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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题" w3 A! T3 E. E0 V% I
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS& f3 X1 b( ]- U9 U( }% `
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.3 G1 z6 M) Z" C3 R) h- c# ?% ~
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
) F; b6 y4 P& G, s2 H6 M: rthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"8 D* a; ?0 q" g" [2 X c
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
6 j6 N( ]3 N F"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
6 M( k D2 _" C. e" a- F$ F$ C% @6 A! ycauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.* m* ?: `! Y5 d# `2 X& o
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
% M9 r) Z% u6 w7 A* Lacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and5 r# z6 Z, v. }% [, F3 y: g7 ?( Y
trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
6 X, \8 w9 X( [! z) Z' Y1 Omats and sticking accelerator pedals.
s& v/ k1 J8 A" X4 V5 @* [He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
; Z% l h2 P& C0 Land fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
! b' N3 P0 @' G3 T# _( @3 Lcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be P X% X" N A% z
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
( H+ r0 x. e2 c, ]0 inot stop her runaway Lexus., @9 g- D$ d/ K: o8 v
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,% ~5 _! Y+ Q! G3 A
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second$ g n& m7 Q- P2 G: Q5 E
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
9 }2 v9 b. e, mTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
; {( M/ f3 ]5 i3 C4 Aearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said; A" p4 C1 ]) K( W6 A- K9 F2 Q0 x$ j
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has( @9 u J9 @% ~' }, ~9 B- t' d
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway+ \8 Y! h! w/ V. h
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
( n5 J- K! U. Q; o, L6 ginvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham.", o& T2 c0 ]0 H. ]) h( f! W# L, u
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an% o& z# N( F7 Z- I2 l E" t% Y2 @
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
4 `1 O# y; M0 N7 _+ R4 V0 rthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
4 r- K9 k+ F9 pmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he9 U; r. n/ O( C0 R$ Y# Z, q
said.
/ w2 n/ Y# p$ d/ ^/ D5 dAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
[5 C' m) u) S6 k( Dhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe' r: V1 e; t; _7 G4 O
about driving our products," Lentz said.
# |: _% w- X0 }4 ~( g" oThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
; _" J! H+ D- y* lproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
! P. \; R4 a6 g$ V* ^5 H# Hrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
6 T- g5 }, ^1 a; P o# `+ [million in the United States -- since last fall because of
: q. Z$ T0 U# ~$ ^8 p" T' F! Nunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
& {- z) {5 J K1 { qissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering8 `2 G7 Y* N6 z' O5 X
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
; v& ?* j, I% Ftheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow- T; d0 F5 W7 n/ O3 N
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has+ O7 V o# f! W9 }' O( i% d$ E
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
3 _+ p5 X4 _9 y* P+ Nof Toyota vehicles since 2000.
- E4 }( V" M! d- ~7 }/ N' ?Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
* F, n. f: {* U$ N; jbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he. \( E' ^) l; ^; `# P- G: e
understood the pain.
% v% s2 Y0 `2 Z+ Q"I know what those families go through," he said.
$ Y& |- x* o* c4 @0 [1 s7 }Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
6 u! B. U! _) ?! Bfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.& ~: s5 U: y$ b' D( `; c
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman& W: j6 j2 E& D
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
# ~/ e' s: J ~* u% p5 o pin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
5 Y# u! i6 @. _0 BLentz replied: "Not totally."; W' T& i+ `. l" o& I7 K; M
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
, v/ @4 w! ~0 R"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
0 i6 n. x" [$ g9 c. G dToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas/ t: w9 G; W& h3 {5 T1 i) N
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
1 P( M8 {1 r6 S6 M- a/ P% E# svehicles already on the road.
7 y' x' f6 E, G( C/ e1 Z8 LMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify k S/ R9 E, s! E
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
* h# E3 D# J' E2 Vresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
) c+ _0 R. x5 D6 n" F: y2 T2 W; Aoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
) {( F, n2 U$ Ckilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
8 p; x/ y2 l3 H2 ^" t"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a& _' x) S7 {; P8 n
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony; k/ ?7 k/ T" {
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight( C) b! s! G N' h# d* b$ l
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal- C( a$ ^" H* @8 r
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to9 A9 o- o( ?2 A- i4 d
restore the trust of our customers."
) e U1 t, e8 JLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from& W; w5 V' ?7 r
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly! t2 L/ W; L$ Z5 ^
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --0 H6 S: [9 A# A1 e+ ~ D
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and* c, o8 J* {; ?, x5 r/ u5 H* W
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough; ]4 | {& G+ {. N+ r/ A
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and3 I3 n: m7 ] O7 X9 O( w5 Z1 k$ v0 d
turn off the engine.
4 s. i- H2 |9 [3 MFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of a: q. ]0 J2 E% `4 j
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
" _- z/ \) {8 O9 H* ?( E"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
' ], \% n9 L2 t5 Vsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
7 o6 v! {- R) W4 X) n* Rto her complaints.
9 l- Y0 ^ Y+ g m' p7 @. rIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers# T+ z; R* a" L, p, b% |- W& Y
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
3 @. r5 J4 f! Tmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.% ~: A4 t. E7 z9 Q8 l3 R% K
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric+ }5 Y) G9 r; c3 Z4 K. K" [
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
1 [' p+ G& c( M"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut. v6 q3 [3 b: g$ s& D
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
0 y6 Z, A/ O+ c- E& _Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
9 M w& T. c5 [8 {- M+ I. ~prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were
' ?1 v; V8 L+ g. x# pbeing looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
8 d+ Q9 ?3 E- R+ {) t5 fwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
& U8 v# \$ i0 B# fevery question."
6 |; f& a; }( p c# `7 AToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
8 m7 K `, I# E, ^* [' c- C& @electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The1 G9 ?" b" M( n8 l. X$ g" I; E1 [
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
4 c0 R( H8 X3 Pcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
) R5 ]0 o7 Y' [2 h0 c2 Q1 r5 T/ Y2 jnumber of vehicles
1 K4 Q# W) ]8 p$ V1 o5 b( \7 w0 ~Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
: B8 k; A6 h' X4 t: V5 i4 n8 {difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a$ H! e2 f, X9 V4 F$ Q
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
6 |1 z- h! b3 A& N# ksource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.2 m' K1 ]2 c: A3 [2 l; g- {1 w
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,) S; a9 M: _) H6 Z/ {" s& N: C
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no2 v! Y- F z$ m6 Q3 l, [! z/ y2 ^
trace at all.+ ^7 p) K% k* E; e/ J4 S+ `
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call0 X/ M/ q( r0 }
database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden) K4 d, d5 }' f, }3 x% u
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
7 c: S* W# H1 O3 X0 ]7 ^3 R5 Wrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.* b2 R) d4 b( q: V& H
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,) f9 T* a. b7 S
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and& d0 {. ` t; {' Q$ Q9 s4 |$ p
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the/ [1 g9 r$ ]/ m
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
! m/ a+ `" x' ?$ @cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
, I5 `( c$ l ?0 Y0 a& usuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained' Q- l+ Y( s" h
by Toyota's lawyers."5 {# V8 \( Q& W5 X' L+ Z. h: G
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of6 P$ D: g3 V6 l1 G; p! a& S' |
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our( D8 o3 O* C% i0 K
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
( `4 d6 _& V/ a R$ isaid.5 g6 O/ ?3 ]# v" ?! [9 H
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with* a0 _' {6 q8 C ^9 h/ a1 k n
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
$ I# q1 ^* ~9 }/ {, n/ o. {* A1 pgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
4 W1 m2 G9 M7 \2 o5 u2 I6 C2 `officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
6 }" j- P, z, FSeparately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying+ R0 T- n) w. s, b9 V
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread# {) {: a1 O; W$ |% I7 r
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the* o( b4 Z- w" o" U! W
automaker, at least in part because of the government's
- _/ |- d4 n) u2 W$ j& X7 W/ {& Rinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and$ Z$ _6 k" A" G+ Q# g' Y* U" }& L$ {
Chrysler.
; R* `) f& h5 p: x, V"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
+ z* r' D; _* |! W) c. Vdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
: m, F& w0 r6 y9 JHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also0 F& ?- u* I; T% e3 m9 s: e1 P
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
5 [: h7 m8 o. R- Fwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
8 i+ {9 C/ v0 @$ n7 `tough."; z+ F0 L9 B: M! _
---
: \) I' l' H g7 kAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom7 \. Y; f! L2 v- \
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to! K, Q& J3 z& R% s4 |8 I) o# q
this story.9 p' o# e% Q0 ?: F7 ~
4 ], R5 z. c+ d8 T
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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