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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
, d7 C( C, d; [+ |7 b: WBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
' _, ?7 v* ? q7 W* T$ T5 y) wWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.3 H7 O6 l# ?, L+ S) W
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
) w4 R F. U! y/ Q" X0 Nthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"0 ^9 C4 E$ y: f7 z$ ~1 y3 `
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
2 p, ^2 c; A( L9 Q/ _"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential6 }/ R8 T ^1 h
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel." p& U) ~- |$ E7 R
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
# h; j. w( g1 q+ p3 v2 N8 p8 Lacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
0 c6 S' K0 N+ v" i& J6 Ntrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
. s1 \ C$ ?- s) r, s4 ^& j' h4 q1 a" pmats and sticking accelerator pedals./ b% W3 K) [( E$ N/ M: S8 s
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
- N' x" L. g0 S( ?& B3 s6 U* }! band fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
! j- R! G6 c4 x4 a9 a, Ocriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
- k8 {, \- K |further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
9 z! Y. p4 W$ i: _9 ]3 ~- qnot stop her runaway Lexus., u, G. S) K0 v. J7 J) E
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,1 _. u. p0 t$ Y: T" _1 r: z5 G
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second+ a8 |5 z' J: D. _% Y% C: ~ K5 E! r! E
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
8 `: B y u5 m+ r" G+ RTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues2 i- C' o/ U2 |. g2 K
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
, M- I1 A! O' l" V y"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has! [( e N2 t- Y# t2 H
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway$ v2 v' n {% y% t o- Z$ E
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's6 a% g" y6 r+ ]1 e
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
- o2 I& c$ m8 q% I: BLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
& ?. d; I1 j: k# k1 O) _0 T: Jelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
2 m& q6 a1 @) M7 H$ _$ Z6 V) Q! zthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a" y8 ?7 D @4 d" p4 N! Y# s* C
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he* D% b: Z- C( l& g
said.% _' ~: S4 } V( D7 d8 N
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
) C$ O$ i" ^' m% f5 ~happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
6 N9 \, W: k, f# Oabout driving our products," Lentz said. E; V+ D1 D0 _- ?- m; q9 l
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
6 K0 S; H1 R8 U5 f8 Dproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has$ _2 v' \% B! c) A g- O
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
% L( S1 }$ ^6 X( dmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of. q: C* g I7 R* @+ b
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking) P5 ^) b b: [/ l4 {6 P
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
, n+ ]$ E1 j+ y2 J4 Y" N$ k4 rconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
) p- }3 i+ T- l& k) C K* ntheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
" c0 x5 Z* z3 |( _1 A4 bdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
8 O4 Y2 k1 I T% @5 a7 e" O& Oreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
- }' d. U' P2 [( N9 f' _of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
) U J1 V* T( Z4 MLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own1 r3 k. x5 S5 a
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he% _" n4 q" w5 l
understood the pain.3 s0 w* r x+ x8 m% p9 h! a" \/ {
"I know what those families go through," he said.
5 R" d D: Q3 [; d3 KLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's; d1 [6 ^/ R6 i3 G3 l: U
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
; F; f9 e2 A4 u5 K% T. J; BBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman% F, I- |: T: }- B; c
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
6 A0 r- T' E" V O/ vin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
. i" l7 |4 N# M% e' g+ I' \Lentz replied: "Not totally."3 w7 l) L! @% n4 H0 z
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
- w, N$ B; x6 T, o1 X- i. X"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
1 M' m9 {3 c2 I) hToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
/ v% L( C$ s( m4 q, N0 Vpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
* r, E1 u9 P' f" C8 k5 [6 gvehicles already on the road.2 s" A* L8 X \3 S+ J
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
' L- T+ G4 h! q. m9 k- N) abefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
/ s2 h) Z6 t, J6 X2 F cresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and) M4 Q+ o5 ^# V6 g4 q# z! o
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
0 Q* [3 ?' H& M. R: }& ^killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
& m( e, Y6 N5 w5 P"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a' x5 h8 ~% P2 q5 H
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
* v3 L% K' ^" h, K. n& [* yfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight8 w* o ?2 T$ P; M" c
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal ~* J; L6 e% E. S F& ~
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
2 M/ @% U1 b# C! r8 hrestore the trust of our customers."
0 K/ ]# ]: e6 gLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from- e% `' p. a& v1 O
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly5 M3 [% I/ k: I' Z& x" I
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
h( m) _4 k4 u7 [shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
) M! W1 ^4 q) }+ n7 U8 Khitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
8 o/ e1 r# M" r5 @% Kthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
9 v- e) [. q5 u+ W2 O" yturn off the engine.- c4 Y- G, q* \( h3 a
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of/ Q5 e+ D4 t4 u" s4 ?/ E
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."; Y4 f( O4 S+ t- g
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she; Y+ p& i' f9 H! j
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond) _" F$ r; M# K$ r/ P$ L
to her complaints./ Z2 f, X/ [- ~8 _ i- K
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
1 [' o& f+ @' L, Ireturned again and again to the question of whether electronic, \5 o6 @! ]6 H$ o
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
3 W5 ^) B ]+ b) \- e"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
" m1 R2 u! z+ ^0 L# _ R2 \; }throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited8 U" Y* J3 L! P- a! {' l
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
, `; T& X1 E) y0 ?' Koff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."4 y) |% i( f4 e3 ?4 `9 `2 k
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
( q' C2 s! q/ j/ T0 B, }& l$ e+ \prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were2 Z' w+ X2 @" G: o( y0 p
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
2 ~, k: r7 { {& Z1 b5 Jwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer* R" `; u# d Z# |
every question."
4 f( v/ d( k0 D+ W' ^Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
1 k& f) ^- `7 relectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The$ R9 e6 D6 d: g4 S2 v' L
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
" @6 s" O1 D! s* e y; z, Scommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small- p/ x8 J3 a5 ^9 z# _
number of vehicles
$ U+ w0 D+ C8 _0 n2 O) GTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
0 J! n2 C6 o2 y) n; `difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a* q' \ Z, U: y+ ^( @2 `
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one! j1 I& x8 ]7 D4 R2 k! E
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.0 h, x- c1 z+ X
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
$ m" Y% S4 l& Q% M; nwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
: ?# Z# H- f- ^trace at all.# U& _! L, ]- \- x ^/ l
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call" y1 E1 N3 p: h
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
* D A! \5 ~6 y+ jacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
/ Y! f: P6 T( v4 ^5 H; z/ Brecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
4 p" s, a1 V3 X; P% B: eRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
! J8 b) c. [5 |8 ]! T. g( B' xsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
- O r: z9 }0 D, [other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
4 f, a$ F7 h8 lelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible3 y; ^. p( C# M' u% q9 {- q
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only( S0 S1 o2 L( u/ X
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
2 z# _% i& L3 V, nby Toyota's lawyers."
& n; p% ~8 B8 m4 u; F# bLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of% [: F- R; j# h+ |; G
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our7 V# V1 a& N$ P+ K3 K- x1 C
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he- b& i' I% [% D1 l9 j4 |
said.
8 A4 J! N) Q2 H: K# E2 X9 r"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
9 w/ |. K- r; t, ?& j0 Q: K# n: Xa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
* q) e7 B% l0 Vgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating" G7 q9 o+ h( n
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.3 ]0 Z6 E* y- T+ F s
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying) ^/ ~ E1 {2 U4 X! E' W( d2 @
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
( w! a, x. y5 w0 prancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
. Z( \% \$ W% D6 p2 M4 Oautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
+ O% Y& ~. g3 U3 u5 ~, F# V0 D( Dinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and: V4 w" a6 ]3 E( J
Chrysler.
( c7 O4 t- p. O"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
V2 i' M9 [! r* @0 j0 |dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
& w/ K, E$ j$ {1 O V9 ]$ E) dHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
& O: N6 G7 j- \: ]served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete) Y: {0 ~, f3 h) Q
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
( B: ]0 D' I1 | ?7 rtough."
5 a/ g. N( _% \! N---; X' g# A8 M6 D, s- ]& P
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom* v6 f0 T, ]- i6 C1 |# H- S
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
( k) c9 r1 ]0 h/ zthis story.7 K8 O8 k6 r: {' N) b
8 J0 m8 G, x1 R1 A-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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