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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
* B0 e/ P' x/ o# E1 V+ KBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS0 U$ Y C4 n [- O& G+ D8 T2 i
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
" E, F& A0 x- r# ?5 U( J voperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
/ }: G& C F1 U4 ` u' _the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
( I W* F$ ~1 w4 p( e, P9 Asolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
; D# V1 |* H! ^ o2 m& g"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
' Y4 v2 T7 f+ h [8 Y: j/ y; Ecauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.: z0 Q: \' k7 F! m
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected' V* N* b: p4 n4 g$ Q+ O2 |. _
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
5 o8 [; W% |2 i% M8 D. U4 Rtrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor- F# e& M! W: p1 h5 \. U. O Z; g
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
g3 Y6 E/ Y1 q0 |+ \, RHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal8 t2 i2 L4 q( P4 a Y G5 i, z
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp0 x7 \ g# Z& W( S
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
' l$ w" z' f- s# tfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could3 }; c; b0 w3 b" R
not stop her runaway Lexus.% x$ f8 E. @/ m& V- t
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
# G. u% ?/ H& F% i" j/ s7 k* pTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
: z) S% b+ _! Q8 Z7 q- v x"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
, c3 W5 V, T8 J& p, \! m% fTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues! D! k# R# i' l8 S5 B8 ~1 O8 S* u
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said$ d! |# O. K$ Q( V9 z- H4 e
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has+ ?7 ^5 S% e( }, ]# T
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
* K$ l9 |! e; K9 s6 Z* v# O* jthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's$ X5 F- |- H% ^% U
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."% v+ f Q4 n' w% ~3 D' d
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
# U; C1 G* I. @$ |2 i, Nelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of( f7 \' L d0 `9 B& l- {
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a* `8 r( j6 n. q J7 `6 H H4 x
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he. W i6 J4 i' u# I9 }: ?
said.
6 M7 o5 O$ W3 O8 L) B/ ~% dAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
3 o& t C4 `$ g% @happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
9 ~3 ], ^/ z" P' @& u8 Kabout driving our products," Lentz said.
3 Q( R% {" i+ A2 W- F' iThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's" G: Q) i4 n7 e, Q4 z! w
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
% c% C8 U: z5 r9 Mrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6" }2 s+ x3 l& f- J8 b
million in the United States -- since last fall because of( e5 J: V" o( s% U5 C6 w
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
/ B( x/ q6 l- K- ]" H* X* Qissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
( v2 k' T; w( q( Sconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
6 }2 q4 h* H. w+ D8 s( _9 \% _" p2 Ytheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
) j/ Q& z9 ~$ p% k2 @down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has0 ^" P5 C% ~$ m/ z9 L
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
9 o' h' I( M/ f# @. Sof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
1 w, A3 M# t8 b* OLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
- y" p$ G$ W L6 |3 i* ?# v2 |brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he& M4 W' k* s6 _" J# i6 o
understood the pain.! C/ f/ r' H; \. u& p9 Y
"I know what those families go through," he said.
% I* ?$ Q9 t3 K- ~5 |$ fLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
0 n3 ^- t0 ^" |; ^. Y4 Kfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.3 H* V2 m) J# r8 m( r- R
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
: O0 O0 T9 F- W5 f* g: bHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
2 B( `2 J+ j% Ain place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,5 o# c8 k" _7 \: ~ f) U& D* Z0 ~
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
1 W8 R& C. G: x) {6 R& h. p5 OStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were0 ]/ ` z$ ~1 C4 V
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
4 G9 O* L" X b" A: j1 GToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas; k, u( H- Y w+ m4 E$ N
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
) N1 P: G' w9 m' t8 Tvehicles already on the road.9 Z: S* M5 f) [ N- c
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify1 L! G- r# k+ @ R" c: x
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full% y3 o, M8 n9 r; A
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
; Z, q1 K8 f7 f, G9 |0 moffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were$ e. L4 l; D1 W9 {/ |( I
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
/ N a3 y& g8 \# h: ?"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
' P% f" g1 X1 {- g$ f6 Atragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony% j- ^2 v" N1 F) V
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
9 M6 E. O0 j( {- B8 yCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
" {$ Q* G- p: hcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to* g7 g6 `7 @# Y0 x6 i
restore the trust of our customers."
% e0 d2 {' f0 |$ F( Z, x' A! A* [Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
9 w6 M: P3 O) Z6 w& j5 F* Q: ?9 ASmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly, o- L5 T+ |, ]3 u* h
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
: x, i8 k- I2 [4 Sshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
# V$ Z5 E- s. R6 ~hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
* |( W! Q: [ F& o+ [that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and" M4 L# x; \( P7 c0 M2 G
turn off the engine.
/ ?; ]& k: q0 w& H mFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of3 K. i$ t8 o( z$ |
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."2 D5 ~2 h" ~. f5 Z+ o, b
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she/ R. q' b9 I9 L
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
# b/ E0 L; }$ F& L- Z& U3 f( fto her complaints.
* |& J' W; o- h) P2 _1 aIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers7 S( N( I4 N; C& {' D2 z, X$ R
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
9 b8 d! A$ Y5 R# p* l, F# amalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.! e: }! Y" M' |: M1 S; s) K+ L
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
( m' X) {6 t% Mthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
- f3 D+ ], J* g0 o# C7 |0 o"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
; B- Q( E2 S$ j- \off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure.") S* w; P0 f* Y
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in/ Y; F) b/ w" }% ]* y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were/ D! i/ z% G+ I( M: u5 R8 H
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls2 `3 j* _, R, n" C A1 b) r
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
% Z# A; h$ R& Mevery question."8 p0 W! |. z. w: c1 ]5 X
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether% u+ H. {; r' {
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
. d& s9 Z1 ?: S" {firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
7 [6 b# t4 ^' P$ |" ? o% ucommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
( B- x/ ^+ S( C- D: nnumber of vehicles
; ]% f# F) A! p( STracking down an electrical problem can be far more) S" X8 @! f6 k: F5 D2 ^* C% [
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a/ d& x" O4 B6 g( r
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
) f3 P, ^: T4 L' c) V& U) Wsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.9 [) _6 c3 A! v! C8 W( M" R7 ^
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
( H0 n+ Q% |2 h4 p" Awhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
% ~$ `) p# X1 |7 Y/ _7 Xtrace at all.
3 X% R. e! q8 X% ]House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call+ Q: z% \) L: F M* m B! q
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
$ b: o2 O f0 M1 [acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
" x& U& h4 D: Y5 N1 i" R4 Grecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.0 Z/ O; h" K, {* `
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,2 l0 `# A; x& C. _
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
/ y) v; w. H) k2 h0 y) u( j( d) j* j. nother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the" a$ w2 `) Y2 S& |3 f0 \2 F1 d2 z& I
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
" \, ^/ d7 T0 }% H0 Tcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only$ M) G- v" k: M0 c7 M
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
1 o* q( n- v4 ^ h4 F9 G/ j- R; Gby Toyota's lawyers.". _* G. ^6 k$ H4 L6 C
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
% P+ d/ m9 U& @6 h* P2 {problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
7 H9 S' k" \# T% wcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
8 Z9 E8 V! I H/ ^6 |+ o/ O4 Ysaid.
, K$ O2 v t5 g+ A6 _4 a7 K"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
# k- Q4 d J+ Ba rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
" z' ^% m2 E) K3 ygood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
6 L0 F8 @* H( {: E9 v4 L( R: yofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.% L$ l2 H6 v) U- A2 R! Q( e: s
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
8 S+ @; h: f) W' lmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
. f$ A4 z$ u9 j/ g1 X5 S+ O3 lrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the6 R& |2 J1 V: Y6 J
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
0 J2 A! T4 |, A& k4 @investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and6 k( S' Q' R( z9 `
Chrysler.
; B8 g: J$ |- H, d$ n; s; |"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
; p- p2 }3 U1 f, Cdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a0 H# G+ j9 D& h" M8 N. F
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also; N6 _1 L, b9 ?* Y2 J7 V
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete$ e3 F8 N& d. w# r* |
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
4 |5 }5 |' O9 V$ y- `' u9 ptough."' S0 U" U% K( V$ z
---, i/ P, ^0 @+ z/ z" I7 L
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
8 d& I, @% U6 [) K' ]+ ERaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
+ R$ g% W6 f- L. n1 Xthis story.' v# a; N' F% ~8 ^+ \# Z
; w" [% B& l, w( S7 u) b5 v5 Y6 V$ w1 L
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