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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
$ x% S2 Z d% y7 f# t7 s/ G# ]By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
3 D: b0 w, h! Q, W% o& c8 m \. Z. LWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.0 ]; ^. z3 _# A% n# W
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that/ O" W" |4 G& G" H5 w
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"9 m3 _0 f# L: b9 G1 P$ z+ S: x
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
7 u7 A" p3 f1 O8 r"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential- c! @9 l! ~; J( ~
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel./ w; w7 ?& `( |& ]3 W) Z
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
7 L, L: k2 q' d1 i q2 C" Xacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
, p& C" q: X5 A$ e+ D1 Ctrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
- s( d* t% \6 y; c+ m; G1 x) x( \* Smats and sticking accelerator pedals.
( W2 c- M# P! I5 @1 X4 CHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal; \: d3 W2 a: s; B% v" O, ~1 m
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
0 M9 `+ D# U& Rcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be2 u) b. ]( B0 t0 J5 a" h
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
: M; s" D% u% x1 K! C% qnot stop her runaway Lexus.6 T3 O Q) e4 P: A- z7 Q. R
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,/ g3 M7 D9 M. j
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
" l, {, d( f' }1 m* D$ H0 k"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
* D8 [. E0 I: s! D1 OTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues' l, f0 @: k* [( t
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
; B T# p+ I! [. U- O3 u"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
5 R0 f- v1 j u$ t4 hdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway3 J# S8 y& j# E& X1 X. F( Z
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
2 Y) x8 c: m+ A0 k! O* ?. Y$ ?investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."0 F' s* v4 m! o4 p8 A, T7 z/ v$ n
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
4 Z1 ?5 o& t' s6 e! ]) G* pelectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of2 ~) d* O2 X# Z$ Y9 [
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a1 C; \2 U$ v J7 ~9 i; ?! O
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
* ^( }. l$ b2 Fsaid.
; n6 V A, |& c0 \5 V: |As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
- J" t0 T/ c0 i7 n- c& j; i: `& f# @happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
+ P* f" p" c# y6 L ~" wabout driving our products," Lentz said.6 l/ u9 M3 @6 U
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
; ?1 ?$ S: W! bproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
0 ?# T7 p' Y+ S0 q# j7 Zrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6+ Z0 u' p2 j* s2 R5 F) b
million in the United States -- since last fall because of7 |7 P& ^* e z* r5 W1 Q; }1 e: U, n5 s
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
b4 n# V2 K& @& l: m5 uissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering& g( i, k7 ~( `' y& y
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
4 e+ ~5 S8 H! V9 Y4 j7 I& btheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow* d! J- M* v; n/ K3 ^( ?& n6 ^+ g8 H
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has2 w! `6 Z. @* |8 P
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration9 A0 V5 S( Y6 v# j/ M0 l2 S$ r$ Y
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.$ B M0 i5 _* s }
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
+ ]7 C8 U" ^3 D/ m! P" p7 bbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he$ p1 W# E, _/ t' M! p
understood the pain.
; D8 K2 R& ^, _7 Y"I know what those families go through," he said.
$ j n( q+ D0 M1 DLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
: X) A( Z% c+ afixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
# \! X2 ]* m8 A% t c3 ~But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman9 U3 z. G; B4 u0 g1 Q
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
. x+ R; m+ H* q4 k9 qin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
8 t+ i3 j9 @& v: F# X5 I: WLentz replied: "Not totally."
P3 z: w: R5 fStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
0 o6 L3 z7 a2 j' t! o' z4 m3 c"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said$ P$ d- p: N; b4 v2 |
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
. w$ ]$ |) C; F' {! C3 L! Kpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
1 X1 V* v, d; g( c xvehicles already on the road.; _( f* w" u I5 M) R
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
1 m* U9 Y2 s8 ]* W; ~; sbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full$ g" q f. c$ \1 n1 e* g% u6 j2 D
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
/ H) Y5 t; F4 d5 Koffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were3 Y. O8 A9 l* E. P; ^3 G& j
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems. I1 F7 w' }; }) H, M3 I
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a6 Z$ C; E: M7 r8 ?6 c) b/ u9 H* V C
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
: [3 _( U0 B) a- zfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
5 B' W- i, T6 H" u' u& o/ ^: ?Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal( d+ d9 r! ~! g8 I
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
" y6 d3 s- q8 trestore the trust of our customers."& z6 X. r& Y8 S( ]. O+ g' L4 {2 n
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from2 ]1 @ D' [1 J! [! s2 c5 K% t
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly. ~ x5 I3 h% e V
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
& ^% V( O* y9 Zshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
* O, L. [1 _2 |9 h7 B# I: Chitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough8 f* N; s( k5 I2 G
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
+ z& [( w" e) N' f' X9 E1 ^turn off the engine.3 A" f$ a5 s' i* F" m* ?
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
! a4 w( x9 }! y) K1 f9 M' GOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
* T, R. L, x# v. f, { N9 l"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
. q, r: a: Y, X9 ^# n6 rsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond7 }; v& W1 u! g( Z1 I' ?4 i( Z
to her complaints.% V. b8 R% S* t
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
# T4 K& O8 M' X/ greturned again and again to the question of whether electronic: B, N* C, T T' U
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
( p( O+ U) \# U% X* S( Y$ Y"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric0 l2 K8 q# c9 B* e7 N5 p
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
, s: @$ g. L, n, _& X0 S5 [* P"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut* e. J0 V3 B% _: S. z8 |1 J+ a2 i
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."! ?" U# L% e7 s# B
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
" `1 d1 N s) N, bprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were# G5 b$ G( W& g6 J+ b
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls) I% G0 b/ L* g5 ^. J* Y9 S
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer) H4 E) U6 O, X) ~6 K x) U' T6 J z( n
every question."
& Y* [& H& H( h* e+ z7 {& WToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
% W* D1 F2 a# {/ pelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The, ]8 N) F9 X3 d F+ R1 e s
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
6 I* ~ t4 t+ ]6 ~/ z9 @) I# B( H$ jcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small/ m. v( c; Z9 c1 s4 d; @. q2 \2 ]
number of vehicles
& X2 h0 c/ l6 G% P' |Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
! L6 `% U+ A# ydifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
4 E9 D0 |4 f" ]! j( H: Umechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
: N1 }8 e0 A9 lsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.0 n- R% }; t( X8 b
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,/ H; L1 E, q+ n6 X0 c
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no4 A0 G( ^4 u8 V8 [# j! s
trace at all.
; E6 t: ?5 x1 |; e7 iHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
+ s: T' |/ [* z+ Rdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
! [4 f" t# e: M$ A5 o$ i5 _acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
`( n1 X, n) w9 m( Jrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
( V1 B: y) C, `) \; S$ [6 aRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,! ^2 L5 s+ K3 k# Y
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
( U+ B& @4 j* V5 M: A+ l2 u0 Bother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
2 k5 \* G% D# A/ Y7 a0 P0 telectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible9 }" s l, g/ l- U3 y# r' V
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only, }/ G! D/ C) N; N" B6 ^
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
8 |! a) h% S! }+ Qby Toyota's lawyers."
5 ?* u) \1 Q. F7 _! QLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
4 q+ o' _, m4 R6 L+ ?3 _problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our' [. `2 P4 X- d8 L- c y
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he, a- G0 o/ X) m
said.7 e: \+ t" p# ^# D+ I4 w N
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with; \6 s6 ]5 z! Y* b1 C" |
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
& ]7 V' c; o: I/ h igood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating4 W, ^. X: J- L. ~5 y
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
' v/ n2 r6 f1 x3 b2 d4 n2 WSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
: }$ Z) ^1 Z- }2 I- G4 r7 g5 Mmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
! k2 S4 e) u; N! \# S w' Y/ francor toward a federal government they view as picking on the6 N6 u5 C- A# c
automaker, at least in part because of the government's; R% W" M# ?. k
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
) h: b: [" t+ q3 U9 h! j( M' cChrysler.' Q* H1 H) k1 i
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
$ b' j& [! {, h3 e0 Kdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
! X( i! V9 h: r: e" ZHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also z, ~. q2 O3 D4 s
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete- S- ]8 R" k& o! {6 j" F: \$ M
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
# P# m3 f7 n9 Jtough."1 A% A+ d4 T0 ]3 D. Y% x g( h6 r
---
2 ~1 K$ i: n) Y# t7 b6 i+ AAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
1 x6 K! O5 J* i4 H2 F+ Y- fRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to, f( g1 l; W9 z. \8 O
this story.
6 S$ _- W. R; c( r; A! f3 _+ j G
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