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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题

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发表于 2010-2-24 15:48 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
老杨团队,追求完美;客户至上,服务到位!
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS8 ^( ~" Z1 @/ j* L0 R9 I' o. ~
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.( a, ]. q: Y! S$ ~& J
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that7 z0 v3 p! ~8 A; A- a3 D
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
6 m2 J6 G0 ~+ {! m& Zsolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
- z5 f4 ~5 J5 i- \: e$ w3 w"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
" w& i. s2 m, acauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.% ~7 J" w$ b7 K! R# f4 n" R, p/ y
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
1 |1 t& Z2 l* i" R4 P2 Sacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and# L. k$ h8 N7 E4 o; O9 X. S
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
0 f' }2 S4 R* b0 nmats and sticking accelerator pedals.: y9 \! Q' ]' f0 o  N1 D( ~' c
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal) ?( R6 S: S6 I. X
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp3 w/ _/ N. _. ]6 }! O# F2 |
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
- g4 Z6 B, G8 p. W2 kfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
' ]  X0 U' E& c: x/ Q2 cnot stop her runaway Lexus., `: z1 Y1 a5 L8 c: Q3 P8 C
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
2 I- P0 h6 e' RTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second( Y+ W2 X2 b. \$ m4 ^* s
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators." O! j4 a1 m% v1 i3 v
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
! k! e8 U1 ?" y# j2 ?3 hearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
( n+ H. U) M( r0 Y! d+ H5 |, ]"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has8 N6 P! S* q3 a/ N5 x9 l
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway! h6 Q8 t! ]0 m. i
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's. a0 }  o; r  J6 y, G
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."" B4 U- U( F% b8 F' m* n8 j9 O. c
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an) ?0 F3 o3 T  S! U; @2 H  ?  f2 a& O
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of6 _- Z+ l  k: x' i
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a$ r1 @/ T( ~/ T' V+ Q' B9 ]+ J  n
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
5 V8 i/ t/ Y1 n8 D! G* `. C$ ssaid.
5 Y9 z' V$ }. kAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
. a5 B5 b! I( X- ~- f2 |2 u7 L& v) Jhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
4 ^5 e# T8 y+ Yabout driving our products," Lentz said.
0 A/ p1 n7 X8 m3 B5 W  ^# _/ S9 g3 gThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's6 X' ]# U& s3 k# H
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
0 K% R. f1 ^) T8 z% hrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
7 N: l" t3 q) v' U4 pmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
5 ^! S' }8 m; ^unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
% o- a0 t( [, ~9 g& Eissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
3 x: C( k( }8 O' {/ \concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
% k! X9 r0 _& utheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow7 \: S: x. G: x6 _3 s
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
; e) a  Q6 N  Z  ereceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration3 C4 b& A8 O" _2 A; C9 e3 ~
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
5 Q! y* D1 {- k- u  c1 i" lLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
5 o/ D( j* k1 A; c( ebrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he( _3 b3 g6 D4 e9 j, a
understood the pain.
" N' {8 g$ Y; k) D"I know what those families go through," he said.
7 O1 V0 x/ Y0 ^3 F' B2 pLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's/ q8 @6 F. V; H0 u& X
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
7 Z2 b/ R, q; V  _7 I' }But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
( {6 b) J) d" YHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
  S2 k7 q# @0 Rin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,2 K" I5 j, z+ E/ d9 H
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
* Z" R4 F/ p! e2 P; ~! bStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
+ K4 q, U+ p$ n( a/ f8 F' y"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said( a0 Y% U; Z% w( l; g( F$ _
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas7 U: A3 {" H/ l' \9 p
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its( V' j) R* g* Y* k
vehicles already on the road.
! W: p* t& y8 n. e* {# OMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
+ l& k" g# A$ x" A/ U; i$ U) abefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
, V8 r& F. D0 A$ m. y, nresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
4 @1 a" k" u8 x0 N8 V. Qoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
9 i4 V, ]* T, ~* wkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems., `' k4 q) I6 M- Z. @
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a3 b, U6 m& }% {% j8 X/ g. z/ f
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
: B1 G) K* c4 W8 ?! p; u0 o. ffor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
* `0 F2 ~# a4 oCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
! e; A, [+ X2 j2 `1 ccommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
2 ]8 N" g! ?2 Y- Xrestore the trust of our customers."$ z: }! z( d' g4 x' e+ v, @
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
5 T' f1 F5 N& cSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly  @+ E, J7 D1 ~  u0 J
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
  H" W3 z' Y7 U* x' K3 h- K6 j0 sshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and& d$ J8 F$ o; Q& h5 H# R: {
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
  r9 `9 {8 {7 Q) r0 s8 v& p4 T/ X0 othat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and% T* D; b& D" H7 d  t! o; _  y
turn off the engine.
* M- v/ U( M1 f! f* S( m+ OFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of$ K9 P, c2 |$ V( i8 f
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
  C8 W% {) M1 t' B"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
/ F& t  G1 X& S9 t5 [6 k! Xsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond; y# S7 [  `( J6 l6 r1 E
to her complaints.
( A8 H" ~& v9 v8 D$ T2 \; xIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers! m' j7 p" w( y3 C/ ^! R. g
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
7 R# F, ?) f& m. l3 ?  X9 Amalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.6 i9 V- o0 o0 r- ?+ T/ W0 V! ]' V
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric4 \8 Z; J  E9 s
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited) @8 n  m2 k  k( K3 m$ |! y" @6 }, p
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
% L" k  n; o/ `3 M8 X8 Ioff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
/ f, [' G2 B" {( M) A" W0 DTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in2 p3 m, K9 r+ R* @
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
" p+ {5 y$ k9 Z- M  v: Tbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls* p' W4 }" E% S( m. t9 o
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer% f6 S0 y9 D# a" T
every question."6 |* m  z+ `* ]" Y
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
, P8 @' @. d& o8 J0 pelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
& A$ u2 V0 m0 G$ n2 x, \4 ~3 [firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But- h4 O9 L" c. f: D# Z* p
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small5 z  ?% J! a" L: ~4 ~
number of vehicles
% N$ z2 q* M) y3 ~; Y9 ~Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
& v6 f) l) n( i, c& _* idifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a) a! [$ q8 A- |( x
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one1 r6 `: b+ e1 a4 Z  _5 r$ m3 _
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.% d1 t  g; v- R3 \
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
4 C# A' B6 a, z3 }where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
# O, q' V( S# p4 [. Jtrace at all.
' Z- y+ G! v! J  F; PHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call) m) u1 G0 f- r# g# z  I
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
; |4 S- ~" E( e% }5 Jacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
: \! T" M* K: k- j+ @% [( c% ~/ qrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
- A9 @" A/ m6 o2 XRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
6 w6 ~' E8 e. I, q- X! O$ T( Y  tsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
# q; d! p/ K& ^3 Jother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
9 f1 F1 ^) @  m5 a; W0 ?7 aelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible" T6 `: ^* [/ N. j& D
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
6 ]+ d# B% ^3 h+ Gsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained% N7 R: s$ v: g3 {* X; E* E
by Toyota's lawyers."4 _3 P: V! B. c1 W  z
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of9 I6 J8 G+ J  q' U
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
% W5 [2 J/ _) ?/ F) F4 P; ecustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
6 r- |9 `! I  P/ X  E, a# |' I/ ]said.% u% e, w# I* `1 s9 `, u' f
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with) h7 ~! I$ j5 o/ ~' ]
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
1 d! c; B; R+ @( L2 Cgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating" m/ a7 i& F% e/ v1 T
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.. N" `0 }! j0 E4 u
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying1 I) A& g9 Z& v
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
3 c5 ^5 P" |3 p7 grancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the/ B! a0 R  N9 Q0 l7 o5 J: B8 t
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
7 m* c6 r$ O3 u+ r. v7 o: ~! @6 |investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and( D- s' X% Y6 v+ j- p) Z  ]# a
Chrysler.4 ?% f; W6 I7 y! C
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
6 w+ W8 m( d! [6 _4 P" `dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
8 D$ S% O1 V! u1 K$ _, w  }, v* WHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
0 @# r1 i. b) {+ y0 M4 Pserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
) A7 @" S7 e: {with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty+ V; }. |# Y6 s% b. Z( U8 ]
tough.": ]! j- {- _2 ~% D9 @7 v
---) U, a) _& K+ c$ w# ~3 A) E  A
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
: s7 s7 K& h& v. I. K+ ~Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
" ^& k5 ]3 ^( T& N+ j) Y2 O3 dthis story.
( [+ E2 v* [" t! R7 D. Q* x
. l* u& L/ V1 I6 Y5 J% V3 H* V-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT
大型搬家
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发表于 2010-2-27 22:40 | 显示全部楼层
本来踏板就不是什问题的关键,recall也只不过是对大众的心理治疗罢了
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