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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
5 b F1 j! X1 V6 F5 HBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS5 s/ F- X% V* V5 V: E) i
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
# r5 {+ i. f+ X' Y% K" c- Noperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
6 h4 m6 f I' C {7 k3 L; y2 tthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
0 D" ?6 {0 D9 G/ asolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
( m/ f6 ~5 z! Y" z"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
( i2 V( _4 w' ccauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
5 w0 ~5 n! g: N4 O( D: o9 XHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected) Z# W; d' N2 y8 K: u: T. o+ W- o
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
. q) p9 ` e" r5 t+ ftrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
* L8 O. V9 V- amats and sticking accelerator pedals.
; W. u) l, N) r3 I( cHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal: T$ ]' e$ U/ c) _
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp. t' i) A0 ~8 O+ e7 y
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
' X' j! D# w) \further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could( t/ b: q4 ] a% C6 F
not stop her runaway Lexus., s" c! ^% D: q. Z2 F! J
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,7 R" D% V1 B: z6 |
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second3 Z8 N+ a1 C* a( }+ M2 \
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.; Z* W6 L2 F% D7 r
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues- o; M$ V$ F7 d* r* o# L _
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said+ D2 i$ g c2 c" g. B; M+ T
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has: G9 `& S6 M( V* D
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway V' t& F) E7 y/ [) U) i! j" b
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
+ q3 u! V* S+ O- o& winvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham.". ?& g \9 r( q5 W% V' y& x1 M
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
! G; z; _( ^6 U' Telectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of4 A" v# i& J1 r
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a4 Z# f6 f) R, g. Q, n; o
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he1 B( {4 r: K) e
said.
# ?/ j5 H6 o! O. s- v! n& n% V0 ~As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
0 Y3 J0 {# w% [# D7 n: Chappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
2 Q i. i$ Q) f5 @" mabout driving our products," Lentz said.- B- H2 Q5 o' C% b: \
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's9 a) C `4 s/ N4 k- j# X
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
# g' q6 Y& P8 T# V+ Q; krecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
, \+ ]3 r1 ?6 h+ d. Z0 ^4 smillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
+ O# F) D& S+ S Runintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
; _: H( d( i0 _3 \issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering! \. U! `' W H
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of( i( L4 r' K3 {4 m: O/ s
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow( _, |" a6 y8 n
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has' @% ^9 s) E+ v. U
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration3 {6 x) l) z5 v- I' N4 h
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
7 k& s! j1 f1 }# A; A2 v2 `Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own0 @7 q& S! {: w4 i7 J# T0 L
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he& H' i) D, N2 E0 ~
understood the pain.
1 I. [. P+ Y: {3 ~8 X4 f"I know what those families go through," he said.
" v9 d4 a$ [" \7 yLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's. I3 c) a# V; L4 l
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.8 A: y0 _, m: R( m
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman# w M C& ?, u& @. g+ v- ]5 V
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put5 [- [2 o1 G4 j+ z
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,6 j* L0 H& O, h3 V" r# r' m
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
" P# m F( c2 k4 c4 y7 FStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
5 V; {. p9 W8 r* b"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
" I% ^; s8 H# q0 |* HToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
: W$ F# u7 `5 `9 r2 m& ~) apedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its4 T O# w! U P6 j
vehicles already on the road.
+ z- T- Z. \2 N: s/ |Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
$ c( G: r |2 }- X: S# jbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
( V) t* V& _# P7 rresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and0 u3 h+ j9 ]0 B6 T
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
6 ^& a& M, W, R) v# T" _# Qkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
& z3 Y8 U( k2 s3 T0 `3 E( L"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
[/ t4 H+ H( Rtragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
+ v& ^! l$ q X3 f) Mfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight/ {1 y% Z+ n! {2 {* B$ F6 p4 m3 @
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal! [5 Q+ G3 X, _" b% m+ f! g0 x
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to' N+ \* J3 e& C) \+ ^0 o
restore the trust of our customers."
) |% q, \3 I9 Q: sLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from) {: _9 V! @7 W5 n9 D
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly# f4 Y1 g0 }. d2 n
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
+ [# |( a& d! hshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and4 T8 C: {4 X8 d7 s9 k2 F0 T9 U! s
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
+ ]) s4 R% k8 ^& Q/ X3 ?$ e* Gthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
. X6 |$ S; G. B8 T, Kturn off the engine.8 R, ]% T8 o6 r; z2 ^
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of/ V. R& R5 D, i: Y0 p
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."1 t8 j' F; v5 e* `. I3 _( M2 [
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she3 X1 x& Z8 ~4 H
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond" D0 l4 b# r$ g1 U- M
to her complaints.
6 ^0 U! r% j$ P# r9 l0 FIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
% h4 O% y1 I) j$ creturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
3 o! [8 G/ A- M2 D' i( o- gmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
2 ~1 j& Y: B1 T, P) J"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric' ~ Z4 [0 y5 T
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited( y, o( ~: W# v( o
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
y6 Z; U( X/ k- Q4 ?off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
9 s6 q# s7 l6 x7 s4 A/ I1 @Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
* M" b- ^$ v; O; D% mprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were q# _5 ^$ L9 O0 s
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls) n) K3 ^9 |6 `& E& R
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer* E& ?* P9 n7 n @$ `" R
every question."
. g# h. x4 g R9 PToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
8 D/ j4 O l: O8 gelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The0 t' `1 r* i; ^& h
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
4 q& n% @% S$ ?) y. j) ]: Bcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small2 \" [3 X1 Q, _! N
number of vehicles
# K2 C" B- T. U* O6 }6 {+ e8 oTracking down an electrical problem can be far more6 r; ~& R% B: ?4 e; R2 r$ E- O3 V
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a8 f2 Q1 [/ R H$ B
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
2 L/ g) {/ Q) Y0 Vsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.7 B; H& V j8 o- \% h: c
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,) q% A* h; S3 e7 a! {0 r' t
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
% d @! k# q# T1 h5 ^6 Ztrace at all.' {3 p# ~# C3 R; F* m) a
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call# {, {; }2 N" w) u
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
/ y, f$ s5 b' l( `0 _% p6 {acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
2 [5 I) s/ D1 a4 rrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.: R6 o( a9 v t$ b+ |, H# j) |
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,/ H+ n6 J: w& N$ G9 H I8 [. Q- c
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
) h1 ^* N% e2 n! o5 ^other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
7 D9 r+ b8 r" k1 n( J# \) celectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
2 V* m6 g$ z- U# x& |9 Ecause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
; i N0 x8 e3 lsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
9 o+ L$ n) o7 W* L9 Fby Toyota's lawyers."$ p9 d! I( w2 I( e. A1 ?. b* p: g
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
2 p3 T. ?! c2 J1 K, T) l# Cproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
. \: D% t* K d: q3 C' |customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
6 V: ?! Z/ _4 h4 Lsaid.
" I4 P& [* p, r+ G; h* j) Q"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
" @: r- S7 x8 `8 \4 j! {# t8 i( ca rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
; f8 [# H \- P; xgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
# b7 t& k( ], w# F" q! x Nofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
1 _. H& N3 k2 `Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
4 A: z" e* ]# S9 C- fmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread1 _' A" [( i" J) ?
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
% ^8 k6 m% B1 I* a0 A6 L2 ~automaker, at least in part because of the government's' g% L: b& B. Y4 @0 U
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
$ E4 |2 J; U6 ]" {Chrysler.) o L+ [& F0 G8 m% T; h; d
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
/ p/ |% h) R2 H& bdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
4 `4 U( t. z4 f) e; t& h0 ~Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
# a" ~- z0 S& Aserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete0 s) K. e' C) G3 y3 G. J
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty7 H# F# ?6 p- g( |: n
tough."4 g3 g1 y) r" I* y& |: R# @0 l+ m
---! Y" q7 f$ k! y. s4 ?, |
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom4 C' X$ j" h, k9 O
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to$ F. I Z: M3 J. H: w+ w
this story.' C4 b2 t4 h; n& ?# D
! N8 o" T! r. {7 u. [. k-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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