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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题& A0 b& q1 A! T4 ~
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
7 Z5 A5 T, b$ AWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.& E+ l# [4 H: x! f5 e h" Y
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
- Z$ ~. f9 B# { w4 L/ z! [8 {0 ]the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"- o' N- l# z. d
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
5 L E7 U3 r c' m7 I"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
# u( A1 O3 P0 E$ I5 W9 `+ {causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
) u" Z9 g+ M2 ~0 XHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
: l2 a _. B/ w/ K6 Hacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
* d' t7 n f' n/ D% ~trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
3 `) z: j, s3 _2 _7 t- pmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
/ E$ K! i% `3 S, {# K y! xHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
6 V+ o% F6 f1 R3 S% ]0 H& l& f/ Z5 hand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
( _# q4 `' E: [ T/ Jcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
* g# y0 t1 X# S% }- {. Y6 ofurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
& A: C, ?2 v# p0 enot stop her runaway Lexus.; W9 ~2 h$ i3 R1 `. t5 c
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
' t7 A1 F% O' ]+ X( Z5 f2 LTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second6 Q9 A, |) y; [5 K3 S$ o- m
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.7 @2 f, O" K9 u/ ]) w2 l
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues- g4 G- v# J5 ]' W" p* p
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said' n; F: m% S3 |4 `! x5 Z
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has7 o+ M3 B9 N2 a7 Z# W$ Z
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway: K9 a5 i6 g7 _1 o- V$ r" f Z
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
# V( ]/ H8 J% }+ L7 ]3 Jinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
8 |2 V) v7 \- I. R! C& F6 i& [Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
0 ?9 g. D- T9 celectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of' t* O, a6 J5 u4 Y8 t1 v
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
; g' L' o/ {% |malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
1 v1 Q7 _; u1 @2 E8 Lsaid.
- z7 h$ M' m! X, b$ V8 O: j9 PAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what' u d+ S! P( z5 e/ S* [) d/ X
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe( h* A. A" u1 p% M6 i# r" I
about driving our products," Lentz said.$ f; ]% g" c' @6 A# F4 L
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
2 m8 n- U! |$ f) k" @& l" `3 Gproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
0 r, }* g5 P- n3 irecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
* y I3 A0 F5 W/ |million in the United States -- since last fall because of
7 S! u- m/ D9 z% C; `; Sunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking- z* `, l5 P* Q% C2 Z; X9 W6 D
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering: Y; D3 A4 C8 w$ X7 l) D8 W5 R
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of' A. Q' a; `0 Q1 e: }
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
9 B; \( c" Y8 `: r+ T {down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has0 W( D9 l+ m4 G( D
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration0 p5 M/ ~; o1 X6 o4 ?$ M
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
$ g' O$ H( }, t8 R4 E2 |. hLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own- c7 O V" N8 s5 {9 c
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he- l7 G: h& n; j! s. \/ D
understood the pain.0 D6 L) Z% c! K9 ]
"I know what those families go through," he said.. e2 A( g: {9 `( H6 J3 B0 L, }
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's8 l7 n( R4 `7 d* ?! i; g1 o( h
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
2 y% i% A! X. a6 O2 ]8 D) oBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
+ L; i9 ~1 c8 S1 W; l9 EHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put7 } S" J& W0 }- c+ N0 n
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
0 k9 }& ~# H1 u* pLentz replied: "Not totally."4 g8 ~% M+ u1 O a7 {
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
T q- N3 r) m; V"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said; x) m7 Y4 Z d
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas7 i/ u! X& Y, \$ t; C7 w7 M; {
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its* J( y4 M' [. z8 [. E; m
vehicles already on the road., G ^/ s* S; B4 y8 }( |4 r5 s$ g6 T
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify" C: \/ H8 s6 F0 Q
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full* ]! j7 x/ C; j5 l" L* d- }; d- u
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
$ f: P5 y% m$ d" ^3 L+ Ooffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were) n( b0 F; _7 P) i
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems. | u& t. P0 g
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
8 j5 k( T4 n- Y+ @- ] G' E8 [tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony6 u9 E, P* q. O+ T) k! R3 t8 n
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight& `$ Y+ v+ V7 E3 V( l- D) k4 y
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal _" D" C8 ~* f% e* D! Q* P) q
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to9 l' c) l1 A6 o b2 n+ d* u
restore the trust of our customers.", u% o4 ^3 _, c ?0 i5 v4 k
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
: q6 ]. D1 t6 H4 Y5 T- ZSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly3 w& o& w" C9 f
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --# r, j4 B4 t; B1 G d; R1 E$ P
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and F) `: g" m; W) @
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough1 A# X+ \0 Y0 q* v
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
% N/ t6 x, `+ j' Eturn off the engine.+ g& E8 T' d! o) M, N* t
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
6 b' Q5 H5 |; I4 D+ Z* `October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
; K$ c/ {8 f' E# z9 o"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she. z+ P% o9 g4 p2 I. A) N: Z
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
" j2 T N( n5 b* R2 l! i; Lto her complaints.3 I2 f" }/ [3 w, K$ [& y
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers0 i- |/ L. F: u$ }+ ]% R1 Y
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
% o, g2 n! H5 U0 s" u/ x0 Nmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars." j( Z+ q4 g4 o6 J
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
/ [5 l I k4 i% T$ H8 c' fthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
- W5 n/ h; T8 @, o3 n' }6 X"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
& i7 G& t' w$ f. i( xoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
6 I ~' D0 h" u. L7 _Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in" B% d! L+ @& m+ Q" m
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were" Z: G' \$ b$ Q+ Z9 I& z; T, Y8 D
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
/ L+ p4 r* ?) r' j7 N- N3 Wwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
( Y. j( k$ o7 gevery question."
1 _& A1 o5 c3 }& I3 }9 {" j- F: K4 z/ l' ~Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
* j4 o' _/ U3 D Jelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
7 M9 W( ^( B$ `9 vfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
- Z) g! J5 x" T$ ~committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
& Y. Q. G# V( s7 T8 o) `number of vehicles/ c8 c7 e( P% |2 m1 i
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more5 o9 K% H& N4 \5 ~& f0 S8 P
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
9 L; t0 p* A9 D: a" Nmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
, Q' @; {, {) c8 Esource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
/ T c9 k$ W# R; rMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
9 k/ ?, A" x% }# p2 b/ gwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
' p7 G/ |9 O2 a* D" t. Z. q% atrace at all.
0 N! [8 C. _% N1 U$ h) LHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call/ A8 \7 q& l h" D* p: k4 ?
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
3 l; u0 V% c& J a: W8 z/ u# e" e9 U7 z( {acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the& d6 L" [2 A% R
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.9 [. {, P. t2 I" {# N; P
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
! R4 i3 X+ u. V$ J8 fsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and# e- ?- r( t1 f* I
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the( s. K1 g7 D3 W W: T2 o- t
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible7 k. i# n! Z2 e# v# ^
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only" E2 S) N( P y5 K& t2 T9 s
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained- Y& K9 l: y ~9 o
by Toyota's lawyers."
# |+ k k4 {9 p* z* T. u. ?Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
3 [, ^. o! }. G7 x9 h, iproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
* e. A& w0 L- ]* D- N# ncustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
; E6 |8 u4 x5 c; O2 I8 l* }! I. u+ Fsaid.5 g2 z5 W9 z! P2 D- @' \% j) N1 \
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
' R% `9 G4 F3 }8 ]a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
3 Z. W2 F+ }: R- Q& ngood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
) ^: l+ \& {1 iofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
- C0 ?+ w( E7 s- G5 vSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying6 [+ P: o# m% m- F6 C& a
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
2 @: N8 }. l( C% X6 U9 X0 i- t" Jrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the' k& {0 L) y! }
automaker, at least in part because of the government's; z; M3 d! g* o/ f7 s3 _) E
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and+ D n! R- Q! b/ c
Chrysler." l. N$ ^& _5 Y) k
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
' R4 L" w$ p8 p. `* ~dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a& \7 r- R" @+ q3 a5 d* f
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also I7 I# U6 u6 ^ k* y" L# U
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete; M$ Y/ {- j7 z+ n1 E1 e: W: e
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
* a0 S4 }' \/ Vtough."5 x6 L0 O3 Q. E7 R+ v3 ]+ z
---
' u4 ?" T r% d, gAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
8 k1 [, I9 ]' F1 m! NRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to; [4 \6 F, i+ V7 u
this story.( c) W, I% A/ u6 L' A
* x: [, B+ `# W- i& y
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