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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
# I% q3 {* M* P3 c, t( QBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
) K! {5 i" P4 WWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S. |$ S" V. X6 t. G0 H/ S( o7 D: f
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
8 q0 @: W2 q5 P) h& hthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
! g: X7 x) X+ t, i% q, I3 Usolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.; a* M# v# b- V0 X/ B9 I
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential% R4 f- H# u/ R. c. c, N% t( ^
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
7 f* _8 \# C& b8 B8 ` X) d& IHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
6 Z1 L5 k$ r3 _/ ~! Jacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
* k: h6 F# ~% |& F; C( Q3 T1 _trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor! K* Y# H% J( |8 K! f7 h
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
; D+ Z4 O, J1 {% {He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal5 {' d% t. N( j2 F3 v% W7 N
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
2 w% Z' r- Q: m& Mcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be6 L6 N. A& `) z* k/ ~9 ]
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could( D0 M- [! u. ?4 m
not stop her runaway Lexus.
' a, B/ Y1 ^% D"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,% w5 K1 d% K' h
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
& v, }* H' h) z g7 Y* w5 ?"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
" V6 G, Q* } Z% s$ M8 `Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues3 K/ F% D0 ]. W6 U) e3 k3 h* Y
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
% j2 p: D N- C"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has4 H8 O& Z$ v3 K" l
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
1 s; U' |- `$ \; N0 A2 b5 J# A8 ithrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's$ ^, }+ G% \/ i6 R
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."& a" Y+ I0 T& N9 }: _, Q" M
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an2 L2 b& _, ~1 U9 p" x
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
7 a$ G. S1 L8 w Z% f% C g0 fthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
+ j" m- h: V. V' S Wmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
8 D& \% p* M4 @' v2 V8 Nsaid.2 X! i- D, k3 R+ Z* i# f& v/ K! E4 P
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what2 W& P: b7 e0 z+ j, C3 [( n7 H
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe8 `2 y/ F/ g! L
about driving our products," Lentz said.
, _+ X% G8 w0 N0 m8 |2 D% JThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
6 g% G$ o0 D! y) ?1 Dproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
! j* {6 j; [$ O$ x0 Drecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
1 ~1 K3 ~7 H" g4 Lmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
/ G; `5 @3 T# z& P8 H- \& uunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking0 ^: V4 e1 c; a+ q2 [- O
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering) y5 K9 T, K5 P$ f
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of* q9 P& |" Y2 \ l
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow7 J* f, |/ l+ l# Q! @: A" A
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
: k1 |, T% J9 f5 W; rreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
: a; c; z- y. I$ F( X) jof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
' |: H4 S* T0 Q/ u/ hLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own& m/ O0 r O% [8 U6 ] I
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he" b1 ?* Q7 b+ U; _8 G9 S8 p
understood the pain.
1 k# H E) d7 b. Z5 }6 @2 v& i+ T"I know what those families go through," he said.
& A2 ~$ T% V( D; p8 |- m2 LLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's* [+ I X7 ]+ L) a* ?4 W3 V
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.) L5 G/ o: T4 X
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
, `4 S8 M( L9 UHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put8 p0 w" @1 K2 f" e
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,; R# x* i$ z% C; W+ C! o; J
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
6 x- e; n( ]6 O" K5 R9 m1 w. I% sStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were/ ^) h; f8 t( n' S2 A |& Q# x) `
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said* G) {) x$ D9 `5 K7 p
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
' Z$ I) g5 j+ m2 {( ~7 Kpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
* ]+ A6 S+ i9 m6 m( @vehicles already on the road.: B0 A; j# u( N. K' t0 ^9 @
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify3 E+ k6 S# |/ g; H/ x0 t
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
9 g/ D2 `1 p& @, a7 f0 e9 Zresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and$ [( R2 Y C# X! A, E! l
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were7 R& z- t1 l, `! ^& z
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
; Z4 S" v H9 W7 U" H' ^9 v"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a: s: T! I4 o" Y! l8 E& ~7 F
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
2 \' s4 j) U w; Ufor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight) {* t6 k7 e: t
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal9 J0 J' G/ z; x( @3 \. v
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
) f( k4 p( w1 G# }7 krestore the trust of our customers."2 C' s7 Q. j) {3 d5 q
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from4 s: ?3 M% w( O1 s3 L1 l8 B1 J
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly( z* I; w7 ~' M3 S
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --( S1 K/ r8 \4 o. u) `. {
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
) D$ h2 v g8 m7 D6 L" {; ^hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough2 Z) }7 o$ G* S: i+ _
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
$ t6 s' B+ v7 z3 c2 `1 A; e1 cturn off the engine.( H/ |- O, g' M3 D8 k) D
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of; H2 Z" z0 X* F0 t9 n6 z$ F
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."1 [' t9 p0 D$ P" H
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she; Y: l% M' o$ g; K
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
X/ s1 |. M" z! X( J4 N( Xto her complaints. Y. r( D' l+ C( o' [1 X
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers7 G7 J4 N8 j0 A _. ]7 h
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
# S! }) G W q! {malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.9 c/ d c2 b7 J5 N; R
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
' d$ B9 x7 |1 f- r: t* athrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited0 c0 V( c' E! e$ z) _3 _+ ^( y
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
# t; w3 J. l" H3 R- roff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."1 I) y: b) [: d9 b6 U# p6 T+ r3 r- B
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in% Y! q: ?6 J! G& Y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
+ ^( K: _5 R' @being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
. r t- f0 x4 y" n& lwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer/ \/ o1 `1 I% e: Q' d, v
every question."
0 R8 A. i4 d+ ]! L6 h! IToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether! l' n- ]& \0 L( a2 s% n
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
4 m3 l2 F" ^5 C" ?, Wfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
. R+ H& L! O$ X# g" Icommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
3 ]* R+ w+ H/ Gnumber of vehicles
* r' Y# E9 H$ u2 E: ETracking down an electrical problem can be far more
& ]' p- {; x" H5 `difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a" x5 K7 D$ `9 J, |- {2 _2 r7 Q
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
. |3 N+ L5 Q6 Fsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
! u$ m% C. ^/ r) eMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,' I3 s: r. p8 r9 q) j, b* F. B& w
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
" V; j+ w2 f: z3 ?! ?trace at all.# h- c7 [+ t% B, J8 J V' w8 h
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
a4 d- Z }& F. E- c; hdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden! X' e9 y$ Q/ l# D! v+ O1 U+ D9 I
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
# D7 e8 ]. x0 w9 P5 Qrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
A+ K4 p6 O+ V! FRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,3 m1 U6 M# \8 U
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and9 O) s+ T4 p, y: a! F" ^
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the/ c( r L( W- I. a
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible1 q% M% ?7 `5 y( `3 K8 Z& W
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only* }1 b% ^ b, G. z/ s: {. N9 g
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
2 c0 { h4 z4 s' q Xby Toyota's lawyers.") m* A" u/ {" h1 J
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
- ?$ [+ E6 T( C# u0 yproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our0 P8 w( N, _4 x& a0 H, k6 n* [ S$ _
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
, Z! p8 D' |5 Wsaid.
( G3 o0 s$ @& Z! L# Z"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with! N3 D: v e) i6 \6 I' P
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
! l' Z0 \ V6 O9 l2 Kgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
9 Y: ~; i0 V0 t% M) Uofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
0 G/ G* S) f! f8 ]$ pSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying1 |! }- C! B6 R
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
. V, O& U" i" Mrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
3 F5 e# I2 I5 {: X$ j; ?2 M. Fautomaker, at least in part because of the government's k# d, ^# s" y+ h/ r, S
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
. D, u/ h. |: j$ WChrysler.1 m& q% Z6 g: B. W1 [/ c
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax! P0 z" Y1 q1 t/ A X
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a1 b C" \+ x/ E9 J# m, y0 z
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
. B9 ~' r$ u( j9 G4 Z, O6 d5 iserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete7 Q1 V! a6 e* _ x2 o0 d
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
9 P e$ W0 f$ |0 \8 K5 \/ j/ g M7 {tough."; F1 `# ?! [$ x1 d7 F
---; ^9 f( y6 i6 J* ?0 A( ?
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
% `/ |9 O P- y' u+ ~Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to, p6 b& C( W/ {& F* H2 _/ v
this story.
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