 鲜花( 1)  鸡蛋( 0)
|

楼主 |
发表于 2010-2-24 01:19
|
显示全部楼层
丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题3 w& t* c: H p
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS! c7 A0 ]( S3 o# F3 o7 d. n
Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S." C/ `, V) L4 D1 }: |
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that8 d, V& A% ]4 Z2 F) G. [( e8 b3 l
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
6 j: r, m* Y. P& C3 e& L/ X3 [solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
6 m$ |' ` Y6 o: i8 p9 T1 e"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential! }$ \- _; c) s7 y
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
# w9 j5 z: V+ ~3 u4 t' NHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
7 W* a0 {' C3 X$ k& L! _5 E" W5 tacceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
2 s( \4 q$ z% n( o5 U- otrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
: {" Q+ Y, L2 W* {* n5 ?0 Lmats and sticking accelerator pedals.
a5 l7 M9 `& P( L( G. }He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
. A/ E+ D+ u5 }1 _- M C+ o) wand fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
+ r- G) Q; U/ tcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be1 v2 r5 b n4 r1 J5 {) a
further explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could0 o8 G; {1 Q& ^. b3 { j. [
not stop her runaway Lexus.# k! z3 n+ Z }$ k7 g
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,4 H N+ g" G+ a/ g) t1 A; P
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
! I8 B; E! `2 H; x$ a6 f5 \3 n"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.& |4 i; _! a$ P5 w, Z1 w2 m
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues, D% z1 I" s/ k/ Q
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
& j5 T; X0 s, w"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
# l9 |# X" A* m( vdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway( g/ j" @: [/ q5 r5 u1 T
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
1 D- o6 j4 h; i6 a Kinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
3 o! E' h) t) l% B3 @7 HLentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
6 k8 A- I% n! t$ z9 felectronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of. k ]4 U, d* Y4 E* M4 c6 [ b
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a3 v. |2 ~# H5 L) Q( R
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he
8 O: E3 P6 \! G; G# Ksaid.1 X2 L! t1 e: f% ^' v$ X$ Z
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
) x& \" E% X1 }happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe) J, l: Q$ P% u4 b* l( S
about driving our products," Lentz said.! x. Z% u9 J& w6 w: K
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
l3 w9 t; Z6 @. Fproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has
& P9 z! ~& B4 }" [8 A6 jrecalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6
* O" U6 n3 J' J5 F- z& ~million in the United States -- since last fall because of- m1 }0 h1 v, @, Y
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
- o3 ^1 H5 F2 T5 D! _$ rissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering
g% O: ?" i- h5 Jconcerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of0 _/ v7 j2 n& F4 o
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow$ A" r3 z8 k8 F! P C
down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
$ [2 n8 c. C- ~* x; \$ Lreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
7 |$ Z( ~& d3 Sof Toyota vehicles since 2000.: B! w8 G( H% @. j9 C& F* R
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own5 i9 n, A; |/ i$ |6 B
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
5 F) S$ A$ Y# {& n' sunderstood the pain.3 ?5 ]7 J r/ r7 {- N
"I know what those families go through," he said.
: M! n& l: R+ J0 Y; b* ILentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
, S. N6 [& W* e0 }# o. ffixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.. X9 e/ k" Y/ U/ ~
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman T& [, W- A, }) o# k( T
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put) s) Z# ]( d: C7 j& H! y i
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,% j! N( Y2 g2 U7 K3 S0 H
Lentz replied: "Not totally."
: ~' t* m' ~( t4 k- [2 ?9 S1 FStill, he said chances of unintended accelerations were
$ N2 A* B2 J9 `& N6 h4 m"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said
! C( }4 H( C9 ]8 \# o9 vToyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas
4 M5 k( K+ L* B! |) L8 ?pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its! `, j r' A8 E7 ]
vehicles already on the road.
+ S& a$ f8 Z: g" M' c$ n. H0 lMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify. f: |( {1 n% |( U2 m& l9 K7 \
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
" S8 n6 E7 s; l7 c5 H9 @! i, oresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and4 u% j6 Y/ |8 U a
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were: M# N( K4 M) g
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
% k6 _5 f9 Q& y4 E6 M2 b1 M"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a* {9 R! s/ h' H$ x
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony8 Y! {- p2 Y: d9 }
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight5 t9 ~! ?' x/ j& L N* i
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
* g- z7 V, w3 m- tcommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
3 G. g3 z- q) ]- Y8 ?/ prestore the trust of our customers."
5 U8 L9 z9 z" f, M; P$ C- H7 LLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from, T- W' n6 q( g+ N7 o1 f! {
Smith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly" N: I* v' L, f, r6 h6 R4 T
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --) x/ @: X) E6 e) ^# W$ y
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
- O9 U/ i$ n0 w3 i) ~* T; a) [hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
3 a# v% D, x; H [5 l5 ?: g1 `that she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and8 o' d( j1 ^3 _% \
turn off the engine.$ l- ]$ N7 F* E9 p
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of
% L9 V" _& {: ^* j9 E3 w% LOctober 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
6 G8 I2 c8 P3 Q1 ^! y"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she
' g' }! y. d9 A+ ]said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
" h/ z$ N7 Q! vto her complaints.: k. e/ I9 H F; N9 \
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers0 L9 d. T- O! {8 G
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic
' o0 T# E9 ]2 s W8 d' t6 qmalfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.; y" W7 n( r- F0 p8 I
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric( Z. y# `0 C8 r
throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited2 C0 _5 a/ v' g
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut2 h% i7 {3 q3 I1 b, Q+ \3 I2 \
off or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
- l: W$ F# ~% g( ^7 f2 tTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
( V I# O' m6 K% i1 b: ]- Rprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were3 K. M7 K4 I- c: C2 ^
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls
7 o5 F; w0 b1 D' N2 ^were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
" Z5 j9 l) Z6 r2 l% |every question.": A8 F8 `1 m7 ~, y. i7 K( S
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
* b) C6 _! g) ?" B7 ?- celectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The* K" S' }5 u8 z0 J
firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But. L7 C( Q7 ^5 n8 C# [ l* V6 t
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small
( {# |$ x' G4 K% @. ^number of vehicles
' {! O4 i+ j0 p+ r% ]! ~Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more' }2 [+ H3 @9 b) i; K
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a# Z8 s5 z- G+ }, u2 v- c& `0 y; B9 r
mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one8 j' w- j9 ?0 u. p
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.& M. B2 N3 h7 Z! R0 u
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage," G2 @1 H. ]5 V7 n4 _
where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
- S/ r2 y7 _" V/ btrace at all.
) X+ C( w3 R1 t) p7 ~5 d" g7 i- d" _( VHouse investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
4 ?; s" S( h& G1 rdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden! X7 R, I& i3 f4 T$ c" J3 p; @! C# V( n
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
' q( j: k( p$ R1 ~- Drecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
7 s7 X& Q6 [( s8 ]0 lRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,$ V8 L1 l% ?5 L# d% p/ `0 @
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and
% h7 f: T0 D2 q4 Lother independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
# @/ o9 m. C7 S3 c1 U9 y4 Kelectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
9 ?0 f, f" f: q+ f& A; ]8 [0 n8 c; Hcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
& W1 z. j6 J* Rsuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained# v2 w5 k% k; V2 x! B. R) c6 g
by Toyota's lawyers."7 q2 L: }# y* F& m0 l! M* f k
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
. q. g6 \/ @4 K8 oproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our
- _% e# b6 N0 P- H @+ Jcustomers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he& k$ s U, T# x) I. K8 }" M0 `
said.
# L$ [, i5 h( U7 p"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
) G0 w' ^( l6 Z T+ `' Oa rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
- S I2 G! E8 S' \/ wgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
6 b8 N$ \0 V2 }) Hofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.
% k; U4 q0 k, }/ A `Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
% M8 I$ F4 P+ Q* J" ^! gmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
1 Q# W1 [& y% J' E2 x" wrancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
/ O( x/ Q, M) r, wautomaker, at least in part because of the government's" Z& h$ i4 z! c1 s8 y
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and6 t5 Z) D9 x# ?$ ^9 n
Chrysler.
3 J7 I- v" ~+ Z0 b# n Q% e"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
; w9 S: K0 |9 x) b1 T5 V( Qdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a# X0 y& C' C6 Z& b
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
( ~$ i0 x4 w2 h/ u7 u7 Zserved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete
) Z" d! y) N3 }0 B+ bwith the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
, {- ?9 r; R8 ?) X$ ~7 ?5 P% mtough."' n0 b! P4 Q1 d i5 X) S: ]. C9 j/ [3 W
---
) F) u4 D( Y' ~8 w [2 U$ d0 g: g/ e7 K( ZAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
: E. d. F% O. `Raum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to
/ }4 O: W' x: }, o0 j: Zthis story.4 E- C8 S4 O1 M% O9 n8 h/ ?0 _
6 K8 e9 a4 \7 I: q# @
-0- Feb/23/2010 21:04 GMT |
|