/ i! s' b+ Z- K7 ytough.". T8 y2 U1 T% Z9 Q; G% T
---
|" `. U5 q/ |Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
" p" h" v- H- R0 |) cRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
; C/ `8 f- S, v8 V& i- Q8 sthis story.( r8 ^: O# @( c5 R
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