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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题& p3 `) ?- s* O( s* V% ^
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
# D# g* l. }$ G2 v6 K% U' VWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
# i K9 Y/ K: p. m! X# Aoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that; z k/ h3 { Y6 r4 h
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
0 T" l7 x; a: isolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
' f$ a5 T$ Z# f b. ^! {"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
0 c4 t ^$ f% l- ~/ h1 tcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
' w: q' ^2 v& U. JHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
$ i' i9 u) A. U' E+ Zacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
! Y2 I7 s# ]0 f4 v ]trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
0 {0 W, o f, k# zmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
% {# {* O* |" uHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal3 Z4 g ^! W* X4 n6 r
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp- C( N! D6 B1 ^
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
. v" V; v# f# ^. M* ]1 g- Ifurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
1 p- T, p) [- I7 ]0 f1 Lnot stop her runaway Lexus.' |" Q- F9 L1 T$ S5 h; r
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,2 q. u( A. ^! S$ A0 H; ]8 o
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
$ A2 r% ?, o( [) C& C"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
3 m- X; A: _4 }1 ETexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
* z: C* y. [& ^- J$ i& Iearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
! ?; ]$ M8 {$ h4 O& e1 s6 Z, D"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has6 |3 d- U6 l+ d. @& I+ a
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
& a* A3 R4 Q! ]8 fthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's6 H7 o0 L: c) D9 ^- }
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."4 w7 }* X' J' o; H# _" @/ Y
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
' S' x; C9 X0 @9 @/ f ?electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
1 q2 A: l7 O, c+ i$ b7 {6 fthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a6 p# O% t, m% F. @ K
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
+ V1 `+ u1 P* f+ u( L7 V! g3 v: asaid.5 b& w1 W+ I6 Y" |$ J0 ?
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what" {1 q- ^) F! Q: S- i8 z
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe. w0 A6 L9 Y% W6 e2 q: Z* J
about driving our products," Lentz said.
" u5 q, t* N' I2 b& i$ fThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
( r* c; T4 M, a0 c& c2 M; u, _problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
+ S+ l5 U) k$ Drecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
0 Y, A' z4 X' @, F. Y* F4 a1 t% m. Fmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of6 Z, @% |3 v3 g5 Z
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
; q- {; S* }( A% l0 A1 Oissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
7 y7 t# z( g- v3 H1 ]; T$ F" Uconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
$ t" M' X$ K5 w2 b0 G. ]/ Vtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow; i4 C# {" u( I. C
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has3 f" L7 Z8 Z' v- R" x
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration$ f6 G/ ^, h& q7 s5 i" G, r
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
6 A Q" g% M9 G1 Y9 @Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own" a: G( M( J1 ]! T
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he( [# v# u% U5 G- m
understood the pain.3 F4 s0 W" Z H% \: V$ I$ U
"I know what those families go through," he said.
: [, @1 r, K- a9 v( q) HLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
4 T7 W3 s; l+ X9 d3 `. W# Q) ?: t' B Lfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
1 ]( v6 A, e5 S7 ]3 [But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
7 @9 Z8 g) g, r* o# I: zHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put2 O2 Z: y1 R- Y- w6 B# @
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
* o' a( [" j; ` V6 bLentz replied: "Not totally."7 j6 ?! o4 _% |* Z+ E
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were9 Q+ U+ n2 C# [/ `' [% C$ g
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
' _9 q) ~. `$ q6 T& P( ~Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
& v$ h7 e) {, o0 m4 R7 [. Spedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
2 \1 ^+ z9 h! X. Jvehicles already on the road.
5 i0 _( }8 v: ?- x+ v f7 j. `# rMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
5 K- Y& ? q% G8 D$ Rbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full4 d# b+ l7 y' u' }1 @5 z; h6 d
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and1 e V7 y9 J/ L5 Y3 q- f) }2 k
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were3 B& n" m! h! V+ _
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.+ B/ R' H1 U8 @& v- u( W6 n: r! e- m
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a. X/ o* n0 v/ d0 ^& e5 F+ s
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
. \2 W2 X" J& K& J# Afor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight6 O/ D8 [4 j! p. X' p+ F; B
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal/ K2 c: C" Y: |5 f0 m
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to# [% i: N+ s! G+ l& I" a
restore the trust of our customers."
9 ^4 j3 }8 r2 gLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from% q8 Z2 \+ ]) `6 |8 t
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
& Y) d' ]; M; j% a+ l& j% xzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --, F+ ~8 h O" Q) v' E$ x
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and9 O6 m9 M2 h, ` O" f' M, e
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough# }9 d7 a- M/ W# q% K0 N) W5 L/ A# K
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and+ t l3 v; ~0 C/ l: L( P' _
turn off the engine. k3 @, g* i: s8 Z! @$ N2 t, [
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
0 W4 O, L, b) h9 OOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."8 @9 s# f! f% r9 y; @ U" D
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
1 S7 z. L) c1 ?" V6 V: r5 }1 B" Nsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
$ q' i* [; I+ \/ Mto her complaints., H T! S' Z' I, e7 b' ^: ~
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
& ]: o; K, T4 y* Z8 hreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic$ o& \$ ?" m) ]" r$ n
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
4 M1 R* d; }) q4 S# E" ^4 t"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric4 l5 }4 a: E* W- C- W
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited' ?0 ^* G: I( ~& S7 n8 |
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut7 A& t! w/ h8 F s) K6 `
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."0 A. I7 d" I* t3 E) ]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
5 T3 J: Z) p" J3 K4 a3 rprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were( ]* D8 i0 a& s" `4 j7 i* h4 z' T; E
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls5 |7 M& {3 P) ^
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
2 q6 @# O X) t, U( | fevery question."! m! f) z$ u8 O2 f9 x: ]
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether% I+ }- Z8 z# @/ d4 t4 H
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
0 u3 s' M9 e' W8 s1 l) nfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
2 s: e9 p0 y; j e- T0 hcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small, Y6 O; P" v: N+ G8 y* j' Y, X
number of vehicles/ G5 ?2 E9 G5 |
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
6 W- \9 I. e; P: n2 d5 U* udifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
/ B# G" M2 p* L9 a4 U1 Y0 L( mmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
7 R( B4 K$ r Q) _, ~1 Wsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.; m) ?8 t7 R8 |" _& t2 s/ T1 v& h: K$ Q
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,1 e# n, G" P a# v7 G; A* _1 m! h
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
7 [9 Q0 u2 Q# u! @trace at all." L* r% P; a4 R% m) f8 y
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call3 b8 r( ^ n s/ v' b% E8 e# G
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden4 _0 W4 Y$ Q2 w7 r+ ~
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
* ~! |/ H9 | M [: v: E) B4 D7 }' @3 qrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
7 y# n) e. U0 h$ o: cRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,6 E8 ]' z) q5 [# u8 o
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and# q/ I) N# H: N U1 b
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
# j9 Z1 |0 y' t7 ?electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible b7 b6 e( n% d7 n7 S
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only* w0 d9 G0 W+ G) e/ b% [ y. B
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
; u6 y9 T! k' h0 q9 B9 rby Toyota's lawyers."
( e: D) X' n+ {' [# \4 B( wLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of7 a |* _% W1 ?9 m2 T0 W9 Y
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our! Y A8 J( B+ g; e3 `0 ^
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he+ b, U1 m5 `$ e( ], S
said.9 ~' T% y( N4 b6 C2 w/ _
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
' h4 G+ a, d. r/ |, ^ B! ]a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our- f/ _# A6 m7 X4 I
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating4 y: _& i5 q' z K4 g
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.9 O/ J0 `6 E4 l1 T, W7 I' K4 p
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying. W9 D) Q- p2 L* J+ [* ^
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
7 F& _7 g; i c3 P" y. Drancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
* g8 Q+ |+ i; E' l1 I4 W! Zautomaker, at least in part because of the government's$ M, _! z. C$ N
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
% l" x5 X/ J8 o! C9 j, BChrysler.
" A% v- W' F. c+ B# \7 m C"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
* T# p& L! M$ w: E, Ndollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a6 D3 F; f8 Q% r) V; |+ l& Q* v2 x
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also3 \: q- }" _( `
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
' q7 F" @9 B! @) N4 c: G0 z# gwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
) w8 o/ e% e8 U4 f( m! I4 Stough."
! Z; c7 Q0 h9 T3 N! g$ }) C---
5 W' v4 s* ~/ y9 jAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
7 } {, F9 D5 i0 E0 r. `Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
; \$ j. c U( Hthis story.
. q9 B t! x8 j ?* k+ F6 ~( v' l' ]; O4 ^2 r, @1 ]9 p! x& l
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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