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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
4 D5 Z( W+ x. L7 P# Y3 BBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
9 a" V, p J l$ E3 y- z4 i$ L7 i9 ]7 gWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
$ g* C" r% ^+ @6 [& b% moperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
; j! m- O, y$ v" ethe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"1 X" ]$ o. o# j& n
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
) l& b. |- J( Y"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
5 l, C/ y1 G( L4 D- Ucauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.+ t! t2 I! I) z
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
& `! }: z4 E" J3 M( Yacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and8 d% e7 g/ P& p {8 o% R
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
9 x/ D# J9 I# q, dmats and sticking accelerator pedals.8 {& l' {) |- G+ D/ V, h
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
5 i* f1 n5 I- l# {, b: p$ qand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp6 ^& e9 d5 t, M$ h
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
0 |5 k& o6 ~: u1 lfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
8 z- W% t$ G' g4 ]9 Bnot stop her runaway Lexus.
6 r3 q) s- x, w+ \ I"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
" |0 g9 `+ c* L; K( e% t% STenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second9 o- x4 m* N ^( O
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
1 ^" ~& |4 p* `8 Y8 ATexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues6 e8 K7 b! m! ?$ _3 E9 i& T
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
, D3 y! j9 K \1 ]( g. F/ d5 S3 `) Y; V"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
0 H9 n! O5 D1 Z8 d& }* _+ o3 Ndone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway4 N) L; Q$ R; [
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's3 ^% p ~8 p5 g) C' }( f
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."" h' n* H) }( A& c$ @9 l
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an. }: t$ B2 ^1 d. |, z: m
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
+ f. C, _4 z( A) j6 B7 lthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a5 f4 a5 A& {% ?- Q
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he' ]9 j( a5 ` b& k
said.. |* ~9 k6 f% l2 z2 k" x; W
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what' o# p k, z* @. c6 S% `5 X
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe- `* }3 [6 K7 b# L6 a
about driving our products," Lentz said.. [+ s* I4 ]: m$ x
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's3 L& c6 K ] a+ E' S
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has" f1 x- k: A, c: l
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
6 Z/ h6 u/ q2 v8 m9 ~million in the United States -- since last fall because of
3 X* r4 u2 @4 p gunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking" J) v5 C& d2 v J
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
. q0 d/ m, g# a6 K4 N* g' }* Lconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
. [4 T" F: |6 T% e8 ptheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow6 T, @7 L% g! o! U; f! Y
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
! X5 w7 @% _& v: \8 Z* Vreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration, E1 d, W6 p* ^6 [
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.3 E) Q- _; L/ v7 s; |2 Z8 e
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
- ~) [3 V1 \ [4 V8 Ubrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he `8 G3 }/ v+ u* ]0 M/ z
understood the pain.4 C3 |( b2 ~; Z! q J! {* p
"I know what those families go through," he said.
, g6 U; g& ^8 x2 V4 u+ b6 OLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
) d+ ?4 r0 q& Sfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
! _/ B$ G- f) |5 [But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman$ `6 K* c2 G! F
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put/ b7 { F& G6 f' v
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,4 D- O/ h9 W- U4 y, B( q
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
6 F" D; W5 F9 C/ n' y5 lStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were$ O$ `1 K/ x* h. J2 A
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
& G+ ~0 i8 E3 ^9 s* N$ m3 O% w" z" KToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas% ]: F* T- l2 e3 O" j4 ~
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its# O: w9 x+ f6 f. O
vehicles already on the road.
8 y9 q- B) \# y0 ZMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify `! e/ H+ c' Q
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full6 B% T$ `. e4 \0 w1 Y
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and/ E. Z1 a( E9 v$ o. U6 S
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
/ j2 U! }. Y: b( vkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
' E7 ^9 U8 v; w5 l* V/ P; e; H( P"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a) w. L% {, ^ z9 q& S* ~
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
, V( [3 p- c, K" ^5 ]: @for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight& i6 X: p+ }: O. r4 P# I. I
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
( Y+ F! @& }1 f- _9 u' c `commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to/ m; }+ W7 c0 v# r6 g( k
restore the trust of our customers."' p6 y: D5 I. [) D
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
! X9 _2 ]/ U6 _/ @Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
/ k5 \7 u; P! q L2 o; wzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --) d* U+ t2 `' l) w
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and% | z- W$ _/ e* g3 k4 W
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough" b! ~% I5 G& l- j; `* `
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and& L, X6 v1 o, a9 O! t
turn off the engine. j6 ]* m8 L! `8 f M6 @
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
8 U$ U5 z: G4 N G/ DOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."# s8 \" A2 `% X j% O. m! `
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she! J7 K. N6 @9 J/ }& |3 H" A
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond) w: c/ P1 s7 `% L. i& b
to her complaints.% K, Y7 t5 l0 T. D6 s
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
" I, `' b P# I+ Kreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
0 {0 Z: }" J( ]6 l- n% Pmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
7 b! B: l! }2 @; q5 \"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric) p( W0 v$ v R( g1 I% M" P
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited9 b, _# D* c3 M
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut( |5 Q9 T9 W1 V' ?& v+ d) M- O
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure.") p: q% J3 f+ C% P! _6 J- L
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in8 c! e& n, n8 o1 t4 \- q
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
. t: i2 c; j3 Y' Q6 y# j0 K8 p: \! nbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
( H, A0 M3 L" A( Vwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer& P) d8 r! z: {/ Y; ]8 A; f
every question."
; z* ^7 y {4 I7 h) o6 H CToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether/ j5 g8 \- A) j$ O
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The7 b# p' M2 B& m' }
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
2 J Z- B4 \/ @% b; @committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
* j J# @6 r n* w0 H$ |8 {7 l4 Mnumber of vehicles
" H" V! J! b! e* g* cTracking down an electrical problem can be far more# K! I& x# d. N- |' m7 @
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
& } `' q% ?5 k3 v1 f5 lmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one/ i& o! x( r* f+ Y; b
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
% Q6 J0 W. u6 N Z: jMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,) N! w! N$ {. Q& Z$ E
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no9 \" i2 ]9 [0 M$ u9 y
trace at all.
7 \1 g; g' d# B4 v, _1 j2 E' eHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
3 {' g7 K3 t! P; e7 \( ~) s) Ydatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
& t! M# a7 ^8 t: h* Facceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the( ?& J* U, ]+ O6 @ _, V/ N
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.$ E/ R" u* ?( b
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
Q/ W- q" D$ L8 K* osaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
& g5 T) m: c; y: D, ]6 }- ]other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
. Q9 `3 @1 z9 I4 a, Aelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible& g) x# V9 z. \8 Y; M. e
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only; u+ \- Z- N+ c1 s- P+ l
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
, a" u! a1 I. _, B& @by Toyota's lawyers."2 _2 L4 A% ^" f# u
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
S) \3 X3 ^* L1 Y8 m% ^' cproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our" d2 j' ^8 z* H3 d- P
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he/ s0 W9 {) Y0 t' w
said.: l9 u0 c y2 E5 V* w
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with# O" h9 H4 |& U1 E8 G! G
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our4 o. ?/ }% H$ P P9 E" X
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating3 s( P1 V4 t7 S5 l
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.6 S) |5 G8 C! E2 [+ F
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying: n8 b" @7 p: ]) g5 H
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread" w+ ?5 K4 e5 C4 \
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
9 S: z' l; H. }automaker, at least in part because of the government's
Z# z9 {5 ^7 ?. w5 D5 I. _investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and5 e$ r: H. t9 |" Y" p" M
Chrysler.
! M! H a$ M. Q+ @! V n t"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
( u: K; N u0 U8 Z! |1 I7 m$ g1 Sdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
1 p) U; g' H% j3 _" V+ hHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
, c! ~" r+ e% A3 Z* Rserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete) C2 u( M2 Z4 Q. Y: L G' _8 _
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty8 u; e7 C3 u: u0 B& J f; E
tough."; B) w' n4 E6 O \! L8 G* q6 `
---4 _& h! S! l! _% Z
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom) h2 ?1 r W& J: O8 B' v
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to) {# L! b* Q( a6 O# @9 P, O
this story.
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" f( K2 K3 B8 ^* ?6 k$ ]-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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