其实日车的质量 is NOT always that bad(ZT)

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很多70年代80年代甚至是90年代初丰田老车(多半是pickup&camry)的车主都在网上评论，说丰田车那个时候的质量的确是bullet proof。我好几个美国朋友，开的都是很老的丰田的小型皮卡，Tacoma的前身，里程都将近30万迈以上。俺坐过多次，感觉很好，没有任何老旧的迹象。他们也没有换很多零部件。
' }! v3 L# s9 R. I! n也难怪，当年丰田想削尖脑袋挤进北美市场时，差点都赔本卖了。

! d% ~$ j- U4 A0 F& G) x但是后来呢，丰田越做越大，最终成为了世界第一大车商，同时质量上也急速下滑。这一点非常合情理。为什么呢？
5 M3 t! m4 J% X2 h2 W3 C因为要保持销量，就要有卖点，持续的卖点。就是省油和多项配置。
省油不是从发动机革新来省的(那很难，没几辆车能做到)，而是从减轻重量来达到这一目的(如下面润兄所言)。这就是丰田造车里面的非主动式偷工减料。
( w' v% Z# s; b- W! C其次，随着年代的发展，车的各项配置越来越多，比如现在侧安全气囊都成标准配置了。但是车配了那么多东西，价钱却不能上去，不然顾客不乐意了，买的就少了。而且成本也不愿意提高，为什么呢？因为车商当然要至少相同的利润。所以怎么办呢？就在偷工减料，所以关于机械工程里面安全体系的redundant system，能不用就不用。反正所有redundant system真正到使用的情况概率都很低，丰田自信能够应付媒体-cover up那些低概率事件。这是丰田造车的主动式偷工减料，这个比前一个跟可恨，因为其根源是厂商想继续维持或甚至是扩大利润，同时保持价格的基础上，主动采用的工商业欺诈行为。

所以本人在这里不是想故意贬日车褒美车。是想说，任何一家车商成为了龙头老大，销量做到了最大的时候，同时也就是其质量最差的时候。这一点，美国车商已经经历过了，见怪不怪。这就是为什么当丰田去年年初荣升销量榜首时，GM的总裁会心的苦笑祝贺，是啊，自己就是这么走过来的。这个世上，风水永远是轮流转，没有永恒的颠峰。

这是个没有办法改变的铁的事实，是工商业资本家无限制地谋取最大利润与消费者的自身安全利益之间的不可调和的矛盾冲突，就是这边制造业常提的conflict of interest。之所以有细微差别就是，欧美车从金钱和司法上都吃过惨重教训，如今就算仍然维持自身赚取利润的利益，也不敢逾越一定的限度。而丰田没有经验教训，个人(或集团) 私欲极度膨胀，在自身利益和顾客利益之间，没有找到平衡点，而只是一味地追求销量、利润。从而导致了今天的恶果。也算是在意料之中。

. u4 D* f8 z, D如果丰田真的还想挽回信誉，就需要努力回到那个LC/Pickup称雄的旧时代

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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
* b2 ~1 _) D( h. y) Y/ U+ }the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
1 ]0 u' F: s$ ~" W) a* s5 b& I0 dsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
) H" {" `: J( M9 V4 q"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
3 _. }7 l: A4 i* c0 ?; u# Sacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
# Q: Y. H" z% B4 O$ z/ C4 i: |* @He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
' D, p' F/ u! _4 ?" Nand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
$ |( x; C5 |0 R1 ^. i$ Acriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
. s8 w9 z5 c) X. z# A3 C; qfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
not stop her runaway Lexus.
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
8 S/ n3 a% |! }  z' C+ E; mTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
" r) ^: ]* C; \4 \"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
) m, T, ?+ H" b. M$ o& TTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
2 p: ]" m: f8 T+ Qearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
$ F+ M5 F- m2 T+ ?6 a"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
. v7 V7 q  f& ?5 w# }through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
1 u# k6 f+ |- T; z( ^investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
+ U  ]: {: N1 z$ |0 |electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
+ u6 \5 A% S- Z% u* N+ Gmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
said.
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
0 f' F! K+ a+ m0 D" Y. Wabout driving our products," Lentz said.
) c- A  `6 c$ VThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
, A; S  E$ d% p8 ~2 l' D8 fmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
$ S6 ~5 X! i7 n+ y- Dconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
& V/ C/ |" L* e2 }" w1 Atheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
; `7 \- e4 q% E; O3 \6 E& o' hdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
; x1 b- h& e+ }9 F! \  c7 ]received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
. f1 `8 F5 Q5 y# Z: j. rLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
understood the pain.
"I know what those families go through," he said.
5 \, B6 `( ?$ p0 HLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
- C# e/ f) d: z2 F+ \& T2 [  R7 _& Win place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
  Q6 Y+ F3 R- Y1 m5 D( O: eStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
) ^! E0 l, V; G% fpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
# \7 o" z: m% P# M+ N3 u$ Xvehicles already on the road.
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
6 R+ m) o0 D  l7 g% ^$ k"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
' C$ }! H# B2 Htragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
6 R1 a9 o0 Z0 f1 jfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
( K: P9 O+ V: O) w6 P; XCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
! t& X- ]5 y; I9 d8 J4 c) R# \. Ycommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
restore the trust of our customers."
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
. t3 F& ]  \5 ], yzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
3 c5 d8 H6 _8 a" j- Y, I7 z# ~turn off the engine.
$ s, \% H+ ]1 k3 o) VFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
+ T' Z! a, t; X2 p# i' u/ j9 zOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
! i% D6 f$ P  L8 S3 `1 v' ]& lsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
to her complaints.
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
' k. ], V( r+ u& N$ z  imalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
  C2 ]: B4 d, ~' O' S"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
5 ^7 s  s& X% _+ `8 G# sthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
! s; t6 N2 s9 f& c/ J( I1 {( wTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
% z- P8 W- T0 f7 X+ g+ Ybeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
every question."
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
3 S$ w& |* z. Y2 J8 Relectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
: S/ G; Z' ?0 L6 ~firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
2 W& o3 O3 V" y9 Rnumber of vehicles
# }) r3 y+ r0 [7 A2 \  }1 yTracking down an electrical problem can be far more
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
' E# p" |/ D+ T* Vmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
( g+ r/ q8 U- @2 w7 G; Asource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
trace at all.
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
* E$ S! b: h# W" ]acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
! i4 K- _3 k. |" P/ l2 @Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
9 l  K+ R( b6 d% ?) A. pother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
# d" p1 `- I) ^1 U$ I! x4 h, qby Toyota's lawyers."
/ B% P/ N+ }) r9 NLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
' q' J( Z4 U7 D9 x, u" b+ `, Rcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
2 w# M2 m( }1 Ksaid.
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
; v3 L1 d0 @( t3 _members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
: P$ o- O# w, m4 L4 Francor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
0 g+ X! i  l& n2 v& \automaker, at least in part because of the government's
$ F" v1 q- p/ |* ninvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
Chrysler.
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
; T+ O0 Q8 R, r: Udollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
$ _) e- L- S  C& ?: O  X7 zHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
* I6 R* Z4 V3 \% b5 d6 g0 _served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
! w5 u0 X' z0 y- F1 xtough."
3 I6 i  ]3 z) {1 E! Z---
  o, i6 S& S' ^: r" R- |  c7 s' y- vAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
9 h  R9 L# X. d6 qRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
this story.
" G6 K: z- O& u; C! d5 j& q
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT