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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题4 d. {/ _+ I/ ^* X" [5 E
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
/ ` n2 K+ ?, k2 OWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.4 X7 @3 U& J+ D
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
% e; z0 u3 f- N. p( mthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"& B e% m! d4 p) F
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.( d1 |4 `" v2 g( W8 I* o' V
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
6 h. O2 S2 m& B' ccauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
5 k" Z4 e+ l1 s3 [However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
2 F8 O' Z' P: r4 G# w: ~acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
+ f0 e: a Y, |& ztrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor2 P! e! Q0 }( D, x5 G. S, x& [
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
& T! o% f& ~1 ^( L1 ^* kHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal2 S- E" h) m) x5 w1 Y
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp- ?: K* ?* n7 @' V& g, B
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
/ ]8 Q4 u& A u6 ~further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
2 y- u! d7 t) Hnot stop her runaway Lexus.
3 C7 B) p8 j1 n/ A. Y"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
' N0 i! c/ t$ N; q# j3 R1 j, [Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
& M2 E* e6 @. \# O3 O2 ~0 p# j; u"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
P! e* S5 X6 x2 d# QTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
4 T' {3 }- P, H4 pearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said. R( l% f% X! i
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has( S& C. z; l5 `; _3 K9 V
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway/ |' m# r7 C8 M) n% X# a/ Z
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
- X9 q' \! T8 u4 I$ b% iinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."$ \/ k' F& S! y$ E. I& w
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an3 X7 A* S2 C O" i" H
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
7 E9 v6 C. {5 r4 p1 |0 zthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
' ^9 _8 }# I6 n2 v* q8 V. mmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
8 M* d7 f, Z+ b2 msaid.8 k! w( A0 b/ n7 z& H' A5 ~9 L
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what( Z, S# `' P( i# x( U( t
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe5 A1 \* X6 C. A, v. N: Y8 r0 ]9 Y
about driving our products," Lentz said.
% Y5 J$ }, k, t( CThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's. [* X+ C) I$ T
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
. N+ v# |2 V6 [- D1 y, ]9 {8 b' Drecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
2 I% ~3 |* z1 g+ Wmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of7 m" m; e% Z6 s9 q
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking0 B) D K$ E* q' ~1 A
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering; u% n, ~. y6 V" p6 s" G- b
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of4 F; m& |, e) S- d
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow5 B$ V1 R. N" j2 V2 R2 G( t1 O
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
( y' d6 H7 D9 x ]1 G0 jreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration0 z/ \! Y5 [% l, I2 }
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.8 G7 q* N0 @8 e) G4 v
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
1 Y+ g3 `5 Y; c3 H. ybrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
, z8 w) W# W+ r9 l4 X4 Qunderstood the pain.
) z- l2 H* G# d6 K"I know what those families go through," he said.) Q3 p# h8 |) w0 [
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's% H8 o% x( S; y; G8 ^
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
2 j2 t" ~1 e2 T$ I6 t" }4 xBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
C- u+ f, R4 u* ?& DHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
4 E& H, o l* [! A$ nin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
2 `1 J. N2 e/ \, S3 i {Lentz replied: "Not totally."' d: ~- a$ m: |( X, q& j4 X
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were' P& N o/ z4 r& W9 D
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said6 Z6 R9 v" M7 L9 J! A% Q: D* K S
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas7 X2 }5 v" u" ?3 t
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
7 T5 c8 u1 g: E( E! n, qvehicles already on the road.; c' x/ l& G/ b# U* T+ d
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify$ D. e% b R9 N2 O3 h; o
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full# ^% a1 G8 b+ W- r9 E6 E6 |
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
Y# a! r: W9 Y8 H) g% v+ Loffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
# K, P, M$ R3 W0 okilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.& @0 O! ~7 `! O# g
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
- B3 Z; G2 f% Atragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony- M: K0 A3 \$ x; s/ _
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
' J- U9 [) ]) J* ?" xCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
- q+ D, k$ H* i, {/ Ccommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to( S# _" m2 | x+ H6 M
restore the trust of our customers.". D+ }, B. n8 ^7 K
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
# D5 f+ I5 v `+ t6 [8 QSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
* ~+ W: V5 R' r# n. J: rzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --0 d v- t& [: E% n# r
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
/ [, ]9 r3 H6 s3 I: k- H5 Q; x. Shitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough x: k/ ?/ b. }6 M# h
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
, c$ ~4 n5 |( U1 S' `turn off the engine.0 y, E+ `# r9 ]/ y5 y- I6 `
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
+ I: X* I& ?) ^1 |3 y* T+ ?October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."7 T2 K) a, J5 z
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she; h, {: M* Q9 a; j
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond* `, v# g9 L, b: Z
to her complaints.
7 H% u7 D3 W3 ]3 JIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
' k0 ?5 s* O0 p1 t1 kreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic6 V! U% e* a" x; U
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
4 {" s9 D8 s1 [9 ^) E2 A"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
+ y8 X4 U! j5 F# zthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
! G5 q: N- d% L4 z# D q"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut W+ h/ r7 ?2 b# w8 y
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."- L5 s( \0 t- |6 R# O' E' a; s$ p
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in! D6 |& a, @; g5 W
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
~) y0 }; ^6 J# }being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls+ M+ I: s- [. Z
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
5 M( E) d- S9 Q; u5 Nevery question."
" Z9 D- z0 D* b! uToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
, y0 t" D. ?9 z. O8 K) \1 helectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The. m8 M# c6 T* i
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
3 Y! }/ M% q& V" [& ncommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
' h6 Y% p8 o. v/ y) X2 ]number of vehicles
3 B& S, M( o3 l- o# e" q; @+ STracking down an electrical problem can be far more
0 | Z; k5 W0 e& v+ Sdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
- `4 C) r- M5 Z* Zmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
% R! [* A; R% X# V. U: L' s3 p' Vsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.* \ }7 ]4 H1 m+ R6 ?7 F' p. O
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,2 \3 x8 L M. o
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
% X7 L' U! D) @trace at all.3 o. d6 o. m& {% |, G+ H
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
: n# Z- H+ m8 W- Z! G0 hdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
9 B! D" Z! q G4 Bacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
0 Z+ N5 O$ X$ }3 Z2 @ G6 v* Precalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.5 ~1 l/ \; q4 l2 p. k" }! @; N. ~0 H
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
3 E6 |/ O$ [$ W- G1 [4 H( F: b9 E4 dsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
! p( `7 L. f" P* ?* v% u Wother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
* o' |- `. y4 C! }* t- h b& b welectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible# \9 \# Z+ H- D. C+ v
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only8 x2 s3 f9 m4 }% L# V8 H9 m& v
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained# W* N: j- K" P% `# @) U, d( p1 O" L
by Toyota's lawyers."
2 b! I1 V; k1 ^( Y/ \Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of& P4 O8 O6 Q, {9 X$ z; O
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
" G7 |0 K9 Q" J7 E2 n( Y3 A! c- Jcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he) Q0 w( }4 R( e7 E' {0 M# k7 h
said.+ v) L1 s. z. W, |# V
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
0 _. Z; ]& e( d Q" Ma rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
) H; I6 `( d6 ugood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating( W( C, p- s- h- T& m1 t2 y/ G( Z
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
% j2 g/ c# R# \' w. Y0 r5 x% OSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying1 n3 R4 s& j6 x% ?
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
5 O) L( y- [" M* ]rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
4 B# s) o1 a$ m3 v0 _, J, b+ wautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
f2 B2 H: u* K; J( R% L( R% w# H; Hinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
" G& ~/ G0 I8 C( e$ EChrysler.
, i* M* L4 P4 ~3 e/ q"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax: v) b9 k/ O& R+ A5 L
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
; {1 ^& y; o/ _% ~" Q1 F$ rHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also' g) a* t+ |* a% ?. F/ j- _
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
# Y: j1 R6 _) K6 ~) D6 Fwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty5 e0 U! h& ?) ~0 o( B: D' N6 h0 J( z
tough."
/ d9 f, r. y$ R5 I0 h6 \) x---! x* v: h$ B% F' c" p5 j% K
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom# H" b2 y5 y, t9 n* B) }& l) \
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to% Z: x/ @# W& w9 x1 W5 _5 a
this story.
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-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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