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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" `+ Q* ~2 f! R0 \ G
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS% E7 n5 E1 O# k" M' r# _* Y# m `
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
7 k3 v* e" K; G% k" f9 h8 P( D' Hoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
# p [, B' i: V/ \" M6 zthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"# C7 }, R/ K# I8 n% u1 ^
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.8 L! i: _/ ~! t' S- q; B/ G
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential1 W0 w$ a( A3 f/ g2 I5 a$ b
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
5 ?& c& N3 a/ w# ?# D1 k7 V$ o$ YHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
0 P* a$ q% ]& J8 h3 D6 P" E6 Nacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and, d2 e7 N$ a# H6 Q7 J* [% ]
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
% V! T! ^/ \) N/ |" U3 B+ jmats and sticking accelerator pedals.; s. M! F& M, \; W* r
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal5 Y2 r$ Y1 f o# O& @! g" m, T
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
+ c, E6 I4 h$ v4 Hcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be3 F$ u+ l% k: h+ J" \; ~& s4 y( W
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
" }' F- ~) K% R+ `not stop her runaway Lexus.
( t& F, o5 z* w/ D"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,/ {- j- [2 g4 D0 r% P a
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second1 V/ B4 w! h" N! k; Y8 P$ ~7 o
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
. p7 a8 R* h% S) P* M% U eTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues# g2 A9 \9 k$ z& ~. l
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said% H) @! t) n% a( t
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
( F) h# ?5 U/ I edone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
/ |( S' L/ _, w( t9 B# {+ Tthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's5 W; Z$ b/ ^: F3 r7 D" S
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
& u x+ D/ f6 yLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an5 d" `+ h& ?1 j4 [
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
. @6 W" M3 j9 p" nthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a, _) `- v; Y1 X, q' o# }- \/ _; `
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he- F% b% I, i& b: o K! Z4 O# f9 o$ @
said.8 |0 Z! [2 C+ n( u6 D
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
4 q0 ]5 S/ L" R3 ahappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe7 D+ J. U1 p# \% `9 w
about driving our products," Lentz said.
4 ?2 }) E, e/ j! T& X$ i) IThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
, g; \ a$ `3 D4 \6 ~problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has! l: U) k: u# ^' V% m
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 63 y% n* R: i$ m/ G+ L
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
: ^5 ?" G' X8 \" S6 W. S2 a6 ]- `" Xunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
' K1 s, J* Q4 \* b2 fissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
( z( q ]1 w( O8 gconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
- k5 I, b( @/ Z( Z% Rtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
) A4 g P- [& `down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
* d/ G2 ?% D2 d% S2 }received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
- e% x! u4 N; d' S9 H+ V9 ]of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
0 D. j" r* A) uLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
$ E6 L* @/ C! |; z8 xbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
# ~; X2 y3 g' \understood the pain.2 v5 E% E Y- Y
"I know what those families go through," he said.: x1 f/ d0 Z( {; ]
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's: o# M# e) S7 b0 ]: Y' x
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.* K& h( _% D8 n
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman4 H, @9 t" e6 a) Y
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put+ |; N0 s7 |1 e( P
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,8 B- `* b1 W) A; r) p3 [
Lentz replied: "Not totally."7 A8 x) ^8 Z; j, Y4 C6 {
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were9 m9 Z! m5 I x+ H( t E
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
, A7 M5 ?0 w, VToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
: n; W7 j+ e' a! j l/ G: @$ Z6 Ipedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its+ @* x5 E& c& j9 k7 a7 E, B$ _
vehicles already on the road.' {( t5 A4 @6 _( u
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
$ _$ \4 j( \ H7 ebefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full! V! G) D' a& ~+ k/ \$ {
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and/ i2 }% ]: E) `& n
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were" g/ S: v: A. `- ^ x2 ^
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
8 v s7 w) B$ v% ?/ m5 E0 o! f4 @"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
7 ]8 B4 A8 q) ?( A' ]; S* J: h4 ytragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony3 G+ ]+ b& N7 _% r3 ]$ k4 e
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight5 A( k8 R3 T) I* H
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal* B8 m" z8 ^2 ]/ X
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
) R1 j# C4 c8 Lrestore the trust of our customers."
+ B1 {+ j3 r) ~8 o( F% D& E8 _! p3 }Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from/ @: H) T* ]3 z4 l' s
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly4 a7 {: L$ S: Z A! S" T; Z
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --( \+ A) ~# |4 H* P
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and R8 k, ~, M6 c: Y2 A+ Y
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
8 ~/ o0 n7 f! \7 R0 R8 `1 dthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
9 W! c! |. l H- rturn off the engine.# c/ Y, O" N# F3 f
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
" f8 Z) j$ y* QOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
- b4 m/ a4 B# h' a% n" Q, K, t"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she' n. Y9 I* j/ b/ [! G8 _
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond. N6 }* L$ ]4 ^ k8 x d4 o
to her complaints.
$ a$ c5 {0 M+ o: T& o& dIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers$ b5 Z# c5 d w) N$ v' h5 W$ r$ _9 b
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
# r U' o' p* {! K1 Z' N1 Zmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.' V( s" B3 u5 E* e$ h2 v4 V
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
4 u( B5 Y; N3 S3 V3 B- t: y; [throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
, _. m0 ~5 W" @" J8 i, W9 M' d"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut7 H7 L6 q+ p( t8 @2 @
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
& T2 V1 B, k* Q0 }5 q( u6 M# kTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in& T, `( u- Q0 B2 d
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were) F+ \3 `- O* ~
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
" S/ E; G% V2 {: ]were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer# W _* f6 u/ N/ Q
every question."
# c D! g) h2 B4 J8 u8 _Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether# b" V+ w0 M. }" z) y5 p
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
/ n; r' g: S# {" \% G5 L5 z# l6 Bfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But& r/ j: Z* Z. ~! ?/ s% N5 k Z3 m
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small4 n/ E! |( C1 u5 N
number of vehicles$ l, x9 ]# ]% k& e
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
& S$ X/ _" }7 Ldifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
/ S8 {9 d6 d# z( d8 p* e) imechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
. ~8 y, m/ h' D8 p2 b7 a# H. Wsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.8 ^; K& }$ q9 g& T& `' i8 W5 `
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
! H+ w U3 p- f1 |$ fwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
4 J$ D# @$ ~. _) Y- {trace at all.6 J% a7 x. P- h6 M1 P8 f% {0 C# u
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
0 x" }* u; Z7 s% _& Vdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden0 z4 s" n7 z& L( i/ ` n
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
( b! p" k$ O: ]/ xrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.# }& ~3 M# O7 Z' Z1 r9 F3 H5 n9 D
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,2 O# U/ q5 X+ K+ Z1 X% e, R+ F
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and3 F0 D4 ]" b0 W& _" O. c2 H
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
. C; L% G! O0 U) V+ C/ b( }! J Telectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible* Y" {8 A8 S# J' y, S
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
Z4 q6 }, e( f& ?0 E, Ksuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained& Q w. ^2 m7 |! P H. P# c
by Toyota's lawyers."
! ^" A/ L" _! \& Z. u# DLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of5 Z0 O; V4 r5 _: m( \& O
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our2 v5 e5 ]/ A8 W
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he8 z( K9 q2 o) j+ U5 ?/ k( a
said.
9 h5 R: g R Z"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with% i7 d* W( K L1 O* F3 z
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
P4 A8 D8 _! L" ?& H$ qgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
* p6 _9 o# z+ e' N5 w- E) wofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
% X$ K! a- N5 [Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying* ?5 Q8 m5 I" ?& ~; s1 A: g
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
& F6 z" j4 j' Lrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
4 W: J6 T6 a+ N8 _automaker, at least in part because of the government's
& K9 _2 {4 Y& r2 Z9 Q0 W& W$ qinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
& C4 H0 q% N& yChrysler.; e, u) K4 {( t+ Q' W: Q& L
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
! R4 ]5 j4 {! }3 i- m$ M( Ydollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
! j3 K5 E* n' o/ Q5 D6 kHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
: u; J5 q5 ~9 p; h K& K- |served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
9 F8 C0 l8 N6 d- H$ {with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty; L7 |/ w: m/ V* ^
tough."
9 a @) G$ _, q+ w B( X---0 B6 k+ t& B6 o! E
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
( j' u+ W1 y0 ARaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
K) o9 k# f1 ], X2 B' l B: l" }this story.! f9 `1 b. `- c. m# C
O2 r2 d' m' x0 R. C5 {
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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