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丰田承认换踏板不一定能全部解决加速问题, n" n& i! N; C
By LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
+ A/ Y9 R( D6 U. T' WWashington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.
2 m2 M) b1 w; r) Q" j; N: r9 U! Koperations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that
3 c9 K f, L0 ^8 ethe company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"
, r: d9 @( I' K ^$ O: I" Ysolve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
" J9 W K. h4 n( [: y"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential
* w# o; f) B9 w8 N$ G0 Lcauses," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.8 ~) H; ^$ C- r- w
However, he repeated his company's position that unexpected1 k4 C4 Y% {, y g# I
acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
/ w7 e; O2 G& Ytrucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor
3 _- k7 m0 g( w' K$ p" b& y$ Amats and sticking accelerator pedals.
9 N# l& w" J( S0 CHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal. \, x& }+ X0 h# |
and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp
5 C. U5 Y6 d+ F5 J; U, ? mcriticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
0 [2 Z" `" `$ E1 y+ _: X5 bfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could
9 Y, K3 W" L5 |2 r& ynot stop her runaway Lexus.
! H6 q' d9 s, I4 U+ O/ i/ h"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,
2 S* k- H5 g8 w+ \8 PTenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second
" k2 \! b% Y; m/ a6 x% p" H1 X"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.
& L+ P3 \% q+ C6 o4 t3 w) PTexas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues
! ^! j" v0 Q+ eearly in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said
: x$ ~6 j- h1 Q) H2 b"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has
9 R. W% } S) Wdone something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway
2 h* C1 a. @/ Athrough Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
; E5 a% |) s1 }0 Kinvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."
6 M4 m. C. }, ?Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an
- G* w* w' T0 l$ `electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of
1 M: Y0 ^6 s F/ m2 q! V O9 l8 z/ Wthe sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a
" H# O7 n f8 x# }! |; ^malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he: o' G2 h1 \/ \
said.: a1 M) K% y: i0 ^0 U' f9 ^
As to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
0 R9 w( a5 c+ ~happened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe
; l# P# Q+ h8 E* S1 t8 Cabout driving our products," Lentz said." l0 z! B; n- s
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's; f7 L& C& [2 [9 f% t4 @; L5 Y
problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has$ E0 @' T+ R) S7 k b
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6; z' O; i( O6 S7 H3 ^
million in the United States -- since last fall because of
* a8 s$ t8 ^ \8 }& uunintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking3 a8 U( v* I! E
issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering/ _' @2 ^1 S, u% f# e1 c
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of. h9 o9 q+ I$ ?) ]5 L- I T# ?
their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
j; s& g6 ]) [ O/ |" k0 idown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has
+ y$ v) S( J* m% G1 A4 `+ e: qreceived complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
/ g! h: x* B1 N9 Y# Z5 v ]of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
" V8 X5 G/ ?, M0 X. D5 xLentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own( Z$ v9 q {; g% d- A
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he
0 q9 H6 I( T5 j( y. sunderstood the pain.
; O" w- ~! |. c# E) |2 J"I know what those families go through," he said.
: b$ Y( `& K5 d* p; G: CLentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's
7 S8 O. z' u0 ^5 V1 ^( hfixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.( F5 l. j, z* @: a) b
But when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman9 F' g$ T0 L1 b9 Z3 E% d9 n* q( W, @) j
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put
0 U8 |: L" X% m: S! ~" Rin place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,$ ~( V) G) Y0 u# T% ~5 P: d
Lentz replied: "Not totally."! i6 S. h3 b# {
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were/ D4 u# K5 d$ A: E; E. s: P
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said' a4 ] ] W- A. ?+ i! w! o% C
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas. z+ r5 u$ W% ^
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
! e! U, W" T* Pvehicles already on the road.8 i2 ^3 o+ ]( ~1 g* k
Meanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify' H7 N2 _0 G3 U
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
) o6 E! Q& x# G# x& x2 q) `responsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and
8 |, {/ ~- U0 b; g1 c0 ~) F1 Ioffered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were3 A. ]! [: E7 J/ A+ i
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.
& D. u8 Y- y8 I4 D1 b8 A"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a
# {1 T+ B4 |7 Btragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony/ j, M1 ~' @2 Y& {& y; g7 ]. g
for Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight( i9 S# N1 [: D/ I' D+ g
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal* W2 F# E, }& |6 B5 @+ G# ^
commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to7 i' V$ d' z( k. v2 x: \
restore the trust of our customers."8 V2 g7 m* U- Y7 I+ R! C# |
Lawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
6 _( l' L0 D3 f4 R# E! YSmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly
7 E& @# i- S w- W2 izoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --
$ O( t* U. n: Q3 |3 p: z2 {( _- Gshifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and- G" X) P4 h& G. H
hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
w0 }3 [9 c7 F* Vthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
5 D. m Q n6 H B& E5 \turn off the engine.5 I5 R; o) P5 l9 P! e7 v
Fighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of8 F1 I9 `. b4 ?9 Z L
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."
% K$ v5 k" x- L! K7 W"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she- ^$ ?. I- {& v7 w+ F! l& P
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond6 ?& s5 N9 `, Z
to her complaints.) r; u* A9 [2 R' q! P; k
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers; f- Y, y3 X) [& x% i# `
returned again and again to the question of whether electronic8 e" ~# W" [" N9 U
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars.
7 s N4 ^ [, ~, c- M"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
, j% e- S* ^7 B3 e; ^, Cthrottle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited, G" n- |% G' @4 e y; F
"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
% V$ I$ P( [/ K- Aoff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
6 r# Y! H' W( a7 }+ {! H, B' f/ JTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
' S4 n3 ]% V( O, N) U; oprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were, X6 u3 N) }9 n, y3 ?+ M, e
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls! s( s- W0 P* K! ^( c
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer( a6 [9 X W8 n; |! w
every question."$ g6 r1 _) i) w' L4 G, S7 O) X+ e
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether8 h- Q7 F; u+ f0 G+ ~
electronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
5 C! m( ?" W& [# `; ~firm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But0 a/ x; X6 T, t
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small$ o+ P4 q% q; B, I) ]& _' r
number of vehicles: {6 m7 A9 R7 q. K9 q; Y
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more F0 ^. S- g- m0 X' b9 l! j
difficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
7 t. R C- J; v0 J) A& \mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one
; N& H0 |- o. o, ` ^+ {source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.0 \; s1 B5 u7 ?4 ^ w
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
( ]5 @2 ?: M$ ]3 `where electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
5 u, S0 X. v; {trace at all.
7 p Q% _( ^, C) E+ u( g6 ^House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
9 [8 d0 ^% l: g# n; rdatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden z, A2 K' M3 ^7 f( ^2 B2 P
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
O# j( M5 Z7 Z8 Y- w5 qrecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
2 \( \3 Z( \6 N: i+ V# wRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,
# O. P1 ^+ l: }2 _( b7 gsaid Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and+ X, ]/ z; l f2 u; D5 b% z
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the- M9 g% w! A# m% `- w% O, m1 T
electronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible) m. m! |& m5 q" P% `
cause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only. a' M, B' k2 D, U" K$ n
such review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained s) X( i; t0 t( N0 F
by Toyota's lawyers."
9 q# t8 P3 u1 T$ WLentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of$ N9 K$ _3 H1 r+ B1 h# y- p
problems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our. x e, \( q; B& G: ^, ?
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he
; A8 N: g# w/ s. A" Msaid.
' k7 W8 E$ N, c7 R" g8 |2 u"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with/ r; E4 ~( y9 d' r0 e
a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our
! g6 L$ L2 s: e! L) ?- t" r% dgood faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating& j/ @, G4 e \# u" ?$ V& o
officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.0 \5 Q4 e! H* y5 W; ^1 Q
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying( _# Z: n5 C, _% g0 Q: i
members of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread6 L. V/ B4 l8 u8 _4 L5 v5 @
rancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the
; c4 k* i# h/ R0 I1 F2 ^% t0 j; I# nautomaker, at least in part because of the government's
7 L/ Z6 }- d, R- Binvestment of billions of dollars in General Motors and J7 s7 E& L: t7 K2 G
Chrysler.
( q+ y! i( U5 Q9 C n x7 V"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax3 F2 g& u/ C; M2 J0 K& C7 A; |
dollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a. E1 {/ W( S+ T. y0 y3 T
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also
d; B% _ K( D: userved as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete8 c! Z! B: S# \; O3 I
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty: w$ i7 m; M5 a" D+ b; e( J6 B
tough."' P# F: e6 l, E2 [4 \
---
. g( P4 n& C! b5 I# W, JAssociated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
, s: X/ b( Q8 i) ^9 ARaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to$ h6 e2 |: z3 F6 X1 l* U7 D5 j8 M
this story.
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