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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2 T* ^" Y/ \& r" p, `# S6 V8 r
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS8 Z0 u# m8 ]+ w& p+ U1 t( q
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
! W7 S/ P5 v' [- B+ h2 Yoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that) l+ o& g+ K: L4 d
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"2 S* e! z, C& |1 Y
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.7 F. H# {+ w; C' U% a/ V7 \
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential- s7 q) e% S- r& b
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel./ \) C, @' X. C4 ?
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
3 T# l5 o& t: ]# I6 oacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
# m& Y6 ]' i; l2 v( rtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
+ j- X; W5 \0 ^) Imats and sticking accelerator pedals.
: Q7 q1 J# W/ @) JHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
' d9 U7 [6 X$ cand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp" Q1 v! i: ^; f% \, s5 }' m# _
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
. A& U% S- ?8 F* b) Qfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could& H* I$ j1 I: h9 {) G
not stop her runaway Lexus.. r/ D0 I6 ~7 G! u: u
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
/ M) H5 l% D! u: E+ y& dTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
7 x2 b# l5 G7 E. S$ v0 ~"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
0 H! Q4 |6 | r+ VTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues- r" D* }/ q5 s5 W
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
% K3 q7 T5 c1 w! h"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has$ o2 S9 r x9 }
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway* d$ i; P" C4 ?! Y+ t' S
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
! F! k* f: |" K% E+ c" {investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
) W0 K3 m/ k& e9 ~' ` cLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an3 L6 v. h2 j5 E6 q" k
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of3 m$ G1 s& }6 H5 T2 X3 K/ }6 U
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a3 i4 z" J3 I& B* w: C
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he5 H. ^6 _: @+ e, l
said. b* }' @/ Z8 b) C
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
4 L% w5 U$ Q) `happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
0 \8 i- E5 T+ S8 B( W6 o5 ]about driving our products," Lentz said.- v2 J+ o7 j+ H9 C
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
; B% ?! s \# s& Y( S1 o/ N9 G* s" Cproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has3 X$ V1 E* V% J- W! H/ f
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
+ c, M' V7 g8 r+ O: smillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
- y1 r/ \; R9 j4 h1 `" T8 c& _9 I vunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
- a8 H1 F) j+ ^8 @4 pissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
# C2 R* W1 R6 j5 F* D; Gconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
; G' B+ v+ [* x Wtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
5 k! @3 X, P0 E% h h$ @down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
) z2 }) H4 A/ Hreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration: ^! z1 w1 l: v
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
# Y" d- U: z+ h9 e, m* r7 @+ tLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
" X9 \+ l% n6 \, m& g7 |9 g) |brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he- S6 F5 g9 G' L0 G( a: n
understood the pain.
( h& T/ i8 C! j3 f7 {, E6 h"I know what those families go through," he said.
% D! N* D4 s. m! W: C& r3 l- B/ xLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's3 f" E+ S9 h. D% t/ D
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
8 w' \$ c+ ?7 k2 [: \8 QBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman. C( M+ m# M7 h9 c( ~" V5 [
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put9 u7 {& Q7 H, ~0 C
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
0 {' I" ^$ ^+ OLentz replied: "Not totally."' f, c f* g4 E' g4 a" b
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
/ V3 y6 O1 M) c$ ]"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
) v( A {, d3 J' A& `' TToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
1 x* P' [5 _: ?& C' h' j7 d epedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its! [: p9 n9 I2 G- E% f
vehicles already on the road." I! ?8 g' _ ? Z! | }( [. D4 E
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify3 t; P% T) f& \2 A# [8 E
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
/ m4 N8 w( h6 a7 G i( fresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and& J$ _; B2 e" Q' v
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were: e" b4 b7 A/ X; Z0 S
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
' `" e) `( F" w$ H"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
* n' o& T( w% W8 F) vtragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony" ~/ Z* k0 Q: c i4 H4 q, i
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
2 ]8 \, @4 P; f: h) m) w- u& @Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
* u* u8 |# f) J" [* E& jcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to6 M$ v6 U( B9 A, e m( j1 D- v
restore the trust of our customers."! ` L# U6 A( o2 G' f) _) Z' u1 a
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
1 l4 t1 N. W2 n, X/ hSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly; `, h+ j, B. n
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
; l+ q, G$ l/ M, V( ashifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and5 y5 ^4 ]' h0 d7 q- c
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough! J4 |) ~* N2 a2 ?6 f5 V; f
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and/ ^: O2 R. \2 O/ a1 w7 \. B! d s
turn off the engine.
/ i3 t4 h/ |8 A, N( @7 y1 TFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
! f( D( C3 E, BOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
& W/ N2 z) z: W) K1 n"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
) x' @( M+ \/ Z' G! Asaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
! ]9 S6 n$ N+ l9 c& {5 ito her complaints.
% f' w+ i4 O) F' UIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers; S2 Y% R+ E4 Q9 e# s6 e% \: i; d
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic, H* X% W1 O, ~6 y" ^ p
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.' ~1 R* V8 l" ]0 l. V0 a% m
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
- V1 U1 q; x: M$ e2 ]throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
" h9 c8 R( u# {"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
f1 `( i3 t. z) L0 m# T# N$ [off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."" I" D1 R6 [: l5 q# ?4 `
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
9 O/ B- j0 a2 o/ F, Yprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
4 s- U2 e, `- p( H9 q8 @being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls1 V# M9 x t7 E* R
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
) X( Y7 U% h' Pevery question."
# k7 P4 b" P! P) S6 N! u4 uToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
* ?1 _2 d) K, e/ ?# @$ B# f2 @electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
0 o+ g8 Y% |- O, _) [: Ufirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
0 w5 @& v& B$ T4 w! zcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
* z- p# `, A. N0 z4 @$ R! K. B, Gnumber of vehicles3 J% O5 R6 M4 C! P8 X3 ]
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
+ a5 @, v* Y/ g; G4 g, S8 vdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a I) E+ r7 v) h/ d3 W: z, e' n
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
$ b6 n7 V* K! P4 b$ p% qsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car. Q: L; @) j+ O: a
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,' `$ {4 B9 h: {! s; M8 r+ t
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
- c& ?' i0 R# \trace at all.7 b. }- |& r& B) I9 o) G( ^
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call. X* R' E! N5 p2 X0 L
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
" y( Z* ]7 }( j* ^acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
) Y$ M( a" ~; [recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
0 O0 Q+ o" [- H3 H8 v8 _+ I" ^Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,' Z. d3 W$ o0 J0 U6 d2 D
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and! a- m; \7 C; @, n: a
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
; U. P! c$ S+ L( x# e+ Q4 `8 t+ Kelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
% h9 {, X( G Q2 R5 p Icause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only+ r4 q/ A) G4 m9 l/ J+ Q
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
2 w' @1 A0 a" d' u! Pby Toyota's lawyers."
( f) h* C8 O% V0 LLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
1 H+ a. ^' x2 Bproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
: l% a% u/ c( Acustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
5 H6 x3 \* r2 _said.( M7 X. d" l3 z1 `! ?6 C
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
5 Y3 I7 Z' M& P7 X! ia rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
. U8 Q# O! K) [0 B: u' {/ f6 W. \# pgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating7 I4 L* D- n: S7 T
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.+ i b5 p" M) |
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying& N0 m$ e5 |- Q$ ]0 {- K3 Z
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread) Y! b- h$ M z9 s4 \% Q# O4 Z1 y( n, h
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the2 p; x5 J1 I5 k
automaker, at least in part because of the government's" n% z3 E/ k! P) z) E
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and7 U* s) H7 S' N
Chrysler.1 N: b9 b% A( ^2 B) a9 _6 h9 y' X- ?+ J
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax6 a- T% ~8 U+ A4 U2 K7 l* D
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a y+ W) j/ |$ ~% @! Y
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also5 a5 b' d$ t" n/ `7 w: o6 F
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete- e; j8 m/ f3 o7 K
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
/ H* u9 B% Q- ztough."9 I9 H6 u! g$ g% w& c
---
6 _ `$ c- W$ @8 g' R' `' E. a! C- FAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom0 o8 c4 D2 u9 Y: b7 _% @
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
6 F) h+ N2 S/ _this story.' w8 l: `9 K4 A" k2 w$ M
, D$ P, ^3 S' H
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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