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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
' a( ?& \, z$ D0 C; J2 {$ }, J5 S0 jBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS4 [! `7 k% f$ M3 e/ w+ e( l! @7 J
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
8 U |7 P( ^5 U$ p, Hoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
2 x4 k& f# ?/ R/ r! w: |the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"2 r$ X) b* x0 i t' k# I' A0 C2 ?
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.( }( n# p. h! X/ u D
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential. n- S1 W8 O( ~, \/ j, l
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
$ E/ V; e8 I; jHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected) a9 W! T& t9 W
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and# P0 {# U8 X9 ]) i5 o
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
T) l. d5 W5 S% ]" A! gmats and sticking accelerator pedals. D" v9 M1 n4 U/ A/ Y
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
3 c0 i$ @' s6 R8 v8 Y4 ]and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp+ G: T/ |4 v+ y+ d# Z
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be& i8 j9 |9 ~& f5 ^4 @
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
( D: w7 t' ?$ i& Wnot stop her runaway Lexus.( D1 b" [9 B) b7 r# W! b
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,0 \( K( K! Y. D; w7 W" v
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
1 Y9 |/ r( G \"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
( V3 D' `1 q+ ?2 ITexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues' m& l( O' y* Q# q
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
, R! V% L& z8 P# ^* q( R$ G"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has" ?* n7 f' r; Y0 _8 B* j8 [1 g% j
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
! a5 X' {! g' `; ~$ gthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's! i' \! F1 R/ f& t6 {# d( c
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."/ s# s9 Z/ c$ _) E2 s" O) t C9 R
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an- r7 |' i; o' n7 A! p
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
8 K9 t# [; d( W+ Y( J' M' s. othe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
- G' a* t' x$ p) D- r9 S( zmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
2 ~: q1 x7 K! X) _$ s/ qsaid.
8 G/ s2 R" N$ N+ m; HAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
1 G0 b8 |1 v) D1 A l* Bhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe( P, x& W- H5 S/ [! P' l
about driving our products," Lentz said.6 u/ o3 }: ^1 e+ a# E
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
7 H7 V& @- \7 a$ h* q9 N0 yproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
3 Q0 H7 H# s# r9 Erecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
) {8 M5 J1 \/ Cmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of* l. ?9 Z( C9 x" b
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking, p3 _/ H- H+ L& w* P+ L
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
- ?4 A1 l& S% P: A7 Qconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
- q+ y1 G! L* s0 A- q# z* N( qtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
6 q, B7 @% ]# h0 X! Odown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
" V+ d+ U2 S- q) i$ b" n2 ?8 yreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
' C6 C; Z/ r1 E6 d* X) w1 G$ `- i$ {( Dof Toyota vehicles since 2000.* ~, V; u+ X0 s) c1 {* C, n& z9 ~! G }" R
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
( n8 J3 f1 `) [& Hbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
! G, a$ w) M/ O7 R7 ]: t, b% Qunderstood the pain.
$ y) U v. z! ~8 k"I know what those families go through," he said.
/ ^- u0 U7 Z! X! l& ]/ B0 ?6 M1 MLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's# h1 U c# g7 _, g) h+ U
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems. h$ C& K. w1 _9 l8 t3 F4 t
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
# ^' ]) H- v- c) x6 r' L/ lHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put; K5 e5 Y) @/ u/ W+ L
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,) ]$ ]" a% \4 p# N7 G+ V# n
Lentz replied: "Not totally.": k: W/ P9 j8 W8 t
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
+ r& R) U9 B8 S( ~0 r6 B"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said/ Z# [0 s9 g: k2 z
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas( ]% |6 l% v7 E
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its. p7 @4 w7 ] N U7 u6 o( x+ p
vehicles already on the road.
" L, s& v0 {* `0 dMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify- g4 b! n p3 Y: Y5 |+ o
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full8 o) N' X$ e1 l4 B# h
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and3 g. s& F9 p' n" u' z
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were8 }" J$ v y0 e4 \
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
1 j) x& M( Q8 s2 \"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a0 i; m# m1 ~- B1 G$ w
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony6 l4 K+ s! Y7 t4 k
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight. E* ^, ^9 q3 q' b; s& y3 Y N1 X
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal- H( X# R. u8 g! `2 J
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to, v: j$ |& ]8 d, I8 Q b
restore the trust of our customers."# t. T f' f& G, m
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
7 h7 d2 Z- F0 l$ Z* C5 TSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
7 i* H7 l# Y D( |zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
- a5 y8 A$ H7 ~( Z& X" l& fshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
; ]/ [3 J+ M$ }/ X4 nhitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
* L/ ^! a$ O1 k, fthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
/ w; [' T* E& Y* v3 Mturn off the engine.
, s7 L. Y9 S7 s- z4 ~3 w. PFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of# Q: v" J% x. w ^5 y$ G2 J
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."! y1 q! ]8 q* N2 |( J& t
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she- l- T6 X* U; ?/ m
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
r) u% ?. ~. A' sto her complaints.
* o2 J) O9 }/ XIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers W& W' C. u( ?" ^
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
6 K; e$ w! O' K. C4 |, L! f8 `! X- V1 qmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.: s1 p! T7 `7 J- O4 t4 v
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric; y+ e8 _: ] m* W
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
/ a3 s I9 ~0 b X"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut% j# C+ d+ V3 \' j* N; U! z% D
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."9 [; j3 l' S8 B2 O0 D. O
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in0 Y8 ?. u+ \' z! H$ {- E$ e( @% h
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
3 i2 y. c5 D! [/ @being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls9 g5 D# d4 B B& q( Y5 T) d
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
) v S+ [, O1 r# h- b7 severy question."7 Y6 l3 u' l: S! d' p C g& b, u
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
- S2 i$ r8 C3 B, }electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The/ s) L3 T! s* O* Q0 b1 z5 a
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
, {- |9 q% G: [% w- F# T2 Zcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
# x6 Y* T$ M; F* U% z: j! d. X5 dnumber of vehicles" q6 g) w+ s( e9 w0 Z9 [
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
' I' `7 e" O: ?9 Idifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
; f' S$ {/ c( Q0 I# M. Q% H3 umechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
! Y- `1 m; O# r- D- ksource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
W; v) k% J4 ^% z% g4 WMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
3 `) G7 v- O+ | t" dwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
4 y/ ?; k; v# p1 T9 etrace at all.
( A( O! L# g/ d: B1 C" kHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
# }7 [+ P% G/ y6 k1 _. n/ [5 Jdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden8 O! d4 ]1 V/ M ]
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the6 \0 l# ^2 [% h. \3 W& E B
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.. P6 V4 F* R' L5 O7 U
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
8 {! Q I: T; e' }said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
; W' U5 Z2 i6 D8 x5 `other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the# T( {% P5 a0 h" g! [
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
" }4 q8 @2 g: g- w+ Hcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
7 o- M, V& H7 W. nsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
" U/ y3 k/ \: _) j- F; [by Toyota's lawyers."* m* x' r, V; a0 t- z$ \
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
# V. ?6 j0 O0 K3 ` fproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
/ y) G; y u) j- C/ }/ D; n1 kcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
% b+ P* w# H9 F/ t& U: m9 @5 ~said.( o6 h% ^" j9 q7 ^; z, b4 B& v4 x
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with* l* c" c: O. k# D' F3 ]) M
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
; E3 M7 G; S* L& t5 B. \good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
- s5 o0 J; K* R* r: e# f2 ~& X7 nofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.; h b) O# e- U9 N, Y& A
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
' ?. n- [% _+ J! _members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread: M) s3 S# f4 e2 S: ^ Q0 n
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the3 ?( U7 f5 P1 g/ i a
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
1 d; o7 a- V, D7 Ginvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
1 p6 t; W K+ Y+ E9 P3 e: s# eChrysler.
+ O) x/ p# @ [0 _2 k6 ?"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax2 | Z3 c. s" w) m2 W
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a! {7 m- D- _6 U7 U3 y
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
3 I* U/ Z6 U2 R" q- w( aserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete6 V' k) D% [) _ g8 e! D
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty/ |$ s) y+ x1 Z( Q7 R3 x, u& ^! W8 L
tough."
0 ^, p8 i( k# y/ O% h- L- r---
+ t* ]' D' Y9 J) Y; PAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom' x; K/ e+ f1 D4 c$ w8 I' s
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to9 M5 J- z, l. E& A, W! c
this story./ \9 V' w. a5 o6 a/ `/ w6 H
4 _# g% ]- v; B/ x
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