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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题/ r1 x& F7 `8 }
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
( F4 k" Y1 R9 {. oWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S." p3 ~3 v) y+ ]
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
. i, d* [* `2 d. w- E: Athe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally": m! _7 }4 q p6 p: y
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.3 Z6 ^8 W8 c$ a& v
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
) I: g: r4 f0 Tcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
( Z+ d8 L$ c3 Y, w! BHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
1 O. H# z1 n0 P _* p+ ~0 l0 }" B8 {acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and1 T9 `$ O9 d8 \' h
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor4 h3 b/ J, h3 N3 K+ I7 ~
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.: r& G6 r% v1 M* _
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
5 ~( Q* Y! d$ D% C, Q$ eand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
! U1 R- ^6 Z k6 u9 ?criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
8 o# t7 }5 o9 g: i+ O9 {& G/ e1 t0 ]further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
+ T; L" @5 K7 O* |% b- Nnot stop her runaway Lexus.
+ E$ l0 r" j- y$ ?"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,8 ]$ W4 P5 c. ^
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second8 s! j, {3 n$ O
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.( j6 k$ _1 o5 u
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
" z0 v1 y. `" y1 ~" ^+ Vearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said" y: Q+ Q7 r1 I
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has1 F) d( o8 c) J4 B3 j
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway, Y* x4 N. a G5 K+ [ \
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's5 _$ g$ ]+ ~' Y8 C# P, f# G. J/ t
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
- d' b; F/ I2 f9 v0 g% ~Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
5 z7 \ _3 b) x9 aelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
* T! F9 C* i7 I( ^2 rthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
" ^8 O$ q) ^# [) r' Xmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
; p! `: n7 w. O( @8 Qsaid.
" @( }- K# r* m0 w6 N$ I2 j% WAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
$ K1 d' W5 D0 o* f7 C- }happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe/ }& M& _5 F4 m
about driving our products," Lentz said.
, [& u# p1 O. F+ YThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
4 Q+ t& O" e- r# ~. I5 ]problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has6 H, }% S# P. @3 {
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 64 c) O- A: q9 @0 C0 g8 C* W; }: n. u, t
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
3 i2 v0 ~ H! }+ C7 H0 munintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking6 M) A) Z9 m1 p1 c! |0 q8 X
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
# I$ c w' x3 p0 X }concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
/ A$ A, P: {; a0 Z) W* C5 P& ?# f0 Atheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
9 [& G" J6 Q2 `# z3 r/ R3 q( |down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
/ r# B9 r/ h6 [% S% B4 S3 Vreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration6 o0 U! ^! R; j% b, u
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
+ Y) E" S2 W( V* d) \) N RLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own) o& p, m5 s1 M) L
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he8 h+ h `. e! q+ v' D
understood the pain.! I: T. K, |9 }& `
"I know what those families go through," he said.
/ _9 B& {( f. M0 W9 I& GLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
! m8 C8 _8 e% w" ffixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
6 m. P4 S8 Z a0 [! PBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman$ R( h, w# S! B+ F
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
1 C4 Y, C1 U6 Bin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
+ A# S N3 G' ~' y: ~Lentz replied: "Not totally."
5 U# Q( N, y3 M5 S# q& @, O1 n5 zStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
! b" N: g( c6 A' X% p$ u"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
' s5 P& w9 g8 D1 U; e2 L* b; e1 HToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas- z8 \5 P, C# l5 E% Z0 H3 g- L
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
5 l/ M8 T/ k, I5 `5 ~% ~" Uvehicles already on the road.
H1 ~+ H& y( G. ^Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
* @9 r1 k2 y, X+ `; m. n4 Ebefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full0 W( O4 S+ X5 p2 Y9 i- Q
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and2 U- n; y1 o9 D9 e' A
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
4 O+ {" `+ o1 Z- h7 Qkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems." l8 K4 D) s4 z& j
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
8 a N4 S ?- Q6 g0 Ytragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony$ S& Z! }) b9 c( A/ K6 M3 k2 _! V" v( S* _
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight- @- J( @! \0 d9 e- E( i
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
" K) w! g: A( ncommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to0 a4 p' m. q# L" U
restore the trust of our customers."
7 |" K7 ?- E: @! [$ v! YLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
$ T, _. V3 ?3 o( r0 v P( G/ jSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly+ u7 \ C. j& J+ r9 ^, U
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --$ A3 u L% b. V* h2 b6 q
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and1 A7 C/ ^4 x/ D/ a- L) \
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough( D9 r, @# u0 I+ E: P" F
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
7 ]0 w% o( X- d. \$ z- n- O; x+ T0 Wturn off the engine.
1 u( @# a" ^, u0 h, z3 Q6 J( wFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
" C# f f) X% R" W7 YOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."6 c( F# q# u) Z( t$ b3 O7 }( Z
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she7 E' C B8 W* c
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
2 U6 C4 ~3 n6 i) I1 i2 H7 ^to her complaints.( u! Z. H& @+ v, W" v4 p: P6 l
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
0 P4 T) ~5 c z. O# o# P, Preturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
0 {! K* e( C0 j' n0 F* v( \malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars. Q& d4 f4 y# S" `: e: F _
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
1 Z. U' K, f, k$ y1 cthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
4 l0 z% U( l/ x"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
" L- |4 R0 E- V" @off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
( X4 i' I( x2 XTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
- s6 U; S8 [! f' d3 `0 uprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
' Z, x" M5 b0 E" ~being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
: S( s `% j) ~% J6 `" }0 t) A% rwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer" {; i) C) g( _; R3 k0 {& E4 _
every question."0 A% R( U6 d n- j2 z
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether5 b5 Q) f) R' D& ~
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The. G% o! W* K4 g( d5 j
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
; ~6 r7 r9 Y$ ^: j4 Wcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
0 F7 c7 C! Y; knumber of vehicles
+ n0 G; G$ K3 }( OTracking down an electrical problem can be far more& w; \. ~7 ]' F' x5 ?' y
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
( Z0 t2 ?& e' h& }mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
2 |! q- X* M! U# S6 H3 U. }6 Vsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
. I- X; D' {* s0 h, @4 n7 l& [Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
3 d c0 Y, b' o8 Zwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no O/ V& `+ _+ Z
trace at all." Q9 e$ R% s- _& f6 z
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call' g8 |$ k: C( f6 z
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
. w8 `: C$ }+ Pacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the- @ n: V: L. B4 _+ S9 s- U! ^: K
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.6 c5 o( A) b6 l; B W. T6 A
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,) c) O9 ~8 @7 k: K" L# f B
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
9 l2 R* U! ^, Rother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the' H1 _. Y3 J( g
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible7 S0 [3 W# V/ J. L
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
, Y0 ~1 C% y/ q$ ysuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained, S0 `. T% m9 g* {( y( G
by Toyota's lawyers."4 r8 a5 _1 _% _5 h" r8 m8 P
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of. f4 J2 ~4 q2 d
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our$ G: @2 R4 P3 p& p; w0 y
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
% ^) U9 t5 r$ ~said.
, e* Y, _4 e, k3 f9 b9 E"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with4 \. E# b( m+ E9 C2 v8 g; Y
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
5 U: g o H) }9 T5 Wgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating( f4 }; {% x$ z- X* K2 v
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.$ ^$ s: ]/ B+ m# }0 ^! K
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying, T( t7 G6 q$ f( l9 E! C6 Z
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
1 q% ^' \+ U, g5 D' q9 h' Zrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the. Y( X' |! r& u* R% A) n+ P
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
+ w# Y* T3 x( O; b" o2 A5 ginvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
+ j3 y4 t$ x1 L- Y, v4 G0 X) }Chrysler.$ ]7 V: D) B$ f2 y. @7 C v% F
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
9 I; e/ h5 X3 A8 i; r6 J! O7 |dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
) u1 `0 ?+ N4 M0 ZHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also8 f; C) M. w2 a# ~
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
0 l& W- Z2 g c! A- o4 n' b6 ^, k Rwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
. K2 S! i5 J9 |4 C e5 L$ ytough."
* j) U3 Y0 w9 x/ i7 b---, |: o& t# O7 E2 D; v5 A
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom$ q8 e$ ]3 p% N, u6 j0 x
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to& q l/ x; r5 N6 G) g
this story.# I0 E4 K/ o8 S
) i) @# a$ I' E+ H8 D' X-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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