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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
& ~/ ~: v4 i$ [" BBy LARRY MARGASAK and KEN THOMAS
( g4 P* A- w' _Washington (AP) -- The president of Toyota's U.S.; x6 K8 q* Y) w" v1 w2 e G% d, b
operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that f6 H7 p- a; ^( X( K
the company's recalls of millions of its cars may "not totally"0 Z! t3 z/ e. \/ S7 N( Z/ h, i
solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
$ T6 B# x4 }9 H7 G3 E- T"We are vigilant and we continue to look for potential' C* q6 R% `5 C8 N0 {- ^6 Y
causes," Toyota's James Lentz told a congressional panel.
- U& Q+ u0 U- O9 m- [/ \" w9 Z8 jHowever, he repeated his company's position that unexpected
, `$ i+ c4 M# q1 c3 r& ^acceleration in some of the company's most popular cars and
& x w. f5 S7 ~, F/ `. ~9 T; ?trucks was caused by one of two problems -- misplaced floor/ L% Z- P. j* W+ {; _9 ~. F- U$ T
mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
z+ I2 I3 q3 y5 YHe insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal
: W% A7 N$ g6 k. Z% H4 P# ~and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp. l. m( w9 j4 K% ?5 K1 h0 V& @$ i
criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be
: z3 ~. E+ k$ Mfurther explored -- and from a tearful woman driver who could W5 G; c8 W+ n- ~8 @+ W5 _0 G
not stop her runaway Lexus.9 _+ N/ k% u9 ]1 G
"Shame on you, Toyota," Rhonda Smith, of Sevierville,# `# q& w c# s! ?8 J5 d
Tenn., said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second1 |$ w5 {+ C, }) `
"shame on you" directed at federal highway safety regulators.1 t' D1 R2 k& J; D R5 r& f
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues# h6 d0 F. C# i0 |3 Q1 j
early in the hearing against conducting a "witch hunt" and said/ Z: H2 t% [! J& }/ b7 L
"We don't want to just assume automatically that Toyota has9 I* r0 v& x' I: b1 O4 j
done something wrong and has tried to cover it up." But midway8 s+ V7 b$ E5 X7 z6 v( _+ ]) n
through Lentz's testimony, Barton said of Toyota's
6 \ w9 h( h/ p' g9 Y( C, o0 Ninvestigation of the problems: "In my opinion, it's a sham."7 q9 [) x9 K9 a; W l5 V+ |0 D
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an% |. x8 Y+ j) Z
electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of) {* I, ~4 m* @+ {2 ^- |. k
the sudden acceleration. Still, "We have not found a y6 H. s( C9 k3 q
malfunction" in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he" z! o7 P5 b# T8 D9 }8 M z& Z
said.
! t2 `7 ?4 ]9 L3 x6 NAs to Smith's harrowing story, "I'm embarrassed for what
# [0 k- `' R' z, L7 w* d+ l9 D" Ohappened," Lentz said. "I want her and her husband to feel safe! N# Q( `% \- L' b
about driving our products," Lentz said.' w$ F# P, d, T. T
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota's
7 P2 A! x, K3 {. A1 F' Q/ P" Pproblems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has% o5 i+ H' H& f6 G6 F9 ~' P
recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide -- more than 6, b9 C, m' M6 Y, x$ m
million in the United States -- since last fall because of6 {7 m* \# C+ n" y! K. c
unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking
$ _+ l, X5 C9 G$ f; Oissues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering" R. l& E. U. F; C1 |
concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of
/ b$ t* X; _3 Q! K) P! otheir vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow
! U5 u3 \# c9 @8 `. g7 Idown, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has, n% h' i) r! `# \8 o
received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration
: c; i s/ d& a3 zof Toyota vehicles since 2000.: C* V" y8 P& K& N! G& N5 E
Lentz, who choked up while discussing the death of his own: n5 G- R4 T6 g
brother more than 20 years ago in a car accident, said he5 Q3 y: K2 r! E: J! ?/ G) U8 ?3 h1 j( C+ `
understood the pain.
7 ]; ]; U% p0 a& F2 l. e6 M"I know what those families go through," he said.
( \2 `5 V2 m9 x, g% u" \Lentz has said in the past that he was confident Toyota's# y+ q ]+ L; _" P; ~/ y: l
fixes on the recalled vehicles would correct the problems.
- A) L8 Z I2 O) OBut when pressed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
6 l) ~/ i, w m" B- LHenry Waxman, D-Calif., on whether the two recalls Toyota put# H0 q9 w0 e1 P7 y2 J# ^
in place to deal with the issue would completely solve it,
# L* q- `3 \) H0 YLentz replied: "Not totally."9 V, J; C1 E2 g" T! _
Still, he said chances of unintended accelerations were7 a: Y+ W6 Y; j
"very, very slim" once the recall was complete. Lentz also said2 |4 w8 a3 f% y' E+ w9 r2 M
Toyota was putting in new brakes that can override the gas+ i m8 C4 A. A t5 H7 c e8 F: Q J
pedal on almost all of its new vehicles and a majority of its
. ^2 t: f0 I; q1 gvehicles already on the road.
) N! v& u/ s+ F; W8 K- X& R; S6 lMeanwhile, Toyota president Akio Toyoda, who will testify- _ w) N& k! d( r( J
before a separate panel on Wednesday, said he took "full
+ s* G7 u% g& O' s9 K$ C! jresponsibility" for the uncertainty felt by Toyota owners and3 T5 m- x9 j+ M c4 v0 P% T
offered his condolences to a San Diego, Calif., family who were; {0 C1 S: x7 s) B6 `0 m3 L
killed in late August, reigniting interest in the problems.' A7 f# v( o! `! `
"I will do everything in my power to ensure that such a0 t8 h1 @- b# W; z. l# ^$ E
tragedy never happens again," Toyoda said in prepared testimony
5 ]+ \ ?9 d( |8 O; i6 Qfor Wednesday's hearing to the House Government Oversight4 ]) o) o& {% D9 d) H3 `
Committee. "My name is on every car. You have my personal
1 f- I, v; O @" acommitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to
2 N! x0 ^# ?8 ^# |7 lrestore the trust of our customers."
7 G" U! J; w; q! c4 DLawmakers heard a brief, but riveting, deion from
3 s7 H! u+ q' b; d6 a: m. ISmith, the Tennessee woman whose Toyota-made Lexus suddenly. R0 Q% w+ G. b" n
zoomed to 100 miles per hour as she tried to get it to stop --# y: o- O% ]" k5 n
shifting to neutral, trying to throw the car into reverse and
- m0 h$ s g' R' A4 b: \hitting the emergency brake. Finally, her car slowed enough
; ~) ~8 k3 G$ y6 F- ]" c$ Xthat she was able to pull it off the road onto the median and
" G" n/ O5 x$ q# R( ?turn off the engine.
0 A) @; X7 |% H/ i# w* U1 e: nFighting back tears, she described her nightmare ride of% F$ ]) E7 a, I
October 2006, calling it "a near death experience."9 }6 {! H e# i+ [0 ]
"After six miles, God intervened" and slowed the car, she9 e- U1 n) l9 K* `
said. She added that it took a long time for Toyota to respond
/ ~# U1 o9 T% gto her complaints.( n0 p' W0 W& M+ L
In an often contentious full day of testimony, lawmakers
4 R+ s* L" n8 k Y% Zreturned again and again to the question of whether electronic+ V' U( k5 h$ M
malfunctions may have contributed to the speeding cars./ B) P4 k8 W9 Z: r7 W) J% D5 w1 A
"We are confident that no problems exist with the electric
* [! O: G$ B3 F& J/ n7 ?throttle control system in our vehicles," Lentz said. He cited
. A# d" u7 i2 |5 S5 q"fail-safe mechanisms" in the cars that were designed to shut
4 ^. A. M$ j v1 woff or reduce engine power "in the event of a system failure."
4 A% A. h7 X7 Q" |. eTransportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the panel in
) }7 n) `% a8 j2 {0 N4 Iprepared testimony that possible electronics problems were8 m* Y* ^" K/ G- M ?2 |6 ~
being looked into by his agency. He said the company's recalls5 Y0 A; N9 d3 T3 b, F5 f( ~
were important steps but "we don't maintain that they answer
! f+ D, {4 l" E/ h# P: |- l' H7 uevery question."9 ]7 ?* j& d) Z
Toyota hired a consulting firm to analyze whether
$ X D# n1 W% j% Q: L$ J* Yelectronic problems could cause unintended acceleration. The
8 r/ C4 v7 q4 w" W4 J/ x% Yfirm, Exponent Inc., found no link between the two. But9 `7 L2 ~4 B8 |
committee investigators said the testing studied only a small2 M* o" c! \( _# ?7 N$ H5 A
number of vehicles# a e% ]# _: i* C) A3 \* _
Tracking down an electrical problem can be far more
: B. d( n, w8 b* s* Pdifficult, expensive and time-consuming than finding a
2 J& i2 B4 ~) J( i5 ^4 _mechanical problem. Electrical problems can have more than one9 T- X) s, E* Y9 C
source, and they can come from inside or outside the car.' G5 S' |' r# U' J
Mechanical problems often leave clues such as physical damage,
+ ~" ~, I& b5 g8 Zwhere electronic troubles can be hidden in software or leave no
- h# \8 x3 b/ L4 \+ R, B/ r' Xtrace at all./ T! m4 z9 o5 |" t$ [! w/ m
House investigators who reviewed Toyota's customer call
$ @4 p- T6 \& F- adatabase found that 70 percent of the complaints of sudden% V$ V4 T8 i! k! n& q6 {
acceleration were for vehicles that are not subject to the
- G C% ]7 v5 o+ U' i ], O. O9 srecalls over floor mats or sticky pedals.
# f9 S# z2 ]. l3 J" CRep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the subcommittee,9 z: {- }1 S6 z! M3 J' M- \$ V! o
said Toyota "misled the American public by saying that they and$ L8 h4 |% g. ~* j* t- }9 {
other independent sources had thoroughly analyzed the
' l5 c* ?# J! }0 \3 T6 \7 Velectronics systems and eliminated electronics as a possible
) ]0 A2 A& l% b& R" v* m$ Pcause of sudden unintended acceleration when, in fact, the only
3 e. g$ _6 t# X) \2 P% ssuch review was a flawed study conducted by a company retained
, z9 R( V' e4 Z( ^4 iby Toyota's lawyers."; |4 f: S' a; C ]
Lentz apologized anew for the company's slow handling of
) @: F$ P ~( Z2 X- b. ^7 h" mproblems. "We have not lived up to the high standards our1 h7 n. I, H8 j
customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," he6 {" b/ `' [4 D8 W
said.( q3 _/ y" ?8 x) v/ l7 F, [
"Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with
5 x5 ]0 @, G' t( za rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our9 Y8 Z; x _! p; c3 C" {$ q
good faith efforts," said Lentz, president and chief operating
# A# X* g" o1 V- o2 K3 C( l6 Vofficer of Toyota Motor Sales USA. Inc.% X3 {7 G1 K* b, p* s2 U7 H1 v
Separately, among hundreds of Toyota dealers lobbying
3 o) g! W8 I( V3 k7 [" Bmembers of Congress Tuesday, there seemed to be widespread
! n; B$ _3 i3 c, t5 o$ Trancor toward a federal government they view as picking on the+ u! } n' z7 U- U2 \
automaker, at least in part because of the government's" }, N( s& u9 _& E
investment of billions of dollars in General Motors and
3 t% N+ U$ y+ l& mChrysler.+ x* ]7 Z9 t& b
"That's hard for me as a citizen to understand why my tax
! h9 {# s* y% E2 t4 m( pdollars are going in that direction," Paul Atkinson, a/ Z# N$ J2 u M$ P! Z8 P
Houston-area Toyota dealer, said at a news conference that also% o7 {! |5 `/ t) ?. V0 l& |* L
served as a pep rally for the visiting dealers. "To compete7 t" u1 B, V1 A/ I# T
with the government as an individual entrepreneur is pretty
d$ L$ J* w$ a- ~# [, H" [tough."
5 P" p$ l$ J8 ?) ?: X4 p& D( O---
7 Z- N6 r( q1 ]& _ `Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Stephen Manning and Tom
, @; r L M3 \- b) t& P) lRaum in Washington and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to8 m- D8 `; {% F/ r+ j
this story.3 P' B7 `5 x: X0 m6 Z
" M' Q% r" X% }& i7 R4 e$ k" g4 W
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