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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
0 F* ?9 x9 H9 P. R- Y9 m+ wBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS0 q7 Q S; e+ Z! t0 j5 h# e$ C2 W
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
5 C! O! p( F+ B/ h; k( E" toperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that& d* r+ t( m0 M! z
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"$ V8 i% B5 b* C1 M
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.0 Y8 I- l1 a3 x. D1 f
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
; \3 K h5 R+ ]1 s; Hcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
: \! `) n+ `2 d% _0 J. n9 uHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected2 W! j4 a6 S K4 m: h8 w
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
0 @ V0 A D! y2 G" t0 i6 ftrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor* H4 K/ l! p% e6 o+ n9 Q9 v
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
% A$ j- i' h1 G' b( CHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
! v" [4 r/ {: L% O* |0 O9 Aand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
7 ]; X3 M$ Q( R4 F* scriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
( t% {+ W. T+ d( H. o; n8 }7 q. ffurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could5 Z* \1 f0 e- g
not stop her runaway Lexus.5 R! |6 A$ P, m9 n9 d) }
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
( \0 D2 J5 s- o9 W7 _1 pTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
% o% m* h' A; _/ B8 c"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
* q6 t+ N' G9 I8 m2 \* gTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues; l. i8 p! e" ~( i" g
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
2 l) k% n+ l9 K: I8 i/ d1 J! `' T. }"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has0 p0 n7 _+ Q; g% `6 R+ }! m
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
0 v6 y. p/ m3 S: [; p# Fthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
5 k8 Q& I/ _( W0 g4 Pinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
8 I! V9 T7 ]- O4 B- bLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
$ ]3 Z* L. I/ p) }6 d$ L/ Welectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of- n: g& S3 P* H5 h# q7 T- o
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a& U) x. W8 l% ]# n$ ` C
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
, t. ^$ |( a! V3 k3 k- n9 \2 bsaid.; y. _2 J8 T1 l& P- {: N/ U8 v. a
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
7 ?+ S- h$ f' j. G3 F: ?happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe1 H( l( J7 x' k+ Z# d+ f
about driving our products," Lentz said.
o5 a6 M, n' Z3 g$ h: ZThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
; a+ D' M- w$ Vproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
& @5 y6 h/ M& b# Y' w/ Hrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6) O, d% s& U( Y$ L) ~
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
/ X- [( a# C5 a. lunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
5 _+ i. Z/ U8 ]# T) u @/ t3 j/ Missues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
( B( y* w8 [( ^# n2 p; w) Bconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
8 K/ ?: X7 K% N4 x- o* D c- Btheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
$ X5 k9 G" b- U4 Ydown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has; a- |: T: ^5 l/ Y! p
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
4 n, @7 B' O/ j3 ^of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
7 p3 N& g9 W6 o3 B5 d. zLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own+ \2 x: I2 p, F. p: K
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he% a! |# R P! r+ Y
understood the pain.9 \* }" \/ h: P: C/ F0 h6 @& r
"I know what those families go through," he said.
! t5 k1 ^, n7 _3 GLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
: g1 b, X. U% k, j7 U1 mfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
- u/ K& m* E `9 mBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman0 D+ F! _/ {4 x! U
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put" B; w2 y% G1 h0 c* V: b9 `
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
8 }, L3 t- @2 t D- A6 r1 K8 GLentz replied: "Not totally."+ A0 B7 W4 ~# M6 F4 h' U
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were- @: z6 A. b+ |$ i
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
+ @% Q% Z: \% s% t u% U: ^Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas3 X& Z' c& z% E4 Q; H5 N5 I6 Z+ y2 w
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
. H5 S5 P+ G! X% p4 Q: B3 H% E8 Evehicles already on the road.
" G0 V) u4 G; o8 QMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
+ ^/ Y. p6 z5 Vbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full/ ] U( @; A8 B& V m1 i
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and6 A2 \! `1 u8 T& u0 U c
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were! g. y% [# t o F6 K+ l
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
% x0 q6 U- ^- [: W: m"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a2 t- e- P0 Z/ S% t
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
! \7 j/ t. f% wfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
0 m7 A9 \& {! U2 B) O. h! G! A% yCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal! i G8 v' _* Y
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to1 g3 g- C% O& z0 ?
restore the trust of our customers."0 r# ^ ~# Q$ A9 A
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
& z3 C9 g/ ]2 T0 {1 j8 A; `: gSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
& Y; U; z( L" x9 f/ _zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
) b" P5 y& P; b! _shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
& s' q3 e! [# N; m5 D) o/ p8 ehitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough1 }" H/ M) l4 F
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and$ H$ D L- ^+ G$ d% C! I b( R
turn off the engine.; b; a5 r2 Q( j) f t! {
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of4 M' A; { s# a2 P$ m! ~8 u
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."! O7 m" ~" F" ~0 n/ v5 O
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she/ Z+ O; g/ g/ E5 R% k+ _+ |. F) M
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
+ j; \! b) Z0 Z& i7 n N1 X- ~' Oto her complaints.
& k T7 n& ?; RIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
/ D1 V; G) W# r* N- t- e2 L! ireturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
% Z K5 \9 y& C& Wmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
C0 H9 q' r+ e) n6 D"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
; N9 S) ~5 W0 `throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited- m* d' y* \0 H+ u. k8 d& g
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
# l9 x2 Z6 s/ E+ p, \2 Foff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure.", t9 }( l$ l% U
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
$ E8 ^2 l. [+ N1 K1 E% a8 v3 }prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were5 @% Q k7 y3 R( J+ v. Y4 x
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
' R; f& [3 Z2 }" k9 S' ?; Dwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer7 a9 x, [" T9 v. h0 T- t' {$ r! F
every question."/ }/ S7 d6 C4 v6 @+ w
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
+ {$ S' {) t# L+ ^electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The( S% A" ]$ p9 [/ x- I2 q
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But+ F1 e3 K( e' Z8 [( s/ `
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
* Q$ R: V2 s2 W, enumber of vehicles
) x2 i& x0 D" g* v. _- tTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
- e9 Y+ \, \7 n" w% l* c( ydifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a2 U7 o' B# _* A) p
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one E' a+ c: \6 O5 C& k$ r
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.2 {* q2 y9 u8 B4 V; Q
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
: h6 b# b! q0 B4 E3 swhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no2 |$ R, f6 G' D# ?( h- n1 d
trace at all.9 A" F9 Q: C: z2 X* s. |
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
- v% W4 o' `- O3 O Xdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
! v; g% a& a+ k7 s; \acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
3 c/ S( J. ~/ R9 K7 c5 {# S- Grecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
9 X" C+ w, v4 ]/ q0 ~ g' E1 SRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,6 h6 M$ ]4 @! g6 a* f1 h$ b5 d
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and8 C& R( w( x% }- A
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the- s5 @/ M8 T+ T' A
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible6 q2 H C) Q2 ?- h" ]
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only g j3 ], g6 @, X) C0 K- @6 ~1 G
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained: g: H" E& x7 R
by Toyota's lawyers."
' {9 K- a/ S/ k% F( u( JLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of! K% {8 r2 {- S# {, m
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our1 w% r" y# R0 U$ }, a# _1 U
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
! o+ R0 B% v. c) w9 G* \/ k5 Usaid.) s) L$ `9 d; Y z& P
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
/ m$ a6 O2 D$ `+ Fa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our: s0 ]9 s5 p) ~' W6 E6 S/ S
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
3 R T7 ^' Q m. e% n4 kofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
0 e$ E m# S0 z; ~1 S( P" H aSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying# `2 s" I7 B1 O4 i) q% X
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread2 B( @$ s. O) T$ _1 P1 I
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
3 X0 `: e1 b) y2 D% `automaker, at least in part because of the government's
9 `. V+ H4 Z4 s5 v8 c: C0 `( ?investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and) g. L; K/ ]0 F2 e& b
Chrysler.. X. X0 Y5 H, y& h$ ?& j
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax; P9 Q8 G" y2 f! w9 |
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a5 M) g- o% `! `7 X% [( M
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
5 G3 M0 q0 L# M( Y, ]! p. pserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete! }* Y% W# t! P/ Z( v) C5 ~
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
. H. K+ d: M" I0 |0 J. h! xtough."
1 m) \' @: F q3 o! L* F---/ s; v- _# Y8 L. ~6 j c1 A
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
& e: K9 C0 a( I! d. l* ]6 \! k' IRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to" ]2 H5 ]( U5 f3 x# }0 r
this story., j, Y1 ]6 n; K* V: W
$ W1 B+ q% W/ {; H& a
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