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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题" F- Q: }4 d) n0 \1 M* }6 h% v
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS5 G b1 o4 x4 O( O. ^; m, a' h! k* e
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
+ @" S7 Y7 C9 T5 x9 ^7 ~operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that0 j2 O: o7 n. f4 v
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"" g# V$ ^; r1 q: x1 h, O
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
7 e0 s; n& ~6 n, y; _( \: I"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential: h/ Q8 j3 X, T0 h0 k: z4 \
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
H2 ^# `: p& A& \' cHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected: u& ~* J) a5 n9 p' c2 z6 |: A
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
- z |1 L, R( H& b, O ]trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
1 Q0 ?3 Y8 P2 p8 c+ h. [0 gmats and sticking accelerator pedals.8 J# w) i; d5 W) ~* r( r6 G
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
7 [* t3 v; \. e" h# oand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp" E1 ^0 q1 W4 V
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
3 |( k' G* b9 L" b+ b# Pfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
' d5 `6 a7 [& t2 T+ I; O+ o' e% cnot stop her runaway Lexus.
5 d& Z2 c a- f"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,5 s8 S3 U f- I" L
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
+ q9 ]0 Z& [( ^2 Q u3 ?"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
5 U7 g4 o2 B; H3 C2 f) oTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues8 h+ _0 X) p$ r6 e$ k9 Y4 g. c9 t: O
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
x, u- I5 A& n4 ^ ~"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
$ y, U( }3 b5 Odone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
: @4 V3 j' W- w0 N `! }8 Y1 Q) Bthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's: ?. ?1 F( _0 x. w( a
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."3 @# v2 m2 H! p- n6 d$ G" a
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an' A2 q9 E3 _$ l! v
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of5 |- ~. s/ Y' w; ?5 z
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
! j8 c- W. U3 d1 N; L3 S, Bmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
, X. f Z9 e6 @: T0 Tsaid.
6 H z( l7 h; N. xAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
( V3 c4 B, t' k3 |9 D) h$ G8 yhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe1 S% M: o' r: k2 H5 F
about driving our products," Lentz said.
2 U* j! N9 z2 j3 i( aThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's& R9 D% H- j2 A7 O6 [
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has8 Q6 L' P9 {1 A+ ~* Z
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 64 L+ ]# G& V& g2 ?+ z, @: I
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
% B. z( R* S6 O# z5 F7 Vunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking6 E( |$ T7 a2 X9 ~+ m% H
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
5 C5 J5 M+ q# p; n! W* rconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
. q) p4 d& L6 Q0 [) a! Ftheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
`* h0 f& S2 x J1 P. Vdown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
9 Y1 S8 i- J3 S+ A7 V; yreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration8 ]3 ~- b* N: G; [) X0 {
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
% H C4 y0 X0 |; X* b$ N& a' ^+ A0 }Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own3 z. ?& t% x: r! l4 d/ Z, N5 W' ?! K
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he! Q8 A* ^( S s: Q1 R0 Z
understood the pain.
8 @* }, Z, y7 N8 F5 v"I know what those families go through," he said. c: ]7 s( i! i- P
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
5 [5 m" d; _1 Kfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
: e5 u5 [) h* b) UBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
: M: G2 q: [8 w7 ~) ?) DHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put/ M& K6 l, h* x! q+ N2 H
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
. _& ?" c; C5 X& T. l* }. V% FLentz replied: "Not totally."+ C, e; o' X/ y5 P4 H, ?4 M2 T
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
5 i4 D" _# S: }; h& y"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
G# f/ w( B3 {' VToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas* H. ?3 M& U) g3 R* P/ S
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
- ?5 V6 Z, M# N- ~; s( Cvehicles already on the road.5 L6 Q5 { ]0 U% l) Z* i
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify/ W, C: c) l3 Z2 L
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
1 o8 G: Q8 ^+ o8 wresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
1 E% b" y2 S- } Y0 @, zoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were3 i5 n' o( p1 y9 X0 d% A* [% F. W
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
! {3 s4 v5 I R: o6 O$ I"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
" `* S& ~3 t) z Q( ?tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony1 y y8 Z7 U" H5 @) @
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight! Z6 Q6 e0 C, w: e! L. @
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal2 m8 c& B1 E, [0 M9 I( e
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to: H6 ~' o4 Y7 r5 K) a9 B2 v! Y
restore the trust of our customers."$ y* L5 B W: m8 k/ R( `/ t
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
, \ J8 N- \, p: jSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
6 T, E4 f; j! \1 K$ q4 c) Czoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
- R. ?& I2 Z3 @, W) n# w& nshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
2 d2 {" p- c# W X3 [" T! |- ghitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough5 y2 [! L- H; X7 J
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
# z. a6 M; Y: x% `turn off the engine.! Y2 F/ |! R, k8 S1 B0 R
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of% I7 B* N2 \6 u) c6 K: O: z, R' ?% P
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."5 T* E# X6 A- g. g
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
, z. N# S+ C5 a: e+ Dsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
. V* N) o% G6 O, uto her complaints.8 M, a, j- R! i9 x8 l0 _; F
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
! N% H$ I4 h' g* F% V% S' Sreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic# o. A. P; `- @
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.+ g: e$ q3 w% w7 X' Y6 s, ]0 i6 f6 Y
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
5 o( E! Q! f& h) u4 R- pthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited, W: ~$ \1 V; s" B
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut5 [( Z$ d4 {3 O# f* p$ W
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
. k, n1 Y1 b6 x: i& V. vTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in3 z1 ~; F# D' I/ E: ~* N
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were9 o8 r+ }7 Y5 p
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
1 {" V# N5 y4 G; Z5 Owere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
5 V6 b0 g0 N$ T# \1 ^+ ^* `9 B' H, Cevery question."! E5 @" e; F2 g( v/ `
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
5 r6 U- F1 L* velectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The5 c- c9 U) n9 e9 r/ w4 B8 a# l1 z" Q
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
$ w# w9 C7 v5 v9 Y& qcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small/ v B2 B+ _ E4 y4 B+ f Z
number of vehicles; r7 m, P7 v0 ?* y) _$ D
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
7 P+ Z7 F, J4 r- [ G& F3 C& Wdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
) u3 |0 x S. R& E1 l0 A' t5 Fmechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one! }+ d+ d" E- `; }
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.+ K/ ?6 k. M2 N0 d) _) }
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
7 e' Z5 g- A7 O; h lwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
- I& j0 ], n5 G. htrace at all.
. N# g$ p: {: b* q1 U: qHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
& P6 {3 G) _; e) s% _7 N* K v3 ndatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden
( W* ~% K9 F; U% |1 |* j racceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
7 N2 M; k, j, x+ k' \9 `- E6 Urecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
, r; W* r8 M, b: y. u' v0 g0 R! _Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,' {0 |+ \0 j1 f# V, u8 ~; v& f% n
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
8 l8 Z+ q- y7 V, H4 R- jother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the4 ?, h# A) ]0 Y, q
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible1 u& v4 {6 e# v$ B
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only0 u8 Z% r* N# P! j2 V
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
. _0 u/ r3 Q% q* kby Toyota's lawyers."
! H Y2 J4 u8 Q8 u/ VLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of4 J1 L; j$ H g9 v' K+ U. p
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
; Z8 j2 d* a8 ^- x! w- p3 Z) Q" h9 ecustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he( r: v! Q& c( i+ I3 ]* T9 P
said.
2 I, | t& ?2 u% M! [3 B6 b$ }% O"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with8 C% S# [, z! _) @
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
% L/ k$ M$ k# e; ^- P Sgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
, O# O+ s9 M( E& |4 |! Q) N- wofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
; M( f5 \% d" e9 R7 S( P# s* [Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
) S, `1 s% E& H8 P4 cmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
: j* u6 I9 ]- T% E8 b3 Q$ ]1 i) Erancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
q7 n; @% T$ u$ ~4 V9 Eautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
) }& E, }9 Y) t7 Sinvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
" @3 `8 D. p: oChrysler.$ T3 ~* s- S7 Y. g2 c. W
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
4 r6 R1 M! h6 k, ]/ o qdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a6 o5 w7 c7 `/ o
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also& I! B. S8 d# ?9 w! [6 k
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
$ ?+ E: k2 t: F& f9 b8 lwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty& t, l+ j* c) [& o( T* f
tough."
' k0 {& T- L _ h N) T$ ?---
: X% U+ N) o% V8 ~ TAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom* z& e$ T8 [0 \6 s# D2 p
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to3 M: Z+ R/ y Y7 ~' m+ @' Y
this story.
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-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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