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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
; @! e- c$ E6 u# D% WBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
( _; t9 H% ~. E" i9 a7 YWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
/ p! y. [# [2 {% P$ ]; O; ?) S$ Ooperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that/ a: i8 A4 j% s8 _
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
- P" @2 v% c6 i. g) x& E* D! Asolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration./ q4 z0 u5 i: ?9 j8 S
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
' X6 k, d# `3 F, `& W, F O$ N2 C6 mcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
, _! o. H! O; a HHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
! k+ K2 G+ e' T$ K3 F4 Y, Racceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
& Q: k x% x* F' _: @( D% Q/ Strucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
# t- u# j7 N. }! ymats and sticking accelerator pedals.& u8 B% B' M+ v: s2 ?
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal# t5 P0 X% B5 E! J
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
4 U& S- k; C' c- S; Rcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be" [2 W% O- f. i9 b
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
3 C, W9 s4 X b$ X1 N1 s8 w1 Q9 @" lnot stop her runaway Lexus.
; S& ~$ s9 q$ v! t# d; e1 i"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,1 e( R( j6 n) Y/ @1 f+ f0 E
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second: u I, r7 `$ I
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.# b. @' a" J5 X7 Z0 M* Y
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
2 o9 M! ` a% L/ R& ^+ z/ gearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
: z+ T4 p; z# d: ~; y% h7 b"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
6 {2 f5 F% x1 d3 T9 T' P$ N5 Kdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway2 {* T! K+ N6 M V
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's7 C3 X6 _6 X4 m
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
2 L# p2 }5 [5 U' I# p. ] k, SLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
3 f- Q3 u5 i; s0 ?/ [0 I5 Celectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of% x3 ]" I1 v: p8 p, j2 t1 U
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
: K5 a' l1 s% bmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
; _* |& y; H. e% i& E9 j! Zsaid.9 S& i: N: c) S
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
0 L2 k* }1 R- d$ f6 L9 ^% \happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe6 l- B* G/ e+ T$ D
about driving our products," Lentz said.$ w7 U9 i1 J0 ]5 \# k0 |
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's- J- |. \# v' i4 Z" F
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
7 |) W$ j0 b2 V8 N2 e/ _2 urecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 63 V5 Y( C$ r( W Z
million in the United States -- since last fall because of, E* Y0 _8 C3 I
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
: F: F2 w6 X. N- O& Kissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering4 `# `# K& I3 Z$ ^0 L6 G
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
* J% n, I2 c/ H/ D7 ~' Ytheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow, c- E; X. h1 }& u; i! T9 w& T2 H
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has- A ]: a; o! e" a# v, K. Y( g
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration3 R" A% p& ?" v+ ?" i' S5 ]* n
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.- k- y% I& z0 u+ M
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own- s9 s: F" `$ y7 M: V* h/ F
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
. {! j/ G4 ]6 H9 Cunderstood the pain.) |6 ]) H5 y4 D- c8 b7 G4 D
"I know what those families go through," he said.7 I e6 f' j/ T. D, L
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
5 Q; }/ S7 G& v2 b% d' wfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems., d# b6 R0 @& G' J" w
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
# ?/ `. t4 k2 Q% S4 t# E5 \2 MHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
$ d3 M) U7 Z9 Q; Iin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
+ W6 B( N- V; ?/ c hLentz replied: "Not totally."/ e- d. R8 b$ E* L# G
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were; S/ w; C: S3 y) o
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said7 u( W# Z, i2 V/ n% ?0 c
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
9 @$ `+ j3 J4 f1 H" w) zpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
3 E+ K3 j+ S6 u# c' t4 }9 \5 rvehicles already on the road.9 z0 n' u3 S* M3 N3 T" e7 j! F) [% \) w
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify& X) l0 s+ y4 M v# O- N, J
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full2 M/ |3 P) i3 N" |6 u
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and% a/ [1 ~7 m( {2 N; k! \4 e. x
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were$ b1 X: e/ N, {, e
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems., |2 W: y0 R% f- I) C* W. V
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a( I; p! ] e; k
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
( }$ w- L0 A5 X& r) v" vfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
; @# ^+ Z1 c$ ]: {5 x7 [" aCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
Q- c- ]* ]% }& Z8 Hcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
$ X1 M4 R: x ^* Zrestore the trust of our customers."( C5 E" _ M( U+ H
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
1 G! a4 A! |7 g+ }- Q) QSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
; Z* a! j3 x. q. b2 Bzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --* e; g& d$ N; f! d
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and" z6 `% P+ ?6 g: p9 `1 {
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough+ @, x9 @+ \. L2 ^* s6 |+ K0 d
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
& {- f( J1 G4 u7 @, O, Q9 uturn off the engine.1 g% {/ ` G! N9 Y. W7 N- M
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
8 x$ C" Y6 ]( ROctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."* X. {% l+ ], H: D. u d3 g0 u* ~
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
# C, {# w4 r7 S9 ^9 @said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond' O; [: c" w) s5 g ^$ W" W+ j
to her complaints.
; J5 a4 Y# E" c/ ]$ V1 D' vIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
8 [/ G) D% X) o! nreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic0 c0 U/ a% B% k1 G
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
( U. }; L0 W5 Q( O$ u. R1 s! w3 R8 A"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
+ c$ u' s$ Z& Y- R8 T9 L) A! @% Y3 Lthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited8 a7 v- R/ n* G Q7 l( M9 | \" H# H
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
! ?1 t" A) a" z' d0 W1 aoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
0 D8 ^# P% q' A/ s) v- x5 sTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
$ t5 R* s. _) E. ^; l+ z0 Xprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were$ Y, u1 J# [1 s
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
& d) {- T' V [1 d) w) Y2 I6 Xwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer5 K; l' j* i2 z+ ^7 v% b
every question."7 c9 I" N; t1 ` V9 n) b8 Y- D
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
I+ C6 p7 V/ lelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The% F/ W& s' w: V5 C3 s- S2 S
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But5 T# ^) f, w4 q: D, |* r: J8 @1 i% x+ K
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
& P0 Z8 n6 u( x" U4 ~number of vehicles2 S1 w g6 z" Y4 q' v# g
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
( s& ]: d+ J9 x8 f, qdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
6 }+ E$ s- P) bmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one3 ]% `( v% b9 n, r t
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
0 m. E& M8 `- W! _- n8 VMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,9 c, g2 D$ O, M2 ^+ q. N
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no4 @4 ]% e6 R U$ `5 ^% Z
trace at all.- w$ D y, B% \ }( d
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call& p8 r- M n4 e) {' O) i- |
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
" W4 n+ t# w3 z" q& Wacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the E' A7 S5 _8 X. @
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
+ v+ E3 N1 n# {* K( l" HRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,5 a6 i7 Z" A6 ?$ {+ b/ i* M# K
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
4 X! N Q, ]/ s B1 Iother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
0 x9 A2 V$ H/ V/ F7 R) k7 m( selectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible: o! o& }( F( n
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
8 N# w; F" p2 A& W# Hsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained2 f/ o; v' s7 u# p7 t3 V8 W' e
by Toyota's lawyers."/ I1 S9 O9 J# y% ~0 }
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of- y, ^9 c/ D0 p% t( ]1 a! `
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
/ V+ p4 m4 k; @- Scustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he( ~! Z& n: I) d2 [( V- `
said.: k( Z; i+ t# O! j( B
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with+ m* L3 f' S6 I3 M$ s
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
2 g# p5 W2 b8 Rgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
! U p9 \6 p# P6 g. b! x0 Fofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
% G& {& C$ C# B2 d: WSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying( Z$ m- v; I: G8 Z; b
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
! d. Q0 ^( S; q4 p# Irancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the ?( T/ b+ S/ o+ W
automaker, at least in part because of the government's! R! L5 k3 o4 t9 L; A5 X/ G6 |
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and3 J1 o! W2 ^* n$ {% s, ~
Chrysler.
' s# ^- @8 l" h( p% ^1 Q"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
9 x( ~$ Z+ G" T! r3 Hdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a. N& d7 `- c& j
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also8 H4 Y: ~. _- G" E
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete8 R$ [# K9 o: @0 z; M4 m. Y
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty4 _' o. ^; s4 G: P: g J- W
tough."2 ?: [9 A/ A5 c; w( v7 Q
---- P1 G4 ?1 k) R7 N# z: e! {- T
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
, D% t6 x& p5 ]1 LRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
7 ]3 O; \. w0 F- c. Bthis story.6 B6 t% C2 L6 N% l
) ^$ ^! i* w* W
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