豐田高管:仍在調查車輛突然加速的原因

豐田汽車公司(Toyota Motor Corp.)美國營銷部門總裁蘭茨(Jim Lentz)週二在華盛頓作證時表示，該公司最近的安全召回措施不一定能完全解決其汽車的突然加速問題。
　　A Toyota Motor Corp. (TM, ) executive testified Tuesday that the company's recent safety recalls may not totally solve sudden acceleration in its vehicles, a Toyota executive testified here Tuesday.

蘭茨說，造成突然加速的原因有很多種；在解決已召回汽車的問題方面，我們是解決了故障。
　　'There are many, many causes' of sudden acceleration, said Jim Lentz, Toyota's president of its U.S. sales and marketing arm. 'In terms of solving the issues of those recalls, we solved the problem.'

蘭茨對國會表示，我們從不排除任何可能導致突然意外加速的東西，我們保持着警惕，仍在查找各種原因；今天我們所知道的是它不是一個電子問題。
　　'We never rule out anything that could cause sudden unintended acceleration. We are vigilant and continue to look for causes,' Mr. Lentz told lawmakers. 'What we know today [is] it is not an electronic issue.'

美國國會一共將舉行三場關於豐田安全問題的聽證會，週三由衆議院商業與能源委員會(House Commerce and Energy Committee)召開的聽證會是其中的第一場。預計各委員會將盤問豐田高管及聯邦安全監管人員，他們是如何應對過去10年有關豐田及雷克薩斯(Lexus)汽車突然加速的2,000多起投訴的。
　　The House Commerce and Energy Committee opened the first of three Congressional hearings on Toyota's safety issues. Committees are expected to grill Toyota executives and federal safety regulators over their response to more than 2,000 complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles over the last decade.

爲修復油門、剎車和其他系統的故障，豐田已在全球召回超過800萬輛汽車。
　　Toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles globally to fix problems with gas pedals, brakes and other systems.

聽證會上中，蘭茨回憶起20年前他的兄弟年僅30就在車禍中喪生，一度動情地流下眼淚。
　　In one emotional exchange, Mr. Lentz teared up as he recalled losing his brother, who was 30 years old, to a car crash two decades ago.

蘭茨用顫抖的聲音說，沒有哪一天我不想起這件事，所以我知道這些家庭承受了什麼樣的痛苦。
　　'There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of that,' Mr. Lentz said in a quivering voice. 'So I know what these families are going through.'

這些話是回答伊利諾伊州民主黨衆議員拉什(Bobby Rush)有關國會認爲豐田對意外加速問題姿態前後不一致的提問。
　　The remark was in response from questioning by Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush (D., Ill.) about what the lawmaker characterized as inconsistencies in Toyota's stances on unintended acceleration.

維爾京羣島的民主黨衆議員克里斯滕森(Donna Christensen)問，80年代的豐田發生了什麼事，造成了今天的豐田？
　　Rep. Donna Christensen (D., V.I.) asked, 'What happened to the Toyota of the '80s to bring us to the Toyota' of today?

蘭茨說，我認爲我們讓自己的工程資源過於膨脹，而忽視了消費者；我認爲實現更快增長不是我們的一個目標，但我們的確這樣做了。
　　'I think we outgrew our engineering resources,' Lentz said, adding that the company 'lost sight of the customer. I don't think it was a goal for us to grow faster, but we did.'