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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
% G) i! O* \5 ]+ e5 y. U( @+ oBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
* |8 u- ~/ @ s0 ^' E5 aWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
1 E4 L: [6 f* u% moperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
( s3 b- H! p, jthe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally", j, b# S6 \6 y
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.9 k8 h7 a- j( [1 Q+ v
"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential" {: e- g x6 b5 o- K4 E
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.5 _3 \: o: {0 p# f& h7 i
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
. @$ w% f: c- J: A* w' j; c& L9 Aacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
' J( h% i* n& P& M# u, Ntrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor) u/ \% m0 j/ ~& h( e
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
9 X+ m: X' C/ N9 {8 }He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
3 J4 f# j7 g9 r- p9 w; D# J0 uand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp4 q) ?; o4 K4 N! O/ g) t
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
: w9 c4 U5 B0 sfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could" w: K% k3 g x% L1 T
not stop her runaway Lexus.
- Z5 _! H$ D! R' d& i/ l! Y"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
* B2 s9 v7 n5 \3 UTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second$ p: `4 W7 U# ?, f1 Q# Z4 K
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.$ u' \9 b/ T1 x% e
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues8 L; s4 g" u% ~* |
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
5 }# W% y3 P% ~9 `& M! U"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
# U+ }+ p+ l2 Xdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
- v+ A: j! V. H. hthrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
: J' V! `! @' F3 Q m* @investigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
* e4 m$ S8 A( g6 g* uLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
" {% p* L5 p; ]% F8 L4 ?electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of3 A1 H% @7 x% M8 A3 f. C" `% m, Q$ C
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
/ B; z+ b6 _3 Omalfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he7 L+ v, u2 y! E. W4 X
said.
* `5 }8 r1 T) w0 ~. }As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
) w7 J4 }- ~; r* E( \9 _( Lhappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
6 d* z( k1 W/ D: x. ]about driving our products," Lentz said.
% x' E; g7 s- @+ [* h2 {Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's- r! |) N- C! B, d& z
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has! ]9 K5 E3 W8 C
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
$ G" S4 y! ?: P7 T4 [' wmillion in the United States -- since last fall because of
; S2 c: \5 Y. q! K* c Zunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
' J% `; M! e) t+ ?7 T1 @( E4 l4 kissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering3 h& q/ m5 @" u
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of* i+ ~, M/ L4 w9 K
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow/ _! T0 `0 b; h* Y$ W& j
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has0 b- h; @3 z5 p# a
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration" `0 A3 R$ c: w F) b4 _
of Toyota vehicles since 2000.3 {) E& v: p& O8 `( c/ ~
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own
# ]0 L* r; e9 q3 q# _8 P4 mbrother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he& d+ w4 K" Y' O7 n4 W4 {
understood the pain.3 N# Y' b( Y2 L0 R: R( ~( G, x; Y
"I know what those families go through," he said.% }, r% c z( G
Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's2 j/ O: z" @8 J3 [: A, `- G. d
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
$ w" c+ Q. Q! b1 D3 BBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
8 P3 t, E7 f, d4 b9 {Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put0 e* U }+ p, L d% W8 S1 ^
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,; }) _0 ]0 f7 j+ v
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
3 h+ ~ W4 e1 U" {2 u! B* } y& Q" AStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were9 n# \) o+ V2 g; H8 |/ d
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said$ j5 Z' c$ R5 K9 v$ K: I5 P
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
! ]" B9 O4 w3 u4 k9 Ipedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
/ ~* D8 l d# B7 G; s" L8 Hvehicles already on the road.; ]& D; v* F5 s$ [/ l8 I
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify G; g" p% G) V% o9 }7 n, j
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full& k* y7 z' o1 |& p1 j
responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
0 T% D1 j# T9 F6 a! E4 h: K+ }3 Yoffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were2 w7 o! s3 E" U$ [
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
/ R( O( b% @4 c"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
" s9 I! p+ _* J, G4 ?* Ctragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony) L/ ?6 M2 s; o" y
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight) |* N4 m" f4 b! L
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal7 @! \3 Q& E; f# g% S
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to" B }8 J6 y \" _% I3 C$ D
restore the trust of our customers."
% A7 o, ~) |; |$ F3 {Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from& d, W/ S* I; X5 n! K
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
; s, |) H( f; l, d7 vzoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
) q4 a7 {/ B& e6 v6 `0 gshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
: E2 `+ l, d- X, uhitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough% B: S: d7 `0 a5 S" x/ \4 g% h
that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
. c- Q5 Y9 `% O0 a5 [3 P, mturn off the engine.* P7 X4 [7 H' ]8 b6 g2 j
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of- z3 h9 P+ C9 t; \! f9 F
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
2 o; W! O/ s! h6 g6 e"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
% ^9 f7 _2 T' @/ ]4 A% V8 xsaid. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond% L- z6 u3 ], X* J7 w9 c) z
to her complaints.
! M. P" v8 m5 l4 X( ]; f. W$ gIn an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
0 h% R) N8 [1 e1 Q: \4 C. Nreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic* D# a4 ^( D/ e7 V% L4 ]; l7 G) B
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
) M7 B% [. d2 I; ^; [- A"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric+ f6 s+ _) x+ T( A( K& F8 S
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
/ c+ c- N+ o! Y9 H$ |& W"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut# a# u5 K2 }# \$ E
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
! g" P9 B! Q5 j* i( S: FTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
9 ~+ D9 @. t6 [7 ~. h& e/ y: Wprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were; N: C& y8 f4 Q
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
, A( T! E6 f! @5 Jwere important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
8 r. w; U/ S8 n+ r2 M) E4 f* levery question."
6 q$ r6 ]' W9 a' k$ G; mToyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
/ N6 y8 q0 x# Yelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
y X, r/ n4 a$ ~' V4 v2 {4 Ufirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But2 j& a. [+ E. ]4 ^
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
7 c9 s3 q5 p- n- Rnumber of vehicles
' ^5 E3 ?- g1 H3 Y% c8 hTracking down an electrical problem can be far more( z3 t. O7 U' r$ ?
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
/ t1 U+ o- L' z( z% o3 I5 n2 _mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
6 Y8 `8 r, u$ S( S# t& y! `5 bsource, and they can come from inside or outside the car.
7 U# V: B. p/ Q9 i6 g0 R( BMechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,' v" K, @7 W! X% w% I* @
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no) n4 }) }: M) q+ u3 ? m7 q5 C" C
trace at all. }9 y* G" j7 O2 {
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
. ?1 ?# Z! t ^4 Cdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden/ @: ^7 o, {3 J/ w+ o J3 ^
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
9 K7 w$ y8 J% h- F# Irecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
g7 g. E, Z8 z& d2 R% R& URep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
1 P# c/ w3 n& t& R p9 Rsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and7 H% T$ g( g: H- \
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
- u" a" e1 t, Helectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
4 k; l5 \2 E3 lcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only* P6 x9 Q9 y ?& w! v) g! T
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
3 e x D* |* Y0 d8 d2 P: `by Toyota's lawyers."4 @5 Z1 f8 R' `2 T
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of5 x# a$ S, r D C
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
: _+ B( p2 V8 n; u# i' tcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he W) G! s" c. }, B* B4 m; q
said.. m) Q: f" E" G) y4 n) G: I
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with) @# c' W' Q% V, C) J
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
& z1 N4 l) A8 A) Rgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating/ D6 `# D" L" M; B3 I
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.1 `2 T/ [6 S3 c8 J& m& t/ |- o
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying* m- H& M. x) ^' w
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread; @% _' S1 H/ o6 K' Y
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the. ?- s. T5 C0 S3 X; t, |0 h% s
automaker, at least in part because of the government's* z" ^- I& b) C$ P& ?* d
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
D4 Z( y3 ~" y7 V& d" O; oChrysler.6 J3 Q2 P: P9 D+ {
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax3 M9 |+ B. I( N& H
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a
3 f2 E( _3 ]& b7 I6 UHouston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
% B& p* I( _- o' P6 A3 c# d5 Fserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
* K( K) g- {$ l% ]& `( f8 H' _* twith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
8 t5 J& C2 _- v$ c0 W8 d, i5 ttough."; E" q9 B( A P7 u+ I0 [
---
2 Q5 @; L, o& r7 {( cAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
) ]) z$ s$ j$ U" R2 f, PRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
& |# h2 B7 D* I/ x) s# Ythis story.
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* T& ]3 O7 m3 }4 M! x-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
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