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发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题8 @! Y) h2 j: K0 Y$ K8 L1 p1 M
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS" {7 p/ u8 ~5 A4 F' L# q
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.0 S, p' C/ Z8 a1 p/ p/ ]3 Y
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
) U3 `% j" z. s4 B% k. U' gthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"7 |. D. W4 L% v$ u3 N
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.( u! x5 c9 d) s% N& ]
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
# Y) H* |8 m' @causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel. @5 c8 I- T" ~$ n4 @! g
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected E& t4 b3 I5 w, H9 Y$ o
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
! V0 ~2 f7 g$ `( D+ r2 Strucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
" Q1 b6 B$ }& C# T+ Pmats and sticking accelerator pedals.. ^+ M$ a9 c: i8 b
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
+ ~# k8 O- u5 L% @% }- x3 V7 N" Xand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp' Y6 F/ z. I, F0 S
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be! g3 @* s% \& B" f
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could3 y7 X2 r+ \0 h1 r$ @0 ?
not stop her runaway Lexus.! T/ Q& j7 I B/ c
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,& \9 I+ P! ]* q
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
/ p5 O0 t1 Y, I X6 ]# E3 Y"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
- k: G; s3 K* q3 d7 B& R* CTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues3 @. |0 |6 Y R' b6 _. C
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
2 D* P E" H5 v% n9 {"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
# T( e, `0 a9 Tdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
6 i4 U% K) o. k8 w/ V2 V/ y) p$ uthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's5 T. B* D5 ~: ?
investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
" j7 \$ x. a1 ~8 x2 \8 K. ELentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
- K! x: F* C- Q' P/ G5 n Felectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of, X3 R6 } X3 [6 _# V. y
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a, v. I) c$ U1 W
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
+ J" g2 P; r# ^6 Y3 z' ^0 U4 x* psaid.
4 f2 \# k$ |; T% d5 a) Q0 ^; dAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what; v* @8 g2 b& V& G
happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe9 H$ I* v2 t5 q
about driving our products," Lentz said.
3 U X# M3 P/ d; M* b' PThree congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
5 j! z3 n# f9 w3 Kproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
1 M. _9 v% k& ]! N1 x6 ?recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
( l8 P j6 K9 x5 Rmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
# S0 S% T$ ~/ c+ n7 v9 X7 Nunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking3 p+ p2 ]/ g3 P) O) a7 V7 o
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering: H( i) @1 b0 W; t- ^9 O
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
- ^; g% y8 e* d" d+ r6 n& ?: `4 \their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow3 z! z. Y) p+ b4 c% [0 H+ e" A/ z
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
+ l; F( z% |, m8 q" t4 t. vreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration9 C" O. W; L2 T* a
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
- W) Z6 J0 G vLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
! ~: ~2 d" g7 W! h8 Tbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he5 j( W7 F6 t7 s5 w' U& h N
understood the pain.% q' m; c2 O0 L w! Q
"I know what those families go through," he said.
0 Q7 o& Q4 h- K( p' T. XLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
& \* Q) z" W: v( ? \& C4 d( ]fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.0 D2 l: n. Y9 W, s1 p' h% v/ d
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
% Y+ Y9 _) ^7 F+ R+ r, MHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put* R, Z; B% y& Y3 L( P9 s2 ~+ i3 S( N
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,0 R( y. a: G+ H: ^7 p3 E
Lentz replied: "Not totally."8 A9 ?4 I& t" Y& J+ K: _
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were, I2 ]$ B9 b8 x# r/ ^
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
7 O) e. J# e4 Q; tToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
' f# n4 r5 r5 d. x# G1 @pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its) I. _* p% p, H: R& L
vehicles already on the road.
5 r7 a. @8 j! u4 qMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify6 g7 h, G) i8 L8 E9 _
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
) Y: d0 p! O" z. Y j Bresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
9 \" G2 H: n, ~offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were
2 r; @0 e. z8 t7 \- lkilled in late August, reigniting interest in the problems. ~/ {- K0 j. l" |
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
, L3 H1 t; W8 n; c2 l3 Ttragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony1 L" R7 |7 x: r5 K, k
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight
3 f* q8 \6 s, D J( vCommittee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal6 t7 e. v8 A' o- V
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to0 t1 Y( C9 h- o) K
restore the trust of our customers."/ n, o$ |% c7 [8 ?
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
' Z8 n$ Z" t r; B6 n+ t, xSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
3 ~* r4 |: `% b# T; Q, C% jzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
" t6 \1 h* b" t: c& P: ?shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and% \ P, E9 Q- j
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough) {* @: [4 S! a
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and& J4 C1 v% n1 B+ s
turn off the engine.
8 W# J) W1 H' k& A5 }( U6 X: OFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
/ ~( U( L0 y7 V6 \October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."" M2 i S: l: v, C6 J. P; c( s
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she2 x* o0 i! V' a, w% X$ ]# g
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond( A8 ?2 {' K8 V6 w' G" [. v C
to her complaints.9 {6 ~, ^7 [- p( {" z6 ~4 @4 X" B4 Y9 N
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers$ i0 V! C$ [4 p0 a+ ^) |' C
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic/ q7 u3 f) L& {( b0 u
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.6 m- c# u' n. S1 }6 w5 s
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric9 d6 A1 A/ E& y& w& c6 f
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited6 U' F0 D. V* g0 E* Q3 y
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut/ L. c+ `5 R& S( W0 i
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
/ [; I. v: Q. W, uTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in5 c* A7 L \: P1 U" K
prepared testimony that possible electronics problems were$ }: w% W) _& c* o
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls$ w# N; ^5 ~5 |; z: K
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
6 a ^+ c8 `1 J4 t4 xevery question."
0 F7 O, e. l- h& TToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether& `; i* }8 b: E0 \# z8 x' o& Q
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
' ?" d2 `! n+ V3 U/ S% s5 E# ]firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But3 l8 f9 c& V! R( B8 b
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
$ }5 ]! R2 M: T# S! K: g/ L3 {number of vehicles2 L E$ [5 I& i5 O3 Z6 r
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more8 z) J2 S1 X# ~8 [2 T
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a: l; e, N' E9 n7 y9 z' A
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
_$ @( u/ t0 C$ a2 z, H8 K- xsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
. \( e/ N' t# wMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
% q: r) B2 ` Uwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
; S, H2 f0 W3 F+ ~3 P& S) Ftrace at all.: U- l* g$ z, J5 L
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
K1 D- D/ L$ i! Z4 D5 hdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden) ]% m' I% y# s2 M0 q* x
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the5 j# x' q# f" u, ?+ }3 v: _2 z& U4 V
recalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
. P1 j6 ?7 z) _4 K4 pRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,1 n! c3 x/ j, s5 Z4 N" }* C6 M- y8 n# L
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and5 h! r& j9 x* S3 Z
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
* a$ f' R# a% G8 P' U6 W8 M7 felectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
, I$ y7 ]8 G9 z4 u3 Fcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only5 s- H( S% _+ H% K; x& e/ i( Z
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained2 H& m5 Z" O6 V# V! d/ \+ ~
by Toyota's lawyers."
8 G; y3 h. Q2 d5 G' P( ~Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of1 K8 |- S4 ~/ F7 M8 W
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our: C# o/ v, B5 C& }% _' v
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
# m( B! s- D# S, O5 r, `) Tsaid.
& ^7 E, V2 @% e( h# T7 s"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with% ~% ^5 q* X' I& A
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
4 [7 [1 B+ L% z, Sgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating! R& K; J# z% p" `" p; v
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.( `3 [2 j( c- M% t
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
/ C# m' d7 Y& R: c) B) Q, |9 z! Q* h: Jmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread) K( M% j, L J
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
2 u' x, s: S! _0 P+ Aautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
- I# t$ |. g% O% v- E0 ^investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
k% {) {( B! A0 j& D) ?Chrysler., S; S5 ?4 ?: A9 }0 W
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax" Z7 z, M; v9 h
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
: g: A5 D1 d: |2 ^7 `+ [) O, lHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
4 J- c" m; L9 `, fserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
9 i- P6 P2 `/ b. E; Iwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
) u- D: v e8 d$ N' k- D/ i; otough."
. F9 D. q6 c( ]! k$ }) t* j---) ?4 a1 z) N& w
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom% A' f2 G' v: k5 \4 W
Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
3 `4 _2 f% \. ^) Sthis story.( x+ B. J# u D2 s9 b. V* @4 M! h7 A) j1 `
0 u" y7 X. |/ C! A-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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