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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题) ~8 s8 r/ M* Y
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS$ m7 M; a8 F; m+ d2 m
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
0 N" V' x- m' ], coperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that2 c3 c8 Q' w) O. A( b
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"* m1 S( p. O& S/ @3 a6 P' \
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
3 P1 |8 W, T/ K' z"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
7 W/ N- [5 `4 x& S bcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
; G( s6 i4 D2 N( [# j; ^However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected& ?1 l3 W9 c* G5 ] Q% V
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and, `7 {2 p: z* k/ J: ?) F+ H4 x" A+ l
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor3 n: s9 Q: i& g
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.3 n! j% [4 l: W! \0 J- ]
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal7 n/ \# O8 ?# R
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp+ u) r$ F) E* x5 ^) S
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
" W+ C9 G1 @# L% ufurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
. }5 J5 e# U# s2 y! b5 |/ w/ ?8 Bnot stop her runaway Lexus. p, ]# q9 E: U @. O5 [: L1 V
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,6 Y! }$ ^1 _0 G L0 O& E. |3 ^1 n
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
7 ]" Y* J) r0 r8 N0 J"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.0 I, W3 [, x* ]5 g
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
) R( Y" p# T# p# N( ~early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
$ j2 n! x! n! |) r- o"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has+ t: G& j' L8 f' {8 \3 G
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
+ ], ?$ O# I- g8 c* x8 z& zthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
, D. v+ w- e( c ~6 i( kinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
0 E( S% e" b, \* aLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an' Y: T/ T3 o; b% Q3 i* J1 ^
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of+ m- A( e5 c. V. o: T
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a& ^: R8 Q7 W& a. s
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he% A+ H; _5 o4 c5 \6 o
said.9 O3 P* o3 Z9 C( \) H
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what t' \5 g7 Y% Z5 ~. E2 M2 e
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
+ N$ M: F3 D* L4 o/ d4 Babout driving our products," Lentz said.
* ~9 B1 l) N1 q: T7 DThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
" C# w9 [% C! T! \4 Lproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
s- Z6 ]- n T o' Grecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 63 a7 K, X7 } ^# T! b2 b
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
+ H! \! [/ X, V6 x0 D$ a: Sunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking% d% x( T) `- ?! E9 v
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
$ x) ?& D; X1 I, q- jconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
* q8 S4 F& ~' @6 @# z9 p' x- ntheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow H* Z" L; _* u8 N6 e% A/ _7 {: `3 ~
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
! |& Z0 i$ X) U" Greceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration7 C! M' b3 S+ [# Q! X
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
( | Q0 _5 \1 z0 {2 OLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
8 N' z( X8 D. tbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
# t! N3 d9 h: j6 E+ ?! [8 m- lunderstood the pain.
$ I: u" K" w6 v i"I know what those families go through," he said.
4 ]0 {. k: p3 V- G# ]' \; [# S; J: KLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's; Y* e, L8 U9 c" E
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
+ d1 a4 o) u B$ O, u% KBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
* W6 [ `3 q" J: dHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
/ Z, c+ x: j! K# g, Y4 }8 I' L0 Kin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
) W& {+ I2 u9 \& m$ n) i' m! E2 K% ALentz replied: "Not totally."
/ Q6 t* R5 _" k5 p) RStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
$ ~. V/ S$ `7 r) o9 z7 c) q- Z"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said4 p! M7 ~* T* Y
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
* E& g6 q0 g& j+ B2 m8 zpedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
3 V/ Z* D8 ?9 F+ Z" {2 \# q% Evehicles already on the road. B, H6 K6 J3 t* r
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify% r% _( c& O- p5 s
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
0 z7 R( e- ^0 m# i6 lresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
) }/ n7 A+ S! H( [3 b W* o xoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were4 c, m* W4 ~# l
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
9 d$ F- V5 }% J3 K. z& V8 I7 v"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
1 X8 e5 z6 E [1 ]8 Itragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony% G4 Z& q3 R3 S5 t/ n* h4 l' F
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight6 G& H- {+ k1 A9 W' X* J8 e4 N! R( g
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
+ {+ d2 f6 e v8 o2 acommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
3 v! t4 s* ^4 D8 J* x% v/ grestore the trust of our customers."" Z8 {0 J0 }. B1 _/ T- x
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from8 }" M/ b$ B8 E" F
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
! i. ^, j9 t' b# D4 Yzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
( d# B6 c6 g. V+ `6 p( \0 J, fshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
, E" D6 e$ `% x1 C/ n; B5 bhitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough; ^0 Q: ]& J) T5 g: p1 c: r" n7 z# z
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
" f) r$ Q% T5 I' Iturn off the engine.6 g2 E+ L& g# ?+ E
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
- y0 O* k: n/ G) H E' pOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."- {+ E% W% B ~* f& K: V0 q
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she6 C# I0 o- t% O. s' k
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
6 I0 h- @0 c+ Mto her complaints.
C8 r6 O3 x2 t0 x2 |In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers0 ^" ?0 S. p1 }
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic+ I* }( X( G Y, H. H7 F- j
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.$ y: ?4 J+ }5 D% c/ i2 m4 d
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric% r' X) I( T( Y
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited% [ T L) p& X, p8 X
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut% L5 c6 t, }* D6 m
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
- ~+ }: A/ @: XTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in. P) v3 J, \" D2 G2 L2 Y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
0 V5 R( w2 _0 O) A$ X! ]4 gbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
1 K4 g! y. A- i, W8 cwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer0 Q0 l e/ q! H9 S
every question."
5 z9 L$ Y+ B! e% pToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
+ _ I" L2 v" {) J. m, W! }electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The& b" @6 V! r0 l, U
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But2 R% A/ F4 w$ E% B1 u/ O3 h
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small. L5 b% d8 W) \1 j
number of vehicles
* x" z/ t+ j3 B5 b G. ?- e# KTracking down an electrical problem can be far more( s# E2 a9 z0 x ^
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
& P7 n: ]# C! D' J5 Nmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
5 R/ x* T% X0 M& \" Esource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.0 }5 X) {4 {! R8 h# h$ A
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
# w1 f/ j7 i/ X* ]) z# l5 iwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no% V: j! R S7 W/ d, @4 b9 R$ Q
trace at all. Z4 a2 a9 G" t& f$ Q
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call [& o6 E2 N( [ [
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
2 j9 }7 o& |4 Zacceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the* ?: F# w U* P
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals." X/ P9 f3 Y m2 |; c
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,1 {% O, y& n: T/ e' h
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and6 f2 h1 C. P, S" e
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the0 H5 j9 j8 I1 h; e
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
8 X! U4 I/ \9 s6 M3 t Ucause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only6 s1 P$ m0 I3 u3 M
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained- [+ j, J4 ~8 `$ X
by Toyota's lawyers."
& O3 n' w- l) N" ULentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of) A, N8 t" w: R
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
0 N: a. j+ p* ycustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
( u6 C) o- ]5 Osaid.. Y3 U8 ^& ^' O, a4 j; k3 ^0 T
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
9 d4 V s6 Z7 l8 S0 [* ua rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
' J1 b7 s3 T0 V9 v5 ugood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
4 w1 p; B* Q3 @officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
# l4 K: s& R3 i, o/ cSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying7 U' g4 P/ ?/ w; q
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread: [' o5 p$ X5 A
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
! b- s; B, {* R6 Uautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
5 p0 h: D( V6 {% p! _9 Winvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
6 ~. W A2 }3 i4 j( }* \1 f4 X. a# wChrysler.9 ]2 V! v) p1 X) S. ?3 n
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax& [% ~. g8 v, R% ]8 D- h- {
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a8 Q2 _" ?# A* U3 J9 F
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
+ v# P/ I6 ~3 Y# J% n qserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
* M) S1 |0 Z$ N- X) @with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty, [1 _3 m6 n5 e% d4 w+ p1 C
tough."
% s" I, t6 O% l; J3 ~+ o) j- `---" `7 c( v* w7 _ D! `
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
6 Q: k! D( R* T& ?0 pRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
( N0 W+ [8 Z; w1 lthis story.8 O2 R4 R7 n* @3 g) [4 r( n
. T3 V8 l) n6 `4 @/ O( ?( R1 O' h. c
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