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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题
. K5 p) [* l5 z& J% L. \* C2 eBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS) B- D# [. s; y& Z% v& H
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
. R$ [3 J7 r/ a" o boperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that: |) e* Q" E0 \. c- O9 w/ }" |* c
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally". L, {2 `5 }# l
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration. \, b9 e' b) ]2 B- `" c
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
$ ~$ D% L- ~7 ~6 @causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
( P: @8 k8 I0 ]5 s. w% u8 _- J" @However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected9 c6 a% }+ D4 K) x0 [
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
# O2 c* A7 b% }; {* utrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor) u, U- _9 ?+ M, a2 g% i
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.# p4 n9 ?& s' e! q1 V6 P1 E+ R
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal% M0 g1 p) _! l3 a9 |- z* z) [
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
; c* D) W" b. {9 ucriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be i* M- I6 I. h8 a( V* F o
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could' R* j+ g0 H5 P" I4 N/ O* c
not stop her runaway Lexus.2 P+ _+ X6 P* m7 D; ?" H
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
3 i/ s7 S* W& q& z$ l* lTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second" b% G: \) c. @# ?8 }, ^' X
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
2 Y7 t2 ]$ G% {, b) k; ITexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues8 P% I- e1 B, g; A
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
$ m( y# G7 @0 g- E$ n% K"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
, T, V$ e5 i& `$ R( ndone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway7 `6 ^' h" h! F3 k
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
( \2 ?, N% Z5 i9 ^2 y( minvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."$ v5 h/ I+ v) x2 `7 a7 V
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an' j0 K& m; _% O
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
) `; O/ Y" _( W5 A& ~; t8 [* v" ithe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
9 a3 R! i& h; lmalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
]3 F9 V' J1 @* U+ esaid.
, J5 D$ W* S$ l% {4 R2 L- A* HAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what* d3 Z8 L' U& r, Q* w' K* e
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe1 F) _: T7 b) n/ `! m$ `$ s
about driving our products," Lentz said.
2 d" n, b* m. s3 C: HThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's- [- e3 \' p+ Y, @9 a3 G
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
! `% @7 S* \0 k4 a# V6 K% zrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
! R. t8 I5 K+ r( jmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of4 y; D# q4 a7 E6 f/ I1 g- o
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
9 Y1 p- L6 K% }. Eissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering; i ^4 S. o$ n; I5 S/ j
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
! t$ Q3 g5 k6 W- ]5 e$ |% [5 C. Wtheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
( S* l6 T7 e1 O" d+ T1 s$ A, odown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
4 f$ q- Q, l6 ireceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
! L/ x5 v5 S: l% v/ [of Toyota vehicles since 2000.+ C8 ~1 V* r* H K, |3 }/ d, c7 H
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
. \" `/ ~0 b/ u9 `2 ^1 P! Ebrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
5 \0 {. e, d3 u; C7 T/ p6 Lunderstood the pain.# }, Y m7 |3 b3 S$ ?0 Z
"I know what those families go through," he said.
; _5 q1 L( L; s; O rLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's2 h$ K( P; `' \; _$ c
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems./ _1 Q: Q3 N7 C/ {* F$ q+ F
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
" _# P% V! ~$ J& oHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
0 x2 f5 \ d* V& Gin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,1 i8 L/ ?. D# B) ~# B% j
Lentz replied: "Not totally."# C: x+ v! }3 ?1 u6 x
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
* @* R1 l4 ~0 D9 k" h A- M"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said) Y% t0 K) k" Z, Y! v. i: D3 C
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
2 [5 D$ o# t% l) z+ v. Opedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its8 v! _; V. y5 @% P" x9 y: _$ f
vehicles already on the road.
: t6 S b# R) q+ ^& KMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify
2 @8 X9 n8 r1 S3 u' R2 I$ vbefore a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full6 }3 x2 x$ C1 _! C6 l
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
7 b) S' |/ F7 g& h7 foffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
. F1 T8 z! Q5 R7 ?6 L9 d& J) Z- |+ Akilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.6 x: t- d& J# N" o3 m5 q! S$ _
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
+ v9 i) G. g/ \/ b7 E8 Z* Utragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony& Q0 \% c. `+ u' T! K9 P K
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight0 p0 K: e d( I9 Q, P7 j
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal' o) ]4 \; Z" S; w9 {1 W' l0 K4 M
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to! L/ ?: Z* f/ ?9 N% `2 p+ a
restore the trust of our customers."
4 s6 h* g) @/ [+ B/ @% S# wLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from, T ]8 A( T+ N0 _: I
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly4 H# @; O m& O5 v8 o* Y) J- b
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
2 I; }) k- Z ]5 i& J% F1 d; Xshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and% a6 T5 m4 E6 P/ r
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
' b: \+ j) U$ _that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
4 n# J0 O1 A7 w# K! k, tturn off the engine./ ]4 o( r' y# z
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of( R* ^5 M& ?* Y, `- z1 r
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."" x2 L M3 Z+ b5 L. R8 n& Z; f& s& I
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she' B% C" M8 x% h, V" n
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
% x+ E* J7 t0 i1 h9 o+ `0 a, mto her complaints.
- Y( N3 Q; q- e* ?In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers% Y$ P4 K' P+ f( z% L$ j
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic _2 T) R. l* i
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
, q* z' c' s; Y3 ^: P+ ^( Z: X# ]"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric9 [1 ?7 t7 P z K Q3 e
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited, R i4 w( I O6 u8 B S- [) g
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
3 \. Z9 r6 r7 D5 m* Q) boff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
0 Q* x* E' E# c) wTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in/ N! @* G7 b0 u3 ^+ P" E4 y
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were: E0 U) V4 C. T$ K) n
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
: _1 b7 ~% e7 m# T" `% `! g) l" Awere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
6 b' u u7 O3 N/ Qevery question.". b+ u6 I/ A' J; M
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
+ t' V }; e! M; zelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The2 A6 G" m% R. ^6 F1 Y* u
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But
. ~% ]! l/ S5 h; v* a hcommittee investigators said the testing studied only a small
3 ^8 u: o, u9 dnumber of vehicles7 C9 \' O W o0 ]9 m
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
3 c" G5 K3 ^ tdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
6 b+ H7 m2 p+ J) P, h& x# [mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
- P+ u8 o1 F0 o3 M1 Q) |, ^: j2 Ssource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.* e5 O+ @% g T# T
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
0 y4 u$ s1 {$ O4 b4 V% xwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no& w) \4 @3 {7 R8 G! Q! q
trace at all. [7 K) E- b- {- B
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
3 l5 ^- W# l& x. u$ I- ~database found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden0 {% g, E) }2 z9 [8 [6 \+ Y r* G X/ y; T
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the' a+ ^: F! U/ j
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals., J; L; I7 G4 S
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
( G' B) f) _- i% q4 A( Z/ v3 B4 g% _said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
) B7 Z7 T- \ l* k2 w/ T hother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the4 ^0 s0 C, n; B( r2 b$ I. C; W& [; Z
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible) [7 E2 f y/ k; g
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only* \8 v/ \- ~ n+ q$ }
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained2 I& m, o Y5 b) Y4 `& I
by Toyota's lawyers."( X: h- F8 X2 X* J9 p- {
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
" l: ^3 j# B5 V3 f+ l8 I8 {" ~2 R( J Jproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
, D; k/ _. x2 ^/ Acustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
! z" H5 }7 v! s' }, P! j9 Xsaid.. B: e5 u: ?0 t0 A5 H! I
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
: b% x" j, J; Ha rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
/ L: I/ R# H% a7 O7 M+ V. tgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating; D m! C; m; y. Q6 C6 d
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.& x2 J: o3 p ?! x
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying1 ]6 w) R5 s2 A- T
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
. ]' _2 I1 D/ W! k% @rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the! B+ J) D! Q% O; D6 w$ c- o- v) ]2 O7 P7 m* N
automaker, at least in part because of the government's0 r: E/ e7 D8 L9 d' s
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
9 l7 P& w# f6 [. \. c, vChrysler.; n4 ]7 Y2 S# A
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
9 H& [) _; m7 p& z4 F) adollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
9 g; H+ n/ ~) n) z+ B4 HHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
! p1 [# k% ?$ ?2 I. _served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete; U8 u7 K+ a2 v% q4 j
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
' j0 p2 ^4 V* W( {+ T- p, c ?8 ztough."$ N# ~( \/ k$ I
---
3 y" M# x: w8 v6 H7 VAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
( Y# c. }) p6 |$ A, VRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
Y: R% j* N; p* dthis story.
. m3 C$ j* E. ~7 u# `! @7 {4 _: `
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