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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! e6 a6 e# b) a
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS0 I% u2 y2 d/ O/ R0 k6 u4 G
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S. o4 `0 U9 ?8 V) r% g2 \& y
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that- V! Z' O0 @! J$ x; c' K3 L
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally") E d9 c- G5 I2 z; G
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.( w$ j) _/ o! ]- s% m
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
/ l F" j5 }* V* U8 e& Tcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
2 y3 A! I1 H' @: D$ dHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
% E" C2 U' V1 Cacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and( A. ~ f4 E, L
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor/ C/ N3 b+ [- R4 z" [% e
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.* [+ m& l5 p4 o5 x& M' H1 u% }
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal% H3 \. X Y* X+ b. C# M5 m5 ^
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
1 c( _4 ^8 @! q# p; [criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be. v* t* ?! p2 N; C3 m
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could' Z" k9 i6 u3 J; P
not stop her runaway Lexus.8 q& d5 t8 b/ T
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
: z1 L4 N; w! _; N L$ p. jTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second& i6 g* h5 m( q, a3 H, S9 J. Y
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
: ]2 K/ d% H$ K+ r$ m* HTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues% R2 V6 C4 I3 q* L
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
- B+ A) a& k: S3 J( D- {" h"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has- q" k5 x% y+ ?) V2 n
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
! P: E+ y# r4 H# i: dthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's9 W, r& i" n. k `
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."' U8 O, |8 T& N% [. t
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an) p5 ]8 A7 X* q; ]( O: ]) A7 Z
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
3 B0 i$ n" B: j, ?: othe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
! L" D8 K/ o. [1 K; G. g+ lmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
% j; r5 B& H+ Jsaid.
( i- z, L) T/ G* v7 yAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
- f( e. c7 T& V) u0 Whappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
4 `6 I5 l6 U* Babout driving our products," Lentz said.
0 H: S! ?; G9 y, L; n1 UThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
2 x% I. S8 t3 h* _problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has0 e* o$ n9 U- H" A5 B) }/ A
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 66 b2 n4 ~" I+ A
million in the United States -- since last fall because of' J; `7 I/ W" c, D: x
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking( _+ L& B# Q7 p1 H: R8 L* G! W
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
! i3 s( x$ u) c& jconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of; T5 o* [" [& f% v; z
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow! V, y }6 F* l1 _5 j8 y
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
x. f+ e. d3 r! \+ d0 q1 U: t5 z. u. Preceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
) ^- {# O/ G# H* f/ O$ J8 o6 vof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
* |2 G: C }" }+ ELentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own3 o" E; w* O! D) f0 F1 u: R. o
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
- X$ @& @& Y% Lunderstood the pain.
4 @0 G6 W) d7 N" K) M/ U; H! F* ~"I know what those families go through," he said.
0 r4 g+ `" e% f" `Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's3 \+ E4 g" `6 J4 N
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
" z8 ~2 L9 G, p7 LBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
3 o0 h7 X; q5 K; R* QHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
" P7 Y0 x: k5 t- rin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,3 i f) @# O. }+ E9 E* ?) k" s
Lentz replied: "Not totally."- O0 ^; ?. p, t
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were1 S, ~2 o3 Z+ L; o
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said. D \$ c; s" {+ x" M; e! }; b- n
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas, C7 `! E: D# C7 z& s# ~
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its" {8 q* {5 O1 Z! }' B+ B' q `
vehicles already on the road.7 q! ^$ l2 h' T1 c
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
, D5 k' a4 M: _6 R2 ^( i* ?5 v$ [before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full! y# ~! e1 L! ^2 N9 ?
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
( C9 L" f9 T+ c; eoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were3 @( A1 \- O* F9 e0 G
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
' S: G4 p- Y4 C"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a' Y3 F8 ^7 X" f( i5 M+ i
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony/ H6 L$ Y4 {: e6 J
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
# o& C9 k# B# z# I7 L$ a; r7 kCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal# U" n7 @2 {8 J# L4 L
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
+ F6 o: b# O3 }7 g0 } crestore the trust of our customers."
8 H1 n0 z: H) {" r7 Y: q1 R }Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from. V" R/ F p1 Z: A$ o+ K% b
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly K3 z- K) J w
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
5 H# j6 T8 e" Z6 zshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
1 H* y& u; A; y& U" g) whitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
9 e# w3 h7 l% Z" E4 v6 ?2 ethat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and P5 `4 h: D4 V6 a9 D& ^7 t- m
turn off the engine.
" t* L/ O' d8 {4 R v+ T6 KFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
/ ]+ T( u) L8 A. V6 o xOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."0 ~, `3 V! A) v0 m! n
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
5 I9 X c) x) n6 E6 jsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
* w$ f1 ]% h1 F: p" Yto her complaints.; L$ q2 W* {- R! c: J' e/ W* [1 S" ~
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
! X% n; x& p; E. O3 T2 rreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic
/ L1 ?3 H3 h7 Q3 _, |malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.4 k9 R6 E ? |
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
( M+ B6 g; ~) T. H0 @throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
' Z1 c0 \; d4 x/ ^+ D"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut$ S2 H$ A. n' K
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."8 r0 |( S$ z% I4 m
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
3 x) @) Y9 s: [- o/ a9 B2 ?9 Uprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were# ~2 Q' M' a, V& t2 }% l
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
1 r& K# _) g. n1 H5 a/ V( i0 ^( qwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer) e& O5 z4 C4 Q
every question."
8 z [# |4 Y3 ], h+ E qToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
& L' E( Z0 f* i8 u4 v3 [electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The8 O9 F f7 d8 y; W* f) ^, w
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But" V% k, |5 X. G2 H
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small7 b, C6 g A, o( I1 P# x
number of vehicles( M( T2 D2 S. d2 B
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more4 ~! ~ D8 j- w5 |7 s) B W
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
; r( V, c9 m- X h- bmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
6 F+ k+ T' v6 l# ~source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
, S4 c( g; g2 n' R- f- ~ [Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,2 I1 ~7 y2 k0 {0 h9 _" \: j! j
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no! a6 T. ?: S% K" O
trace at all.
) {0 `! D8 k( b9 [& u4 X: R- cHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
% m4 [ _5 U6 y* E; z6 Ndatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden9 S; F& N0 W$ y
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the, q( z: A/ V# P& ~9 e
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
; k9 G6 ^# w, u& ?Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
1 l8 [0 T6 T7 Asaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
" v j8 a% t: u1 @other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
7 Y5 Z- S# F% H9 Jelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible, Q5 M1 r8 {+ @1 t& O8 L2 e- @; G
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only% @- ?0 F: I9 ]- K0 b0 x
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
8 h6 Y& W) E8 d) t4 bby Toyota's lawyers."1 t w5 y- I' e
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
8 r/ W; T4 g; m3 u, iproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our2 @: D5 i# H7 S
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he% u6 B# d! r) K
said.2 M* P7 D& X4 ]( _* ^, ^
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
6 z3 i- q% { z, { da rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our5 K' B' L: D( Z' l# r/ D& ^
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
7 @) W3 ~, @7 X; V4 M9 i3 H9 tofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
4 K% u, W! q' `4 l9 [Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
% [. A9 e9 q+ I' ?; V3 r$ z$ Hmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
5 K7 i" Q9 i0 H) r) i+ l6 a* Zrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the* l$ y L# k$ Q- J/ z X
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
. P. D0 b0 U. O3 U& m9 J' u. t) J7 Oinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and$ Y: P! U1 s$ N3 o8 s+ T. X+ ~
Chrysler.
, |" P8 s- r% i& S: X"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
! W0 R" |+ g5 Y0 Y8 }- k, ydollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
$ M: w E* I) k$ |* b8 wHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
8 G9 y- w7 p4 E9 gserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
; t) z9 t: W; iwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
P0 y* w! z2 A1 atough."" y( n+ k; G' O* X
---; m. R' Z" L! L* f
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom, }. d( @* J" d1 P L
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to! Y9 v; l6 o8 H' m) h
this story. v% l/ j' P* E2 J
& `! f! S. `% B) z-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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