The president of Toyota’s U.S. operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers1 that the company’s recalls of millions of its cars may “not totally” solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.
丰田汽车美国业务总裁向美国国会坦言，正如议员们所怀疑的，突然加速问题 在丰田汽车公司召回的数百万辆汽车中可能不会全部得到解决。
“We are vigilant2 and we continue to look for potential causes,M Toyota’s James Lentz told a congressional panel. However, he repeated his company’s position that unexpected acceleration in some of the company’s most popular cars and trucks was caused by one of two problems — misplaced floor mats and sticking accelerator pedals.
丰田的詹姆斯伦茨对国会小组称，“这次事件为我们敲响了警钟,我们会继续 排查潜在的原因。”然而，他却一再强调丰田公司的立场：在丰田的几种主打轿车和 卡车中存在的突然加速问题是由以下原因之一引起一~~地毯错位和加速器踏板卡 住。
He insisted electronic systems connected to the gas pedal and fuel line did not contribute to the problem, drawing sharp criticism from lawmakers who said such a possibility should be further explored — and from a tearful woman driver who could not stop her runaway Lexus.
他坚持认为,连接油门踏板和输油管的电子系统不是弓I发问题的原因。而议员 们中还有一位含着泪的，因故障而停不住她那雷克萨斯的受害女士与之针锋相对，
认为可能性还须进一步排查。
“Shame on you, Toyota,” Rhonda Smith, said at a congressional hearing. Then she added a second “shame on you” directed at federal3 highway safety regulators.
“丰田真可耻”，朗达史密斯 在国会听证会上说。接着，她又对 联邦公路安全监管局说了一句， “你们真可耻。”
Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton cautioned his colleagues early in the hearing against conducting a “witch hunt” and said “We don’t want to just assume automatically that Toyota has done something wrong and has tried to cover it up4.” But midway through Lentz’s testimony, Barton said of Toyota’s investigation of the problems: wln my opinion, it*s a sham.”
得克萨斯州共和党众议员 巴顿告诫他的同事在听证会上不 要对丰田进行“迫害”。他说，“我 们并不想想当然地认为是丰田做错了事,并应该进行弥补。”但是听兰茨说道一半，巴顿就对丰田的这次问题调查发 表了自己的看法：这是个骗局o
Lentz said the company had not completely ruled out an electronics malfunction and was still investigating causes of the sudden acceleration. Still, “We have not found a malfunctionw in the electronics of any of the cars at issue, he said.
兰茨说，丰田还在调查引发突然加速的原因，并不排除电子设备故障的可能 性。但是，他说，“在召回的车子里,我们没有发现任何电子设备故障。”
As to Smith’s harrowing story, “I’m embarrassed for what happened,” Lentz said. “I want her and her husband to feel safe about driving our products.”
对于发生在史密斯女士身上的悲剧，“对所发生的事我感到很不好意思”兰茨 说，“我希望他们夫妇在开我们的车子的时候能有安全感。”
At one point in more than two hours of testimony5 Lentz was asked by Rep. Eliot Engel, whether there were any new bombshells* to come.
兰茨在听证会上讲了 2个多小时，期间，众议员埃利奥特恩格尔曾置疑，丰田会 不会还有什么出人意料的事发生。
“God, I hope there aren’t any more,” he said, while apologizing anew for the problems. “We stubbed our toe.”
“天啊，我希望不会再发生了。”说着，他又做了道歉。“我们已经够受的了。”
Three congressional panels are investigating Toyota，s problems, which affect a huge number of Americans. Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide - more than 6 million in the United States — since last fall because of unintended acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid. It is also investigating steering concerns in Corollas. People with Toyotas have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000.
很多美国人是这次召回事件的受害者，三个国会小组现正调査引发问题的原 因。从去年秋天，普锐斯的多个车型因突然加速和刹车问题被召回起，丰田在全球 范围内大约召回了850万辆车——其中有600多万辆来自美国。该小组也在调査花 冠的转向问题。人们纷纷向丰田抱怨他们的车辆失控，刹不住车，有时甚至撞出了 人命。从2000年起，美国政府已经接到了34例与丰田突然加速问题相关的死亡投诉。