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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题% \! g; Z/ _0 M" W8 D
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
; Y( D* X$ [* g0 g, vWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
; t: ~& V& k( ?) z L0 ^. ~. ^operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that" M! A0 I# y5 C5 i4 q" E" D
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
# I. V- F, t! @1 A- vsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration./ }2 A- f$ t6 f( ~: k
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
- G8 m" S$ {2 u) m4 F* q- icauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
. f v, u4 w ?: R' o( k/ qHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
, G) M) Y3 o+ Bacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and! y% N! Z% u2 \
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
! b/ @6 e- ]3 omats and sticking accelerator pedals.
0 d' |; V- Q3 s% [0 T+ l$ gHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
; ]" h) ?/ S! I6 }5 fand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp3 H8 m! t0 S; q* u J" N/ F% Y
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be* |9 Q# T& p, R6 _0 Y4 h
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could0 f* O4 `# p( c+ w1 O. m
not stop her runaway Lexus.6 \# i- d8 \# \; O
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,4 P, f0 j$ a) Y1 F
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
* Q( G" q q) l: x4 a/ ^6 H8 c"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
- l) o3 J3 {/ p2 C3 oTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues& q& U! r8 K) }
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
8 L: Z2 }, c2 i"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has0 O2 J- M! t& _/ G A
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway$ Y2 s6 G. M f2 R; I; [: w
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
8 B. x8 N- `+ |# \4 tinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."# p+ B& `! s' I
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
( K _ t) G" S) o, q& K2 helectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of4 E! _0 w( Q1 C0 \ i+ p1 |
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a6 \0 _. @- F2 w' @
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he# R% C! `" t* R8 t' U
said.0 [- b/ S5 A2 E3 o
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what( ]6 w" A. B" }2 g8 `) T: R7 A
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
* A/ \! X! J. @9 m0 B9 A# \about driving our products," Lentz said.0 f2 |$ o& ~& P; ?. s& y
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's/ \/ e: l+ t9 X
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
4 q9 w% H4 `4 Z: q8 Z% [recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
9 o1 p7 ?8 k* F' G: \million in the United States -- since last fall because of, o" t$ P4 t$ A! [
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
9 M! r4 A4 Z4 h) _3 J6 @* ^issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering9 P9 L( z/ p2 h) H! G' S- `; \
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of+ Y2 b" s7 @% E: T% _: \3 p- x8 `
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
& t! w$ w. w+ h- qdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has8 I+ F8 A6 b+ l n3 Z
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration6 a1 K1 B- \- q1 E% f! D
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.8 U v! W( m- l8 f
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own+ r2 d+ ~' Y. P) P0 k
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
6 E H7 ~6 Z& k7 @' ^& m0 J* yunderstood the pain.3 j# N4 N, ?/ S5 t% I, O
"I know what those families go through," he said.8 j0 Q6 l! f. ~# d r1 d
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
8 g/ T3 F6 T# v. o4 ufixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.- w; F" i# a4 [ S. Y
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
1 n/ L: G' _' q/ _Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
i4 t2 S2 Y7 z4 rin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
0 ^# @+ h& m4 |: y1 Z* ^3 N3 hLentz replied: "Not totally."( H2 r! W5 ~0 `5 d0 \9 g B5 A
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
& Y9 i( F9 b* G( U X' k% j9 e' x"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said8 e x, v; }4 G# e) I7 {8 f% H
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
3 s. T* }$ [; ^- U r+ bpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its o6 U M8 E0 i+ ~! K. P( R
vehicles already on the road.
" U* e4 q3 A& P# cMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
4 C; M2 D& f: T% P1 O$ C6 X. {before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
$ W0 f8 _3 ]; ~responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and$ n/ m7 M5 W9 v& G; Q% z" b
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
4 H! O; v7 d/ ?. |( P( I$ kkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
( M/ i3 o3 S# R& o"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a) @& r8 V& `' K
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
0 `8 T' y+ m& a8 Bfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight8 a; n& s0 w& P) I
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal5 [' ^/ J: F+ H% g4 ~2 e
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to$ F8 ~2 D, ^- u; j: F
restore the trust of our customers."
% Y5 M4 m& H$ a9 H& F0 F4 V: dLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from$ V0 z0 [9 v3 h8 G' B) X3 \: p$ j
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly( D: h3 Q: _, H' [) a- J6 G
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
+ t! b7 Y* m! H3 ]1 e8 Pshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and# Q. q0 [7 W% I$ _' H. T! |/ c% {
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
7 y. U S/ R3 Qthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and* B5 T7 w5 d5 S$ z' u! n
turn off the engine.
' B2 g* t' S) y0 T+ ~9 E6 i: RFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
$ K9 y. G1 d; XOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
. ]3 b6 V5 z4 r+ e"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she' l) r, j$ c7 j- B0 z- K+ ]% J
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
$ m8 h* n/ s- @- T8 p8 Nto her complaints.* q9 j/ L, H) {/ _
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers1 O* ~8 ^' M- ^4 F& I" w$ ^$ U* b
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic/ E/ ?0 F! ?" \1 y
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars. K, \9 a* G7 p- f( Z0 N3 p. \* k
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
8 K# k1 Y) F' T5 k. v3 Ithrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
* Y- T& `, y7 k8 u"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
5 C* q% v/ T2 }: M; J: K# Z8 eoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
6 Y: ?1 ^& G" o/ a9 STransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
+ G4 Z( @6 S4 D& r7 X5 wprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were* t% ~6 j; V4 p, `# u
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls: L" W( I: n" @
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer$ [9 n& I3 ~. z! l) h* p
every question."# M. e( z/ `' a* w' a
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether- {6 ^# i I. u& X
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The4 `0 K1 w4 \* C* E' d
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But0 }. R2 s6 Q" b
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small7 l9 C) g. g) C, n5 G
number of vehicles8 u( m$ ]5 I( I- ^
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
, R) Z6 b6 B$ |5 Udifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
1 h/ g' m$ d' J1 _* Gmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one# Q3 a3 H; O8 F% A9 w# f
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
+ w/ D& V* |8 Y" T0 ^Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,6 |" n! t+ ^& Q, ?! g
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no: @# M% a" j& K+ T( w6 E
trace at all.
/ c2 J& S& {+ s* O9 e) A6 GHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
5 Q" W, K) g- E/ mdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
! l. N6 h' K' M+ J) tacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
/ O% p( B; l7 B6 }recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.4 u! k q' d4 s6 @0 W0 c
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,0 [/ p& J4 D" }. g/ e
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and2 q# f5 i0 N+ i9 ?
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
, x6 X6 [$ C3 [. lelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible' Z7 M- c3 e/ E& f O- |
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
. e7 t, m: G9 f4 o5 esuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
1 O9 u2 d0 @% ]' zby Toyota's lawyers."+ m7 E4 \7 N0 O& B9 X
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of- P e7 G$ p- m
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our$ L. B4 {+ b% y3 e
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
3 }, d1 p: C f7 Y; O5 ] Psaid.
; u3 g7 F( H9 e$ u3 O"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with* C$ j# Q4 O# Q" J6 f
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our7 O/ g6 K: \. Z
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
( ~' S; ~* t7 w! ~officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
$ q' m9 o8 h% {1 n+ z, VSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying# v7 j9 h7 i/ S( Q
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
/ ?7 C6 Y% u) {rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
, y1 [9 a5 O. q) x; mautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
9 `- }- [6 l: }9 ` binvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
) p; {0 o0 s% TChrysler.& p8 W6 ?" u7 c4 s) e/ i
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
: x* t- O; Z {( j Odollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a ^, | {7 z9 H
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also! v3 A+ z. `& K+ i
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
2 p& B; _ Y8 F( _( L; U+ @2 j5 Xwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty1 E! F* r j; R( j
tough."
, } r! Y5 q7 D# I& |$ u---) h/ l% e2 A% ^( r* c$ a0 V
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom W! X' [' l* P# y$ k6 N1 p5 b
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
) v* `+ R- D5 ^" Z9 E8 P( `this story.
$ X! R; C6 O. T# e
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