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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题" q) D1 ~, P9 X& y" N
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS2 S9 H$ [! ?( w) e/ g
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
y7 E) i y% M$ F* u8 `. w& doperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that/ K8 k: ^) Q: T& w+ x) x
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
' T2 [! h$ f* u2 rsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.$ d) v) S. Y" Y! ?- `1 P; g
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential& g6 [9 b0 [* d8 X* B! N
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.8 p7 g b( _! U k
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
. L5 a9 L6 g, U- Sacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and6 o7 Y7 z% R% N8 y* o8 z0 J1 V. a
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor7 i: Q! f; ]9 R: b6 K, d2 l" n
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
5 j2 B7 d5 s( [5 i8 u( k8 c+ HHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
, q; U8 J% u9 Rand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp- K5 b: o4 n! e" Y
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be; i# @5 H, H+ z$ J/ D1 S) o0 i
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
% _; `2 M+ ^: Jnot stop her runaway Lexus., z4 N4 H- i" M! }8 y
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,0 z9 |% y/ J* D$ [& ~2 ~3 N+ F
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
3 V# s. [+ [: k" t9 W# N/ s"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.' L& ?7 C! a* c6 U" |$ |# S
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues$ l( [% Z* R4 R4 J; i
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
, z& Y) J* J, ~! F. q" C6 |9 K# k% D"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has8 \! Q9 y3 z% k
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway3 f) l. b0 }# s
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
+ T! i L( I- {# t7 Tinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."$ |/ O& Y" Y8 l$ C" k- s
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an! z3 A. q! x5 Q2 l( ^3 j2 h3 F9 m2 s
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
* x6 m/ p9 c8 ~the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
2 a3 d" D$ `4 W$ i; z0 ~malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
6 T! D. G/ [! y) o/ V1 J o' z d& psaid.7 ~$ s. j7 Y" |; C
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what8 K6 V, p M# B7 ~
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
# S0 M3 Y" e' y" U+ V% Zabout driving our products," Lentz said.
* e* M6 ~. K) Z" hThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's( i7 T8 f; |( H
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has% I& X0 o q# r5 Z' L" f
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6" S& g3 Z+ F# O/ L; h' L7 d# f$ z" `
million in the United States -- since last fall because of, G' C% ~9 b2 W) @' P
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking; N7 w* y/ D+ X( a4 ~1 t
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering2 Z# B7 V. _0 _0 i3 L. A9 F% y$ T
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of8 _) E4 V9 A8 L3 g
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
+ h6 P. c6 i2 Tdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
4 }- z& b+ @, ^- O/ Areceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration- f$ u, A5 V- W, z! i' D
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.& n5 {' m8 k* ]# {7 ~
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
/ ^- ]4 ~* ^- J' Abrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
; `0 k3 u) E" \* r. V' u6 uunderstood the pain.8 ` S9 i' B, C3 H. u& L0 M5 Q
"I know what those families go through," he said.
( I* \$ D: A4 K+ ]+ f- F' m" u5 dLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
9 ^$ i8 s* \2 Mfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
! c6 \' P4 N' N, C j4 ] [But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman/ S/ ]0 p+ ?# G, F: M
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put# W0 ~8 e2 c/ h2 f! v
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
$ w5 y1 u: c" I4 f( WLentz replied: "Not totally."
6 e5 A5 a& m$ W% ~! x; E9 @Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
: Q5 Y( @8 R" J- r, A0 t) R"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said1 X9 K% w6 C1 W6 k/ x6 ]
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas! Y* U1 E5 v: @0 d
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its, P/ `2 k. `+ i. P# C; Q( a; |
vehicles already on the road.
& ]8 C0 L7 j4 s$ h6 ^( `6 p0 BMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify A. a5 R2 G. y- P% X9 ^
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full) i7 |7 f0 F, J* @
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and! n( h, Y8 I7 v
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were3 l* ], n( h+ l
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
?1 K, n8 Q2 c! b7 ~"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a, |: W# Y6 l* L( r) h% Q; E
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony: e$ D2 i# ~3 L
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight* b" a6 H8 h7 { W
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
$ `% C ~& B7 F6 U/ A8 a4 s. ycommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to; o" e7 L4 v( X! N7 O- W( G! i2 r
restore the trust of our customers."
5 u8 ~/ B: |: [7 s" Y9 ]1 FLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from9 d6 {" a" ^ W! }# @) B! E9 L
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
$ g" y1 p/ P' i* o) ]6 _9 ]zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
/ W9 I9 r r2 {+ h" B7 Jshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and1 S7 Z5 ^3 y% ~7 ^4 e. I
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
, U& H- S5 o% qthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
" E. R; d* T- \! C, L1 u5 Nturn off the engine.
: q5 I0 u$ o0 H! f& PFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
( N, D- r" n$ _, n, `6 J- TOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."0 ~9 r: n, F" y8 C+ O m
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
8 J' d# C; l( x. m7 M. Y* b/ {said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
" W2 \& w1 K. G. D. X2 [; Ato her complaints.
. ^. P5 m7 |* r4 g0 }( _In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers5 B' o/ [/ D. l6 |
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic8 F3 S+ H: N p& Q) S
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.$ g) d4 k4 O l$ ?
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric5 i" ~' Q- X" |! @
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
$ g# u$ t" n* }# }" ?+ U"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut m& ^1 }1 a9 @3 D: K$ {& k2 Q5 ]
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."3 I: j& x c+ y# N1 c, `" i( A: t
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in. a7 G8 U* b3 c' e* [5 a7 m1 `
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were& V! _2 W* B4 f
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls2 S# Q* v5 x2 E7 A
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer6 a- P; I( b6 @; G! W1 J% Z
every question."
, w! B# T, F; ?' wToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
9 F" {' U7 R% A. t* q' y( g/ lelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The* Z% S! b! \ p; q( ~9 ^
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But; q* X; d9 X) |6 S& `
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
) w- Z, d1 [" ~* |number of vehicles
9 ^! i. M4 v: _& y: _* UTracking down an electrical problem can be far more7 P% y& [$ @# ^; z# t+ K
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a2 }$ A/ l) b! s5 Z7 Y0 e
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one( W# g( e4 z0 J- J
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
7 r5 o- U4 ]) l0 e9 k6 t4 ~Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
* u; I' e i2 Zwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no$ z5 J1 X0 H7 a7 N
trace at all.8 b/ x% v6 a3 A5 A4 Q
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
( a2 b. {4 a- V8 i3 ]5 Xdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden H% d4 B `' T. W
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
7 @) A% ]$ K) ^, A; q; precalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.: m# k; K$ d4 c* b% I! k$ m
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
; H8 k7 J5 A6 P, c7 E+ Y. g, Bsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and: P# F- g1 _3 w% w! b0 p! E! D, h
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
9 P' L& x: Z5 d7 f& Lelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible9 T6 w' E% Y6 ]
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only" A7 m9 N1 ^5 j7 r- M
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
1 X- g2 R! o) _/ y# ~* T, ]by Toyota's lawyers."
# O6 V: A2 `( e* i" h) M1 eLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of5 t9 d" y4 F' H7 z1 I F
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
9 J2 i6 L9 C, k& dcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he( ]# \2 W, K7 Z$ R
said.$ ?# N0 x8 p% B
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
6 s. v9 [" \3 N& ^a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
( Z- v9 h }# j8 \/ N4 g1 Bgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating7 n* {- d$ m$ Q# _1 O7 g' I+ N: t0 i
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
1 M' h( M. ~: }( \; zSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
+ f( J7 F: [' L- g( Rmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
+ h9 w8 } b" x( ?# K" V& lrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
. e$ D4 p. i) U- y, {1 R$ U: \! Lautomaker, at least in part because of the government's. R3 _' E: {3 x: q) ]% N u
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and9 y Y% i' R f0 {. x$ A
Chrysler.( N v4 ]$ S7 N
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax. s% b1 |; v, ]
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
1 c9 R3 X/ `) E3 Y$ B, dHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also Y5 g5 {5 ?. W. j2 o2 L" ~# d
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete+ i" K1 ^0 B% S
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty) U p' A# ]/ e |
tough."; d- ?+ n2 W' {# A8 ]) a+ w
---) e/ B" g% Q* h
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom& ^" U: J0 F+ j$ a
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
. W9 ]8 W) |6 `( Vthis story." J* W, M8 f4 [8 b5 V
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