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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题0 z! k2 {0 J$ {- U. ]' v
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
U' [' o) {$ S+ }# d$ j' {Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S., W! j& V" O( w
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
3 y9 `3 g% O0 ]' Ythe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally". b! s4 h9 a, }0 I* \/ U6 E G
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
) X" v& y& b. c"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
3 R$ d+ w/ f8 L# ^ u/ Tcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.2 D2 @& Y: v H0 a) [6 S& ^
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
0 s/ c3 L/ y5 V) q( d, ~acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and1 H" t9 A4 Z4 `
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor! X7 N6 B; T7 W, F$ r0 ?/ V
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.) ]8 Q5 {0 t, k, m) Y+ ?
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal- S$ c. R/ a! Z+ P" F/ m- |# e
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp; Y X0 d& }) a7 c
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be; a8 X$ i; e) D3 W- y# `
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could" ]& a/ R1 K& U1 q% @
not stop her runaway Lexus.0 V5 `( S0 x4 b! s
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
: i0 p; { w* P3 u& ^; A+ jTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
5 H7 C7 J3 A: R% D: K0 z9 j"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
; _4 r5 c. @! T/ j- w n* CTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
8 B1 v( W, @4 iearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
# ^. s2 c2 `7 B6 {( H& |9 U8 V. W! ~"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
8 R1 \' r' Z/ G; C$ H' _% b3 Qdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway( D0 j) y9 B9 a* p/ G1 e3 _( G2 h
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
8 v, A' @5 B0 L @* L0 K6 Dinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."+ U- x) z) a. f" s# p8 T0 }
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
1 s2 L" f# o) w9 [# v6 C' X4 {electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of3 s1 B* b( Q. w& B$ d7 `
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a+ q" ]" J1 y: t0 g, }7 Z
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he' ^* ]' @4 L# x! Y/ K- h
said.$ Z9 _& K6 b1 C: e
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
: Y' N/ m' j4 Phappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe1 K x2 F( d) C! h. L/ d7 m
about driving our products," Lentz said.
4 a/ \5 R- `( t7 l; h4 G8 HThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
1 n2 l9 A. D8 Y+ v5 J, i! Mproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has) C. u/ m4 C% M
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
1 p1 j9 ]" v9 c0 qmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of/ ~4 C; N1 P3 s' y- g
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
* h/ v: b. X2 Z% r( P0 kissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
3 A2 r) ?7 ~0 P m. a) Iconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of% ~. ~( k2 m# J. h' L9 n/ R8 [/ r9 Y
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow" y/ `. f: \7 z/ q* a. g+ m
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has7 F( j( v8 g7 O( V* m
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
. n# L7 z$ F) S; i6 Y5 a- u7 aof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
. G& P8 ?; h# R' n) XLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own/ O0 ]( ?, L, [) I
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he n7 m2 N. D; Z, M. z# y
understood the pain.
) j, V' X6 |7 o. Q7 R"I know what those families go through," he said.$ I3 Y f9 l1 I3 _
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
8 V. S; s7 I( Ffixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
I- S2 x1 s, v' P6 n) P9 tBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
# S5 Y* L' }# i& d; r. ZHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put4 v; ?) s; [7 B% a5 ^+ J
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
1 k* j6 b8 x; `Lentz replied: "Not totally."
8 S- h4 _$ f) S( `4 cStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
* f. W6 O7 E) B9 _5 r"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said* N9 U9 p6 r g m' D) I
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
! ]- a1 p; ~) y: Tpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
9 C# _& Y, ~4 s# \; Y5 qvehicles already on the road.8 ~$ R1 F3 H* O& a
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify' M8 ^; r& S7 b/ T* |2 G
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
# J1 ^4 K& T6 {/ t+ Jresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
' P$ q0 F: E* a) x! B/ voffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were& n/ V' ?- L; N0 h( L5 b5 D: ^
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
8 K( {( x" @" R F. Z"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
' f, |2 ?) c! ~* V( Ztragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony! d3 f V) B% u7 `9 ~; E
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight1 s# k* }" P1 p6 Y+ Y+ \" c% j% i
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal2 r; z3 E, j1 b: V) B1 M5 e6 z
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
$ h& N" J: K( q& z' {restore the trust of our customers."% a2 I/ y8 p* C) M
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
' E+ F ?& G/ T6 F& C) t/ l3 ?Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly9 ~+ K. b4 s% p& O8 T3 {4 @- }
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
4 X* K+ q+ X' X2 gshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and+ N1 j) ?" X* N0 Q) b
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough# P8 T" p) N0 E2 M% S9 U7 B
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and4 w* v8 p [% h7 e4 z; L9 C5 g4 A/ o
turn off the engine.
8 ~$ J" N+ v$ `1 P% R1 V+ |3 b* m9 [Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of7 `4 M5 r2 T) x8 c
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
8 W, ]7 p0 H7 g"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
% B4 h& U8 m, R$ vsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
+ T& D% @+ _$ e1 pto her complaints.2 @4 B+ d; J( {/ F- {! _
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers, \6 v6 z- f% U* q4 Z
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic; W6 _& c5 t5 N) V% k U9 t; {
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
7 h& I- i$ B' n2 i! i: p. j"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
4 I! V8 v+ @* U9 U- t+ hthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
2 r5 b/ i5 ?1 X, L"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
# D; s0 K: P7 }5 ~) [7 i2 \off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
& p: |8 j0 ^- G) @; B+ W& ]Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in, o3 w' |: R+ }+ B* l1 f
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
+ i3 B/ U7 V; `) W/ M& p$ I; mbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
@: P* h! N1 r9 h) dwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer1 h* D* C: h' v5 i/ a4 p, E
every question."
/ i0 H* F* v: c5 m- H, p KToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether- {0 s, U1 T ]5 e, h% q
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
( X: u/ N: r9 f8 G+ g# Cfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But; f3 f2 k8 {4 H' a* `7 [! t# \
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
0 S/ E/ ]1 z& n$ D: unumber of vehicles
! f; p" I: i2 T7 \4 E8 O8 C+ ^. JTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
/ m0 Y" P: B6 d+ B$ sdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
9 I) F3 I6 ~- s1 dmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one& [" x- [: M3 W! Q
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
. r5 _' ]4 o4 X2 K" L5 s) K: XMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
6 ~ K7 @2 M+ O& X$ owhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
# `; r6 N3 @# n% _3 `: mtrace at all.
. D3 f* X: t" `2 l+ y2 QHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call+ t4 Q V+ {+ ^5 G7 [ e. Z: f
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
3 b. v l& {$ q* A7 Iacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
/ a, i6 a7 a+ Z, N! m6 z) Srecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
$ o9 i; O3 M0 X$ h, V, d6 R1 U1 Z. ORep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
/ X& D8 E& J; d$ E# zsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and. O0 r' ~7 _! a
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the0 h3 Y% T9 F% a+ u, Y6 H8 l
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible. }' U( n' w2 d5 X( f' I
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
( C& R, c! {: m6 c0 g1 \9 [such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
' i( {0 B7 x. A5 @$ _9 ]by Toyota's lawyers."
% Q& p/ F- b/ ULentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
* W0 d+ @' h( @' K% B" S$ [5 gproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
) N- X4 }: P5 b. {customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he7 j0 p [+ u. s7 W' V4 c
said.6 P- z8 ~" }' j
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with0 ~5 i/ Z+ \1 i# P4 }3 Y4 \
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our) p# F( ~9 t. a/ k' H$ m; ]
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating' B) r; T6 q- b/ c. c! B3 b
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
0 Q6 }8 X' n9 `Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
/ }) y$ o0 Q- ~# A; i" W8 n) n" K* Y Z7 emembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread6 o! O! N" ?! y. Q4 l$ \
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
) C# V0 ]1 z: S- }automaker, at least in part because of the government's5 x( |: J3 b. p$ T
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
: M4 H, H: Z+ z; E) I7 v% \1 _( W. _' ?Chrysler.
' _9 U/ N: l1 @7 d- X, J; Y"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax3 j* y+ {# t# P& e
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a3 l) ?: @# R" l8 |% P
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also% P* Q. W. ]5 N5 E1 l9 d
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
$ |. m5 n& N5 B! i$ I: m! Nwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty1 s6 ?9 d) T2 L' ^
tough."
( p5 J7 }$ b6 V+ _& g! e6 M* ^0 B---1 D# _/ s% O# U7 a. O
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
P4 c N: \4 n! p) zRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to1 z1 [, U' u! k7 u: |
this story.
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