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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
. L& J2 C5 J* \4 v( v/ ^6 G( ?* LBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS2 w7 x3 t h+ o
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
1 K4 h! K" u+ t* V foperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
; N& n8 x! c/ fthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"6 K5 R6 `$ ?1 o+ ]- z/ S
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.8 [5 f. i4 o2 n1 N5 s# x9 S: |
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential) r3 _0 t" i$ B0 s: `% q
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
! B! \1 ^. z# w9 v* T5 }) P3 {However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
. f; U) J+ P3 e9 A4 [' _acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and% ~0 j2 k' [# B' b: D/ `1 ?& w* \
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor% k# _) ?" a( t5 w- n
mats and sticking accelerator pedals. x4 I+ f, m3 ]2 r7 o0 ~/ ~+ B
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal, Z3 f/ J8 W; b( F& `) \
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
: C4 `. ^( C/ G( d* U( U/ xcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
; u9 }' U- H# ]- h, ^further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could( R. J2 l5 ~- q; S8 Z$ t
not stop her runaway Lexus.6 _: D6 W4 |- k7 K
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,( n5 J3 r$ l8 G7 o [" d# d: s% I r
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second+ G) Q& A; h) \$ H5 a: l# ~* v
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
$ ~: e3 [+ h K$ t: h7 z5 oTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues- x/ ?- T/ h1 r
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
6 O+ B; m* Y, O) K9 j2 W& c"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has' l6 ]5 p. c& P7 I/ N4 b& T& O
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
} u! \( g$ W2 l1 Mthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's1 V- J: D% N3 s; v/ m& c3 O" d- d
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."+ P6 G d" c' b" C3 Y; y) x- S; Y+ S
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
% J2 q( ~( h' |9 V* q/ ~# G. q9 helectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of+ G* s7 {3 F. \* _( B( @ I
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
& p6 z, _) q$ I* Y3 bmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
9 x O8 z8 F2 b8 A. v9 m0 ^said.
8 V, D2 l) r8 lAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
. |, l6 m( x7 g& ohappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe+ ~- P* s. W* ^& ?/ e7 Q! `: o
about driving our products," Lentz said.
1 Z6 T7 c: e. J, @. qThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
" W) h! I3 `: q$ t( |problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has+ Y7 V& G, |6 |& J" A
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
2 N. I. V. }8 V& f T' @- c8 ^million in the United States -- since last fall because of
/ x' `+ t5 ?/ W2 r3 D c+ l6 junintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
6 {. [9 Q5 H L/ s& B3 cissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering; B! E5 ^" U$ V1 c
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
5 e5 }1 ]8 B' {4 }their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
2 s' {1 k$ J* }' R/ V' J, f; _! Sdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has& Z) \6 Q& Y8 q( x x
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
4 B+ ?+ a: o5 w7 l# B) T5 v# x; zof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
. ]6 Y7 ^5 I0 uLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
- _; W0 D3 _8 e4 R; }1 {brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he- k. @/ M" q4 L) M. }1 }% k
understood the pain.2 V/ @3 C% @$ A
"I know what those families go through," he said.1 \. T3 D) C" y0 u X
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's- @1 ]) G2 M8 ~2 v& w6 v7 J
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
2 V. }. t+ F7 H! r- _8 ^$ FBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
5 }; F: h, t8 u1 ?- N" RHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put+ B7 t1 B0 U4 f1 L( ]! ^4 Y4 \
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
4 X+ y5 y& F7 LLentz replied: "Not totally."& y3 u$ }% d6 M2 S9 s
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
; }) T9 h& k- B+ y' }"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
/ z! x2 s; Z ZToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
: i* M9 I1 A) `# l/ D* v7 Ppedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
5 c5 m; x d; W$ Pvehicles already on the road.
5 |3 q, a6 k# P1 x! UMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
0 Y# i+ @8 \$ d; @; ~; Ubefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
$ A# s) S% v \) }$ t; u- q' oresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and/ M% X" _ {" T: `$ p' x: x
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
- i$ G/ D; u$ N& M5 p" U+ E) K5 hkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
2 w3 N2 h5 t5 X"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
+ X' K( a" O# t4 ^6 U! a+ y; Ctragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
3 M0 y& |2 }! P6 {for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight5 F% d7 H: ~! K+ C
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal- n' ~8 h1 ?3 m, Q0 |; y6 B1 T
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to" e2 n9 N' H* |4 S9 }% L( B
restore the trust of our customers."
! W7 Q/ p( h+ S9 z- E6 a5 dLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from7 C# U- p! P9 a) c
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly9 ~# v8 G1 N' i) w
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --& \7 ]- \# z& f; O6 @. J$ n
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
( a; V/ B/ i5 R. ^1 z. thitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough! p) E9 @7 N4 ~# E2 o
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
5 |3 J+ {8 H' x0 [$ Hturn off the engine.
5 D" G3 ]* Z. \! a; mFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of; x8 a0 K; d' t" ^6 R) x% |4 g
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."1 r: p- U) U& A
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she4 t* t- k/ [5 f- s$ B0 w; G8 g; s
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
0 j! T O l" Q) o" Y0 e* L0 Qto her complaints.
( C- d1 `3 C7 SIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
8 d5 U- a0 z! h/ _0 mreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
- `6 L1 z; @& r2 k& d3 [malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.) B+ v2 V, W1 j' Y Q
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric$ Z: a) j; Q" B0 T2 T* j# V
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited# r7 A, g5 g4 Z9 N
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut4 G6 U6 d9 J1 P
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."; c/ r, k, v0 ?) k" ]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
+ L. E4 {( E1 R. v0 u Eprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were. S2 o. F! S% q2 i' S( V
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls- s, R# r" L% N. `
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer4 b% |' W4 B* |% C
every question."
( B; n+ `) q( }+ O$ XToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether+ |- z/ P1 r. O% ]+ W0 F% w
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
+ ~) d7 ]( @( v6 W8 S" l5 wfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But# ~* ^# U3 K7 @/ V$ Y
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
2 @; M/ c) z& I( E8 R9 Pnumber of vehicles
+ f( M) {& J1 z5 p. O) [Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
+ u P% q; _0 r$ k2 Y$ X% M# D! {difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
, j' ~+ L3 h, X' f2 Amechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
+ i) }! q9 Y( `+ Isource, and they can come from inside or outside the car., j- v% Q5 S1 g9 J7 W* Z! y. |% E
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
) {. N2 w: I5 ~; n7 V* |# Mwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
* a3 f& Y! z" M* f' S: vtrace at all.; ^0 R- p- g' e9 O; `
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
4 Q3 L" v7 I. P1 U* y+ Kdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden9 O, T) W. o9 X! q; }9 I
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
" a9 U0 `; y# ]2 l' q3 o" Urecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
" x6 `9 I$ L& H% o/ s0 _Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
! }$ e% J" N9 N' Q. Xsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and2 ? S4 ~3 C, \; B3 g/ s7 A0 N; G
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the4 a/ O9 D3 Q+ E
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
1 l* K, F; y- v% ?! g1 X- |cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
+ ^' d( Y: { e [such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained# g% B+ G. J; O3 U- ^! k8 g
by Toyota's lawyers."
* N6 J4 j+ i6 g9 ELentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of( {6 k) J9 ]# u
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
5 z6 d8 X4 X( G W4 X% }" w0 lcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
M8 C- D1 ^" m3 Y# Osaid.1 g$ s% ]' U: Y
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
2 U4 i a. H0 a7 I, Ea rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our7 B) ]# V% }) X1 J4 k
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
, y% v, E6 \. m7 `officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
( X! C5 V. t; T2 t+ |8 ESeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying7 r/ P- c8 Y: }
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
) ^9 j& y- D* mrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
% W& T. d4 `" o: C5 Q' a# oautomaker, at least in part because of the government's, r' h; F0 n( c8 z' o* E! n; g
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and9 S- o0 O- [# Z4 }9 T# n
Chrysler.& M3 y7 Y9 {# S! i2 o) g
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax1 `9 B" o# `) T
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
0 L P. k+ N' e3 P, r$ EHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
0 `7 j0 o- `' W; F7 nserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete: h1 g- g1 e+ d# M2 {) f
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
9 D" K4 [( R2 [; x r( ?4 k0 Ptough."8 s" O/ W4 V1 D; E% Y. R
---
2 d( R; U0 Z5 C& V; e+ P% zAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
. W. F, b7 {/ E7 |: g3 o- t& H8 fRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to9 M% S( [8 f i' J. ~, p5 @0 \
this story.
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