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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
* r% e3 I C+ O* `7 w+ GBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS; p. h9 S; i. `* D( ~' y& z9 e' \
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
) M. A) B8 o6 |6 M) f& p; Yoperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that( R M; O% x5 v
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"( z! c: z2 S! e1 `
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
6 b- M. b, M/ M$ T- K"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential, A" B$ _& ^, }: D+ l3 Y8 `# z
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.) W) D/ d3 T% T! A/ M2 H& [
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected7 w" s6 w. W& a( f* [7 c+ e
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and8 F& G* n7 v; }7 i6 _
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
/ |* A, k" d9 D. {3 X( D" tmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
* _& E9 i- k+ C4 n' z* ^He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
8 w1 y, E6 M- q! }2 Nand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp3 N; z: ~+ v. L& M
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be2 y1 M: {, K+ Q( F
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could3 |* ?* V* C5 ~; r0 V2 e6 O
not stop her runaway Lexus.
2 d2 ?5 ?& E3 J"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
, b, \7 T& L: I1 N( y* F1 uTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
2 Y4 I4 J( N+ F5 R1 F y* f"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators./ Y% h* Z w" o# {9 i
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
4 o. [( [" Z! s j Kearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
7 a/ O% E5 S/ O9 X, x- z"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
- x% m" u+ g6 p( m9 tdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway; J$ T: J3 u$ v! [8 \* O: z" ?6 Z
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's3 j" Y/ k9 E! k2 B& @
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."5 b( v; ~7 @# @2 Z$ O) J
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
v; I, y! u( [* ~ l Nelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of5 t* S( h N) O. M
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a: v+ s" z& o* \
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
( E( ^$ y3 v: L. T$ x6 T% Wsaid.
4 ?; \5 `! z e W2 {As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
1 b3 A* W; d) `/ Q: i; B/ e7 fhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
2 f5 B* \3 `$ F- z& e6 Fabout driving our products," Lentz said.
0 o+ d1 r% a' U# v" mThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
( {4 O: |' |0 N3 `" j, A/ o% Zproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
$ z2 l4 K3 z+ x' irecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
/ c* a P* W5 S6 W+ J2 lmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
) q8 P2 M5 _8 Y8 i. [) o4 \unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking; ?, Z, R; c; K$ ~9 [; A) @$ x
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
, k( Q( m6 P8 Y. R& R% L4 q$ Fconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of7 T1 H' H/ q# I0 Y( {; E+ i I
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
7 a. ]* p7 L6 cdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has1 p2 ]0 d+ S7 @& H+ W
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration3 O% l- f4 W4 n* T) I, G. g
of Toyota vehicles since 2000./ d8 G* Z' J$ ^
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
# h& H8 t( s4 j( `3 i1 Ubrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he/ k! p* ^( p" S& B! {
understood the pain.
E3 {- G3 [/ K! w"I know what those families go through," he said.5 d, b- u$ @- n: _
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
0 h c" w. j! y4 c @' b! \fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.% t1 k" `; H8 G0 o4 |
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
2 P( F8 Q. K$ fHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
$ S3 Y2 H9 f$ p8 `, v+ Din place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
0 `9 N2 v0 ?: x+ ^6 nLentz replied: "Not totally."- J: U6 S6 r' A+ ?9 @! c
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were/ h% E1 Y* ^: G2 H! R9 E
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
8 V( j% b; l7 O6 J |Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
7 x$ D/ Z8 O- L4 Ipedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its% e) ^8 ]' A6 S* U6 h; J
vehicles already on the road.
+ r" n# j# u, m, u* m( r$ QMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify1 l7 N# ^: v0 A x
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
7 I; h N* T3 e' r1 d3 {; xresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
' e/ n% z7 c5 X. m2 l# soffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
. z3 E5 @: \5 A+ t4 m" vkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.+ B1 E- u; @, `( G' W2 b
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a/ y- Z7 c: ` a: }4 l1 ]) l- O x n
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
8 A% Z7 L( F/ t# a3 Yfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
- j# h" }+ Y) z2 v) T# o: c/ z& zCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
/ A* B2 {9 ]3 T- f# G0 R1 Ncommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to' R% v8 [4 I& b& A7 W }
restore the trust of our customers."
+ n8 G, |' w1 a6 E2 iLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from! J) y* \! N N0 L- }& Q
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly6 N2 P9 r; i# l. ?# z
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --* \2 _4 T8 V8 t$ Q( i
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and/ N; n0 P% R+ |8 L
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
6 [6 |7 g# o2 c" ?" c3 cthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and l, w, X% N: ?# o! h. _+ V# u
turn off the engine.
% O4 W: P1 d5 fFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of! u; S; R% r) ~9 y, L+ Z0 d
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience.", w$ o7 s! z; Q
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
; {' v$ B( q0 R" m0 g: x, U, o+ psaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond% i7 v+ E% ?# y3 Q7 h& S$ K% K
to her complaints.
, U4 [7 H, ^$ f; a$ o# s4 oIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
4 y6 c* F3 R e, vreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
. Q# x& B4 P% }% Ymalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars. a2 ^% K5 [( t2 B) F% A$ Y! r, a
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric, w2 L# |- S8 ]. C9 V) l
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
0 S( @0 Q8 T$ z9 p) E$ W' K+ S# s"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
* J4 r3 F- ]0 M) boff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."3 {! e& i; e# V6 Y
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
( e+ q. D% t/ R+ w' j5 Wprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were+ f3 q# m/ r1 H6 Z3 \2 d
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls* N3 g+ D% W) h$ ?2 ]; M( O
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
J4 W1 r) `- |; }% {5 z _, `every question.". [+ @/ r9 H# G4 ?. x) w
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether. s5 S' P7 l" s0 @
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
* `1 m# K( U+ {3 L% `8 k% E* Jfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But9 B+ r, d* m2 ^0 b/ }* \
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small. M5 j1 [7 Q" O# c% U; z. G- W! a
number of vehicles
0 U" t; \( K8 XTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
' ~+ ?9 Y& L6 g! v' I; _& qdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
3 ^0 Z; @( h8 k y- W3 wmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one! F' ~" u* ]' ~: k1 F
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car./ O( Y6 U& A/ t" |4 L9 [
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,/ F+ {" y$ u" ^
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
) A( }) o4 B& y1 C4 N* xtrace at all.
+ K- k% V* Y( _; M1 O8 o6 WHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call: `/ A, q v& B2 _ Y* n4 L3 C4 R
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden/ V+ z" F$ j' z) L
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the, [2 _0 f- s- Q$ O
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.& X7 v4 A* h- z3 Y
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,6 i- Q! ~1 a% j, D. r
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
4 t( f. k( H% k! L0 }other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
C; ~+ f$ x- x) Delectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
$ A' r2 d q5 b% kcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
r( I0 U0 x' L1 _# Z* r' ^such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
+ {* Y6 D v: Bby Toyota's lawyers." Q) E9 Y7 _, o$ ^$ I* ^
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of/ u' d% s/ f6 B! _* s
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
2 C [8 F6 z4 bcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
5 z) c/ u& o/ X2 B1 k3 Ksaid.
* ]2 Y8 k `! r, a; l6 c- q8 B"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
. A& T& M8 w% k& C6 B4 W8 V' Fa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
, v! M1 J8 o1 T1 |" ?9 V8 Zgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating* W9 o' r' Q3 [+ ~/ D. x
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
. ?- a1 f* R/ W }; Y5 jSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying. Y* j5 L; q/ L; {& @
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread5 C# z: R, R1 w |# N
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
! F- ]. E; f% a; N' p; ?* Wautomaker, at least in part because of the government's+ Q/ m6 l3 D3 [7 y. m
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
' T5 |& {( j" C% ]- BChrysler.: [3 Y% e! r* s1 f+ b
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax8 q1 `+ d8 t* b
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
2 u7 F: _* _0 U: c E$ z! q/ R4 tHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
# l' i" ~% Y: q1 q4 c7 Zserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
& \% ^, ~7 H3 @6 `! P8 }5 Z# `; M: J. I% Twith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty/ f! y3 ~) t# v. Z" A8 ?
tough."6 ~6 T/ P5 H: y! p1 f8 u* s
---* `# k) c2 k$ f* W: f [
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom |9 A6 Y) \' X! ]( ?
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to& X- n7 [/ X" r6 |9 V
this story.9 q, Z6 h' w2 p$ Q
$ |: r/ G: G: \4 a7 J' ]( Q$ r T( G-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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