 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
+ F' {6 v- b5 l) I6 @- s. T' P6 iBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS+ y q7 L9 n( m% S% ^0 U
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.6 h. ?+ V1 N! i5 @) c3 o
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that: }3 B) g" W \8 A \* A" b
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally", Q# ]4 V( s0 p! S* G
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.$ w. A' l. ^- M
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential2 j0 A. i8 o' Q8 I! I/ j/ p
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.1 N0 p; }4 Y7 ^% M1 f
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
s7 R0 t. [' l1 p6 pacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
- z- h6 B) B: r/ \' Rtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor, Y. ]* t& O2 d) P, Z/ R
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
* ^1 P B: U, Z# y5 x6 ]5 `He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
C/ c/ Z; o s- Z3 I: |- Pand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp% |+ y, r9 x8 f. `. q& f
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be1 @$ G z0 g2 S; ^, z3 \+ Q
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
6 |& |. P D5 @4 Y$ knot stop her runaway Lexus.
+ T% y- s: a0 W% I0 c8 c2 r5 j"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,% a+ b2 Q {! a" M' [' ?
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second2 K/ M. z' b) L3 U. |
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
1 a% z4 W: B- FTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues( r; |3 q: o. ?! q
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
- B4 `9 N- u* v2 o"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
0 \3 K" J& h2 s8 N# Mdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
. k% t& l. _7 a: s8 L5 {through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's/ { n5 |5 m5 A& A8 Y& X
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."% K% G' R: f" b; Z3 u0 R+ g* ]; f
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an1 U3 b& Q0 V- z. o7 j1 ^
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
. M+ @/ h3 h( w3 w$ o% I/ W5 _% B xthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a4 q+ Z: S( [$ l" ^/ q# d8 ^- z Y% j
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
6 j! H/ v2 z6 } T3 b+ asaid.% G4 \0 a: L3 ]3 Y+ m6 H
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what! v+ |* ~+ D0 A* z( w+ D' Q
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe/ |' o" d& ~ b# n6 F, a% P
about driving our products," Lentz said.
: \! u5 q/ N) {% R* j# OThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's7 d% Q, T. T1 a6 Z. F$ o- S4 b i( ^
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
% E% k6 H3 Q$ Srecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6- S6 k9 e8 _" ^! Y
million in the United States -- since last fall because of' J" u" t; h. \: N/ j. _# i% b
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
3 \7 y6 _1 }" h5 Aissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
3 D+ K+ L9 N; ^6 d1 Vconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of. F( d* @; K1 ~. H) G: p
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
8 o2 u7 b" u0 c" [9 P9 q8 N( ?3 Bdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
+ d4 C- D, E4 d& e( L1 Ereceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration9 p4 ^5 B( @/ b% E, U* S4 ~
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
- C2 @, i# ~- jLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
- y/ i' l+ N/ V# ]; H3 q' g H- Gbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he8 b5 v0 [ o: E
understood the pain.. j- z1 _7 A6 Z" N s
"I know what those families go through," he said.
% d/ ?$ j" Z6 w8 _Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's1 j5 @% t- }1 e# m; j G8 t9 T, A
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.. f+ I+ k. O0 a8 T0 k
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman6 r- _0 V; F4 h( E9 E
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put1 s6 ~8 N2 _% ~
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,+ ?, ^" H+ F; j1 C2 j
Lentz replied: "Not totally."; h6 d% W3 a* s* f* n
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
z! ?8 }* W1 Y3 C"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
) V, @( Z" e! {% QToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
2 C2 s5 d; A5 ^pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
# X* {) [3 J1 Fvehicles already on the road.
3 k4 t: m }9 W( D9 A3 J [" NMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify+ d1 I/ e l( z" X, Y- H; \
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full- B. M& T0 z/ A; C6 o% [3 `8 M
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and. `- c8 _' a6 I! j6 \8 J; ~
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
( G* W5 @1 s" H. j: a1 h+ mkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.6 @. C6 I8 p! a( l( D! o: x2 K' F
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a( c& Y6 T* j) |) l- x# w) _8 q
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
6 N/ g/ e: Q" V$ Nfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
6 n3 M2 C& T( M; Q0 `' P* rCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
& @- m' Z+ l# i! l2 F4 ?# icommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
8 D# n: s/ h0 v7 u- Yrestore the trust of our customers."* O5 ^! T2 d* f! S3 g$ P7 ~7 N
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
) O0 D. J8 P1 |% e1 aSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly7 ]5 o3 ~% s2 A
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
/ |' E. q8 E# l3 z# p! U& {" Z+ Q' g& Y Dshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and& C: c8 e! p% @- n
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
" d9 ?. U: {6 |that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and" w# R2 p& p1 a: Q' G& `
turn off the engine.7 s" K0 v: m% u3 d# m0 X! ^
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
0 ^9 v) q1 _! q6 g: u$ ]: S! Z8 }October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
- _; V' _/ F# ~$ k: P1 W# U( T"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
( G4 f- U W# a9 }' Wsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond' u* c8 _# w! f! y: s: G
to her complaints.
$ n- r" }* y) r9 c: rIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers; N T1 N& c+ L1 L1 `
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic! k. g, S; v7 F; W0 w" u* r* [3 s
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
+ c, D( ]* @/ I$ p/ x4 w"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
# F. |9 |$ q, p7 `3 Gthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited+ ]. @/ A `$ a+ z
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
$ ?( W3 `- T5 w) ~/ P7 woff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
' B" B! q" w1 {/ S. ^Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
1 Y, Z# r( p3 i* ^prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were: q, B0 K$ B. q3 X7 @* P
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
* H5 v# n, v R" S) r* X9 nwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer* d1 [$ j, K) ^6 i
every question."8 Z0 u! |9 x" B6 C& \
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
q; Z% s( M! ~0 r( E& lelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The; f" d0 {) @" L: A
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
: n5 g7 e1 {! P8 _committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
! J% s0 f$ @' Unumber of vehicles6 x6 L. q) w1 i
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
# G3 m6 D; c3 ?/ J+ h) hdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
" \' a' e% o: P( ?5 Emechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
; O1 L7 H/ b1 ^; s" N4 Qsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
; @- w. M0 y8 z& e) EMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,; X5 p& x( W4 C8 _9 q3 O. L
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
; _, f( N1 L2 ptrace at all.3 `$ Q6 @: J5 m, ]4 U! Z" a
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
4 p* A8 M# `$ F0 r. Ndatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden. K+ B$ i1 [3 N3 |* V( R' D
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the! I+ H3 e' r0 l" y
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
% U4 k& X7 p- F; m& ]Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
7 B7 _* p, @! @9 N. s1 esaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
! h* n5 d: e. p5 h6 S( sother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
8 c3 D0 m/ G! Y0 w; Qelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
; h n6 n; y& Jcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
. V0 w! @& b+ Y. y0 Isuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained% I0 `! F- N( I- z1 Q
by Toyota's lawyers."
- Y/ e; L% t* Z {" `$ t3 DLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
% J. ]& D+ u9 `: H# ^+ Lproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
) w! Z9 I! F9 `% ]7 }: D" L+ E ccustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he @% T) A! \( y# R7 J! e% X
said.+ v+ F7 G: R: E
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with9 A/ l1 c. g. w9 s3 P& H7 f
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
* M% \6 Q& m- igood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating7 V( X6 D( P- l' g2 X2 Q% m$ e
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.) c. S, L! S r- u2 r5 f
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
) C$ G" b8 Z! `1 qmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread( {0 U; U/ F; ?+ i% z1 w6 h
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
( W* E: L* K8 \0 R1 [- hautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
9 [- g9 G! [* D" yinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and$ [ E) Y$ p* J& J3 D1 g2 p
Chrysler.
+ ~- v- E( O& \" R7 M"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax8 |% z! t/ x$ p3 l
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
! J5 N9 L& F$ ?, E/ G- ` c0 D+ u1 wHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also: `6 J5 u% e V/ W/ i1 U
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete- B& f+ r- }! |; l" O
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty2 D) d% n% g0 ~& M
tough."
/ U- k* z. B7 e3 i---% K: d% x6 O9 ]. S5 K7 W' n! b5 I
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
8 [* H) N. c% S4 M# [3 h9 kRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to, F% i& @$ F# I* ?) A! b
this story.8 u$ j; r+ ]6 {, t5 Q+ L: Q
( T- C4 t- {7 _" Z; b+ C
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
|