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发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
& F; s) o& b1 [" P+ pBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
- p, X F$ q! E# W0 d% z* \1 ^Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.3 c* @ o' N5 q0 t5 [/ K! h0 D
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
/ e+ t5 V) g3 \7 n* \the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
) O' N" X' z" {0 v- k" wsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.. F' r# T) `8 x) \5 z' O
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
+ @ A9 o* m( Q' L2 wcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.1 A9 M& k9 {9 [* g2 Y0 [2 g
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected0 O }, \ W& L6 R( E$ {
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
$ s s8 h: ^6 J) e. mtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor1 r- y7 v( |( }* F$ S$ @
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
8 |2 s$ l% U: g2 b$ `He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal" |( ?! ^$ T# N* H: V
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
A) s d( |- E5 Y+ j0 U, ]criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be0 |1 x# \, _2 ~. E- b3 j
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
" C! G% S3 Z6 w$ m, k9 k7 r) Znot stop her runaway Lexus.6 f% x- [( C' i% V& p6 C- ~) Z
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
1 w/ p: `, C! j8 _2 yTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
# ^' x4 O: `( v" A @"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
" Q1 u+ [' U" y; z0 @Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
) z/ }) t1 _& _3 M9 n% j/ Q& Searly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said" i$ w6 n8 I6 d
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
$ J' e+ Z; F; B$ S% j3 d% i3 G% Ldone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway$ Q. A" n& l2 S$ N+ U v; i S3 P
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's' s5 i8 V' u: _) `
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham.") z. B$ n* F- Q Y; q
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an+ b1 R1 k2 J3 l0 f/ ^! c4 u
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
+ g: {7 S' H4 @% \9 Ythe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
8 r" I, z6 W7 s w' S gmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he) N( X" G' [( M
said.
* V) U3 O4 T8 T9 o9 vAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what2 O. J) c% H( b& ^7 C* H
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
- n7 ]" ^, P7 s) Y7 F J- oabout driving our products," Lentz said.- z4 ^, P) r8 h3 q, ~9 M
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
u, H C. C" S* Aproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
5 D" \$ r( @: U2 k# irecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6+ I3 a& `! `. Z+ z* x3 Z/ m' R
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
4 t7 r9 u1 a- L3 O3 o g5 d+ yunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
9 _ A/ X3 ] L( O8 b) e7 D, r4 Cissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
9 [0 _7 X+ J4 }9 h, jconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
+ Y1 v; o9 v# J) y3 N8 W: Htheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
) Q; o' {( u- M3 H" Ddown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
4 o- p$ n* i1 x7 V: ~received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
6 l' s. L3 ^2 W- \of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
1 r' B* B7 U% S% _2 O5 I/ C SLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
9 H1 }$ g+ Y% b# S9 Q e6 ~8 [brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
" C9 V/ Q7 ~- E& }) B4 uunderstood the pain.9 b9 q7 f+ M3 p& |
"I know what those families go through," he said.3 A2 _4 \0 e. E4 F" \6 w9 R' e" S
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
7 H- j; Z8 x( o1 O- u, pfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
6 V* u% h2 G6 ~3 ?/ oBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
4 C4 G+ A' D4 q; T8 CHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
+ \2 T3 F5 C1 P( Tin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,& ~7 W5 W$ W8 v' j0 k4 {- k
Lentz replied: "Not totally."" [. P0 b* K0 k. H. j. v& W& E
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were( M4 V1 b5 D$ ?
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
, b- U$ o; M% x( t% Z* XToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
9 A" i1 c% \$ R& |) f* g+ r6 Upedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its: O3 F. y+ F4 J* D- J" l" F! k
vehicles already on the road.2 ]% M9 X5 `/ U6 z5 \$ `
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify8 k9 N/ t9 M% l) @
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full3 J9 K' M. a2 d3 ~* N" ]0 I; \$ s
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and8 ^9 f& F2 A6 C- R9 v! @9 L
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
) g8 K0 i6 [ A, S% nkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
& f p' Z& }4 | W"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
( r* y3 K7 j* M( e4 ?" Ktragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
8 V) x/ Q5 T8 C0 ` p ?for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
9 w! ]3 s6 d; c1 b9 _; { V5 pCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal' J; @2 c( w# L3 W c: F! N; M$ K
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
& j% Z0 c$ q( S% a* x5 z; Arestore the trust of our customers."* E' i8 s$ V/ L8 i5 O
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from4 O: M: H, Q/ S/ `* Z2 S1 o) _
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly; X! @* F/ }) `, t; ?
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --1 F5 [8 G% g/ E) y1 P$ i
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and; d. V" E$ o4 T- U7 J# c
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough; t9 y& ^ j# H* T, f. o
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and `: P; d" Y+ Q& L0 n+ P. `# [) B
turn off the engine.9 Q3 k% ~9 n' `) T: x. l
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
. J+ J, L; V* z$ R' KOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."5 o# o' f# Z: d3 r7 T
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
* {) Z9 G- u1 f- E1 l1 o3 [said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond) s1 U' N+ `' w( H9 g; E2 V
to her complaints.
, `5 y3 K4 p6 Y LIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
7 C; D& A0 F0 ?0 Q. kreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic4 ]$ S; y" k; q
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
2 s6 q5 {! b( h7 |, n) y5 J% R"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric, |% r9 n, H, ]
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited- q- `' s k* N, Q
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
/ D' x; ?$ R+ f# ]+ j, {) Joff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
5 f+ E, M% k9 A6 `9 ^1 WTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in5 X# j% Z8 q- @& y i9 V
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
, y1 N4 ?1 _: |" o3 cbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
9 v# b5 C `! hwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer* U0 Y3 \7 w2 m* c% _+ t8 f
every question."* b7 A. H! [; s/ u0 ?1 a4 G) t) u
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether$ i8 B% b1 @+ n/ R- c
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The5 a" o! O) V/ n
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
/ W3 r$ x8 {, ~; wcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small( r5 c( r6 \) k' d; W
number of vehicles' q& {# M' q8 m
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more! k0 a5 o3 f5 N! I. E3 |
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
( D5 h3 v# g0 X _5 Qmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one j) y5 e4 c: {/ b- |0 |1 d, v
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
" N6 C3 t- m6 [. K5 ]. P; PMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,+ s2 _& K$ z" D3 Y
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
+ M" {* L7 ~/ s+ H, |( C4 l5 vtrace at all.8 h/ e- [4 @" D( Q, G
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
g5 u2 k" L8 Tdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
# k8 g+ ~0 ^& z0 s- \3 a& H# Nacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the+ Z l4 I2 K9 o" h2 Z' p H
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
8 f _$ R4 w' f9 V6 f ARep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
6 y2 C) C' K" T! q! K# xsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
. }: o3 ^+ v; K5 S fother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the. R, x& Q5 Y4 G M7 p
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
* m- G, x/ V$ U8 x5 r2 kcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only- ?2 Q2 @. i2 |& w! a+ H7 G+ w" T
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained& ]$ A4 k2 g \! k
by Toyota's lawyers."* d- c0 ^. [- d: q5 @8 a
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
" P" J0 I( l& j; R* r9 i2 nproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our- g' Y( n* n3 W4 f/ w' Y$ ~
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he) l4 q: R( Q D# k2 k a. [4 j4 k
said.2 ?. A' W" G4 B3 }4 |2 O5 c3 @
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with5 d* f) G6 Y; y3 F0 Q. o
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
3 Y* X% u" {+ @) {& m ~: z3 l& egood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating( i( t; L: T$ y1 A" F
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.* j- D4 x( m- |: y: M& B
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying4 f; i! ~8 j( I
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
8 @. q9 W, f8 U8 T4 C# wrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
{( y' j0 i0 y: T% R4 ?* Uautomaker, at least in part because of the government's& C. v$ ]) }9 Z
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and g% K" J5 s2 g- P6 }2 j+ F: z7 ?" u
Chrysler.
& y8 W9 ^/ l% K- X' g"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax0 Z+ X, y, p/ D& n
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a) [( n6 w' d8 ~1 Z, m0 V% Q" x
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
. p2 k* ^ A& @, sserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete; k4 w4 Y$ @/ Q2 u- Q4 D
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
# X2 R `1 ?; Xtough."
2 z6 [6 d2 _6 }) k! f+ ] m! n---
- I" B; }' A: X. F; F9 e! u }( u# L5 pAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom6 W) o. ]% z% q& U# N
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to- \' K3 L" _8 z* ]+ h
this story.5 ?0 t: G- g4 [) r$ C
# K* T4 t& D) v3 X
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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