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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题3 j2 Y# g7 R0 X m+ |# f: V8 g4 S
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
' O! }0 H( ?) u6 G7 uWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
$ I1 D4 [* p$ \1 r2 ^operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
) |& q1 R' m( \+ l5 sthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
0 S) Z# ] z, f" |solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
* l/ x0 N. v: B7 z- [9 }"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
. S9 A7 @+ j& t+ D" `3 B) Jcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
: o4 v, J; b/ N$ OHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
1 r' B$ t' i7 a pacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
$ x7 z3 G! |6 U, Ttrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor& |3 F# a# M; h9 L
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
, u# S: Z8 Q5 n" p9 uHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
- H& l. F' N4 D. mand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp. o0 _# O& l% E% F
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
# r( J* W. |/ ?- f& Dfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could3 u9 |1 k" C U5 X. a6 {. r7 y! \
not stop her runaway Lexus.
9 p4 q# }$ }& k3 F7 E J" d* s"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,. o% l c0 w, m* w
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second" E \6 o: ?- h; {6 B. c6 I
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.! L4 c( t7 F4 q& @% K$ o j5 ~
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
6 f! q3 M* r& d/ K* Learly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
# Y7 ~- z b2 f+ k. k7 }/ V4 ["We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has/ K$ z9 f/ I4 F4 v! H- p
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
% Z- j9 Y8 F/ C, vthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
- ], Y1 n1 n8 J6 z! @" p* r, Zinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
; w8 n& F# y0 w1 V8 |" ILentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
4 {6 i5 S6 g: ` h& G, felectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of% u8 }% v+ B1 C% A/ `" z, T
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
* Q. D0 T% X3 k9 Z1 \malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
$ \# [" `6 c( [4 @/ X0 ^) Hsaid.
; o+ \. N T8 N: o$ D$ H4 A& sAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what. `" a/ F: y( Y6 n
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe9 l% R P0 l+ c2 `2 P+ i
about driving our products," Lentz said.
7 }: S# P) T/ u1 D/ Z6 iThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
! _& @ u* f4 Hproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
; j, S3 X0 z) A/ e7 K1 h2 C C% v- Crecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6' C2 S1 m8 b8 |3 t6 n- A+ w
million in the United States -- since last fall because of" t& i1 B. }7 d2 b* P/ F' d
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking4 F4 z" X2 l7 {) y& Y5 [7 v: `
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
' n6 ^% f( q3 G' \1 l8 ~concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
: {' Y9 a* @3 A+ ltheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
9 H$ x! I. C2 G4 F! Vdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has) M" c3 E6 |8 N' f$ X
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration% d5 K1 s1 w& A8 @! Q0 d, q1 \
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.$ ~# ^" x( D* l- j* p0 I
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own* }, }/ B# O/ G7 F
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
( Y9 w' ?& ~% ?- v+ p& L, Vunderstood the pain.
' D+ R# P; t3 P( @$ @' u8 e"I know what those families go through," he said.
1 ~" s! S$ u6 L3 aLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
9 Z# s4 s7 \9 v8 q# r3 n- L' Jfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
0 R5 ^* E- w3 ~8 P& v6 r4 ?But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman- ~; Z3 u7 `- s1 y3 \
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put' {! a1 q* b; h: D+ J& y+ H
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,& [, Q+ O2 Y2 A1 h, @2 R% R
Lentz replied: "Not totally.": f" k$ [4 d/ P+ P0 A
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were5 ^& h) P4 I0 w+ X0 d1 U# F
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
' H4 u" U( H3 U3 Z3 c7 MToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas& q8 d# N) T, Q1 W {9 }3 b7 V, T
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
2 J/ @$ K! s5 }) Mvehicles already on the road.& ^; q( h' [. V# e- ~" |3 _
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
* s0 i% K) w$ U' @5 d6 zbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full. |) u. {3 J% x+ }. y
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
$ ^0 H# F+ a2 k! S7 y5 ?offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
- P) X7 m8 P5 S' n _( |- g# ?killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.1 u, T" P/ y( w7 T" ^6 a
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a4 D+ b# m0 P' b: ]& b* u
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony, Z }" a# q2 C3 ?! c( J& }
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight2 I: r1 Q8 p+ {4 R F: N# q/ }, H
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
* t+ U/ w" s n: O6 c: ccommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
7 }1 `! |3 i5 i4 nrestore the trust of our customers."2 h `: E7 W8 [: A
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
/ ~% A5 V. m0 y+ @- Z1 _& FSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly6 @1 q( c2 h" @: S" G* U: A! e. C' N9 v
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --( p3 f( ?, _* N" Y0 ]
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
+ }/ f" {6 I4 S- whitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough& m; P% c" p* V8 r( B5 d
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
$ }2 m! `# `' Y* ? B3 gturn off the engine.. `$ C+ D6 P& E4 L4 y9 ]
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of5 ^* g7 P; F3 A4 I4 d( J$ O
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."3 v$ m: j" g2 z ^, B! v; t/ i
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she) M- j( R V/ C
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
O, y* h1 U! v/ ^. Mto her complaints.+ C% A/ p! r/ p- [+ R& l* D
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
& O8 B1 p$ S& Rreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic0 y, t% [, W9 F) \
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
3 {- [- j5 {: {& c6 [: f"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
+ X1 }7 u q+ Kthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
6 o* S$ r0 k" h) _5 t"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut$ I% h& y9 e1 b* _! f" n* ~) N
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
) O }2 L3 T$ ~6 i/ E' ?! Q/ ]Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in' r4 y( N# [$ |! E3 k* b' q0 g4 k
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
: @" }% O7 `/ Ibeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
+ v4 }" {$ ?, t( B8 @: X$ t E: @were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer1 ?3 m, {! _3 o1 Z" s1 e A( t0 l
every question."
@6 O7 Q8 @/ QToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether/ G- |- u, S/ N% e. b' H
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The, e _0 u3 |' L: C3 C
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
, e$ a- L. j3 C M8 O7 Tcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small& G3 O( G& D5 @2 I
number of vehicles) g8 u1 M! Q3 F; E5 D, R
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
7 t# ?0 p0 u4 G1 B: ~difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a' L+ I! h8 N, `5 x* R( S, i8 I
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
! l' Y0 c2 O2 J' jsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
; I0 T; J/ I% W6 D6 ?- uMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
! N3 i3 @9 A+ bwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
7 F" J* Y ^& R& j; a0 O+ btrace at all.
3 p; M+ h z6 Z4 UHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
: W" P' X$ I5 m* u: {database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden5 b( b [5 {- }! d+ {
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the4 n1 j) S% r7 ~( q, k4 R4 E- a
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
* T$ @: N" T m7 bRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,5 ?# v* W4 h/ d& V$ \# |! w+ O( B& L7 Z
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and6 U" k) V2 K$ c v! Y
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
) [0 W7 B! Z! q' M" |3 K8 Yelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible0 d; u* K+ M3 m% [. z. l0 @
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only F: D/ s& d6 _
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained' Q, Q& c j5 K* ^8 R) J
by Toyota's lawyers."% Q @7 `; q3 Q5 ~& J0 C
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
U# Y7 A( q2 Nproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our( r' h* u* T2 U" @$ _% n I% \
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
9 g% g, N$ b0 E" ?, r5 U$ Q0 bsaid.
0 { p, m$ z) l( l8 D" g$ o/ p"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with7 ~* W3 g4 r# ^# n M
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our; E: R- ]) }1 P4 x/ R
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating' s7 f x, B; S& d" a( o4 y# A
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.+ n) Y* V% L& L5 @* Y& q- j* }
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying4 y% J8 i# ^7 f, q9 a
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
$ X+ z) E: K& _% F6 J. |0 I; E. Vrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the1 C, \ V, l6 t1 {1 r
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
$ v" N+ u$ q" l9 W9 Linvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and* J+ y* X6 \6 N$ h( _
Chrysler.+ e/ G3 [% n3 @& C
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
. n( e9 y7 T/ O' H4 Cdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a5 q8 o5 C& T1 X
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also- F/ U5 u4 i$ b X- m! _; J" p s6 y+ b. w
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete% t; Y0 o/ L; s1 P; z w
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
; E$ D% u+ J f) V( g' M6 ^, z7 {) Atough."" S. T! [ a& ]/ [3 o% H5 o1 `# O' Z
---
2 a c' M2 e4 \- ^Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom) ?/ ~! b3 x6 \2 `5 w! `- K
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to0 X2 B0 i( K( z+ F
this story.
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2 A8 F& t' b' T7 u/ ?-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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