 鲜花( 1)  鸡蛋( 0)
|

楼主 |
发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
|
显示全部楼层
丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
' N& i1 q2 {2 ?By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS% C& z! a2 w; _+ p( H! X
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
" O" V7 p- w& A$ G# soperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
: V& C9 A5 P3 `! xthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
6 E$ E& ?# Y: T' |solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.( S, X# l0 i- m" \) _
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential* c$ u, F3 g1 S" J6 {
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.3 x7 p: N- T! w q4 V8 U/ z6 @. b0 A7 C7 |
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
0 @) Q5 U1 s- O9 z% \acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
/ `) T2 Z) O# u, Q) {trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor0 V2 p+ a. ]$ m4 I
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
9 d! }& x# W5 F7 A2 t7 CHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal/ G0 P I1 _( F# n b6 R- S/ H/ Y
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp3 O$ [9 U$ q2 W; O- k7 E
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
0 W3 c- X% n" J% \0 sfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could. v( g8 }# O" f6 a4 |" f
not stop her runaway Lexus.
# L6 j' u+ [3 k: S" }8 u) y"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,* O% j9 Y2 a3 K8 W6 T( G
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second( h$ w6 P% v2 k3 h/ D
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
; D0 q' p% W+ _: eTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
1 S0 C6 o0 G) yearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said. J8 o5 g' K7 T
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has" s) \8 e9 G. f2 M
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway" g+ k$ X$ k2 v
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's; O3 }- n+ u; e& o, h6 b3 Z
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."% ^7 m3 @ a" ?( f1 I [+ V' s
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an- E. N* S( m% {. K; P
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
$ }. G G. O9 \7 w) dthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
- h; b/ e2 y1 V0 x# bmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he8 g6 K; ^0 D V2 \
said. V' T9 } u4 r s0 R" Q4 L! A
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what3 L; Y3 J* F" ?* z( I+ \
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe& h# M4 r5 Q0 o- G! |
about driving our products," Lentz said.% X4 U' u8 G3 T1 _ J W
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
. E& F, ]6 t+ d7 `$ T2 K+ {problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
2 ?8 @, |( X& k8 urecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
1 W$ {/ _% L( d& _' t/ J! Hmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of" M" E1 E d1 c& j
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
( P5 M. h, O8 Hissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering1 S9 g8 I4 C( l/ \- X
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of5 m( o W: A ?: I, R
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
: \% r! ]9 \3 o' Zdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has9 {9 H- [6 S: v' M- p
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
0 ^7 C: J* @; V6 \# y/ J9 bof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
: _5 {( |. Y5 {- G3 NLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
- D1 a# @) h+ u- f4 xbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
8 Y3 i4 T3 ~- M* s2 V7 runderstood the pain.
U. K, w b8 r& F( B"I know what those families go through," he said.% N; c3 s# Q& v# D% q; E
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's6 o* _. Y3 H* F
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
0 r! y9 E( z+ ?" @" M: g* oBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman) l2 Q$ j* I# q
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put+ K$ M, x5 g/ J: z) Z% z/ X
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
, N0 a7 Y6 u% F1 rLentz replied: "Not totally."9 M- o& Q/ {) G! q5 g+ d6 z
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were) E* q) A5 b! _0 Z+ }
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
; L" Z/ C( T/ O9 E9 PToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
) w* D, s. _& t( [: k/ Q+ Mpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its: A! {0 i3 o- o! C9 M0 K
vehicles already on the road.
: D; `- c, v6 m( z5 \Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify/ q. D7 ^% e# ]8 t
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full: ] O/ k3 l! Q& _# p+ Z U
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and, T D. o W9 a6 f `
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
& d: F) ?$ l/ k5 f! e, Akilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
% l* z n/ Y0 D"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a) X8 Z$ z; b+ z" l) r- p
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
! I1 j* U# J7 w# D* {" qfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight9 W0 D$ y5 _; p- h* L' O. [
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
/ R1 y# `- ^* _7 _6 P! P' M; [commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
1 Z- s! k4 u+ o+ v% L/ l: Grestore the trust of our customers."
; }) c% A3 i1 v$ C0 fLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
8 n* S% {0 M5 r# F3 G# TSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly( v8 m% F% y2 U% V# M1 X
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
0 N6 ~; P9 X# `shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
' b8 O9 a3 H# V. @/ R+ P) W( hhitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
1 r: b, i: P/ B3 lthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and, @2 }$ J' z8 \
turn off the engine.- t l, @5 [' G+ ^ W" y1 t
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
3 F; A# X. q; O8 x& B5 @* ?October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
) P& p& E: D! x6 G0 z"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
9 ^: Z9 X2 s5 E3 ksaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond+ u; y! F* j! D
to her complaints.
" H/ a9 ~. B; m9 N0 i. eIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers, N! T7 I" D; |6 p6 r0 e N
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic$ x, V# W. g o$ n9 q
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.7 w4 e' |! r: O3 V4 i& o5 a+ s( Z
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
0 \. o0 ~. i; W" I; J% T2 dthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited+ N+ D: z* p4 _/ E# D/ [
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
1 n, R0 ^, |; X/ c' O! ~1 K$ Ioff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
7 |* B. }- n# { q+ R1 J) PTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
. w' E# ?5 u) r! ]# l* Iprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were% V4 H$ W. {5 Z! N8 s% C
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
+ e* b# S/ Q8 d/ o2 J' t% k$ lwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
, \$ o" o2 Y) v" q1 Q% devery question."
6 O V9 N3 Z# w3 Y- ~3 cToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether: z: r2 m. W% E) s1 n
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The0 \; s9 d- d1 O& @0 ?. c
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But- |" p/ B2 ]% ^4 C' f: K
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
8 p& B1 m. y9 R' V, E) snumber of vehicles
) \( A/ n. K# R8 i9 d5 U( u5 zTracking down an electrical problem can be far more8 k) F+ `/ M% x: q
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a" s0 i# x, v" F$ l
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
7 a. k& b4 w9 _. x/ psource, and they can come from inside or outside the car./ {* M: I# ]* X" a; W
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,( @+ W7 {3 Y; W1 R- ]
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
0 H# @5 A5 n9 y% I! K3 H1 ]' ltrace at all.
) @7 C6 s: I9 U2 }" g) P% W6 sHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call9 c3 C6 n \3 H3 c t0 T0 s" f+ a* D
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
; O: _4 j8 T# q8 d7 i$ c' N& [& s) [acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
" K5 h5 k& D) c7 |9 U. q+ Crecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.6 i; u6 _+ f3 A4 u2 @' p9 d! a7 v# C
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
! g( N6 D" ]& o- c9 _9 Lsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
& ^9 V+ G$ _- @, w# T$ x* }+ k" lother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
8 _- ~: ~( b# s. k( r5 Celectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible' [( A( e! m, y( f. ~4 N
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only3 `2 B- x: \5 d* U
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
4 Q4 p# w4 I9 y, r9 D L1 Nby Toyota's lawyers."- l$ K9 d: M/ X) i
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of t0 `+ ^, Z P" o$ u6 B' O
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our9 s5 n& s0 W2 p4 K& E! w( x
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he: a% c+ l4 {* n
said.
$ W) Z, Q5 R+ w- K"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with; Y) f& g1 Y; h9 |, r
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our7 U) r2 s! _* r# ~9 p
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
( x( {6 Z6 I+ C0 wofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
1 A- r( S$ q& l4 D- l, G* ESeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying0 ~6 S5 t: N0 }1 m4 }8 ~* ~
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
! ^# x# i' y3 m# G; _9 nrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the6 I' @# L9 @" O9 J# L
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
' G& M( z& s5 H- ]- |: d4 v$ Dinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and6 n+ l2 J& b2 L
Chrysler.; ?2 a* w" w9 b- u0 A& G# V
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
' w+ o7 S: V4 p5 Ddollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a- D9 t. o7 b# L& q" f" M
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also$ i- u. \2 c( b1 b* i" t
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
: q: z$ a6 f& {$ Vwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
; L$ m4 d: D" S8 Stough."- I# a; W0 X V6 O2 R* I
---' C C8 X t) {. z9 w
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
/ B$ e ~9 v. D/ V* \# @( O2 tRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
9 H& [% y# M- r- Athis story.) K- O6 k6 d3 m; T
' b( K6 I# C0 f
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
|