Page 347 - Acceleration News Today

[ speaking japanese ] >> translator: allow me to explain the situation a little bit. factors tributing to the unexpected acceleration, i believe, can be roughly classified into four categories. [ speaking japanese ]

Data bus that the brake has been pushed. isnt that correct? >> you are much better than i am. i believe so. >> for all of us here who are concerned about fail-safe and acceleration caused by electronics, i think im asking you, isnt it fair to say that although electronics could at times be a problem, and your people have not eliminated that, the solution is, in fact, electronics in this case and thats whats going to give the higher level of safety? >> well, i can only say this is an added measur...

Then closed over the last seven years. i would expect that to be one of the main things that come out of the hearings over the next several weeks. theres also going to be the issue of whether or not for toyota specifically something has to change in terms of the electronics in the vehicle. ray lahood said they are looking into the electronics. you heard yesterday from lentz, we tested our electronics. did not find a problem. cannot rule out the possibility. because he cant rule out the possible ...

>> i want to tell you about usa that i experienced in our new lexus es 350. this car had 2,7289 miles on it when the incident occurred. the vehicle had a keyless push button ignition and required a key fob to be present inside of the car in order for the it be able to start. on that thursday of 2006, i tell you i have to read it, because it still upsets me today. i was driving from my home down highway 66 to the interstate, interstate 40, and upon entering the interstate i accelerated with every...

Concern and anxiety that we put people through. any time there is one death in one of our vehicles, that pains us to have that take place regardless of how it happens. but it is critical today and we werent doing a good job in the past of investigating those quickly enough, especially, when it had to do with unintended acceleration. with adding the new engineers, the s.w.a.t. teams that we will be able to get on site as rapidly as we can, our goal is to make it within 24 hours, fwheed to be able...

For now we go to capitol hill where toyota is facing blistering criticism and new questions about its response to safety issues as congress hears dramatic testimony from terrified drivers who say they were trapped in runaway cars. members of the house energy and commerce committee taking toyota to task over problems with its braking and sudden acceleration. that forced toyota to recall 8 million vehicles. 6 million in the u.s. alone. the head of toyota usa issuing an apology. there are serious q...

>> reporter: for years, smith and her husband tried to get the government and toyotas attention, to no avail. today, everyone was listening including the president of toyota usa. >> i want her and her husband to feel safe about driving our products. i was embarrassed to hear the story. >> reporter: congress wanted answers from toyota today but it was clear toyota does not have all the answers yet. >> do you believe that the recall on the carpet changes and the recall on the sticky pedal will sol...

>> they asked tough and fair questions. they look forward to working with dealers and working on the manufacturering side to ensure we refocus our attention on customer and refocus on safety and get back to what made the company great in the united states for the last 50 years. with that, ill entertain a few questions. [ inaudible ] >> i think in the case of sudden acceleration, there are mechanical issues, human interface issues with the vehicle. so there are always issues whether its surges ca...

Jersey and new york who wants to calm some of these fears when it comes to toyota cars. we are getting a lot of reports, they dont look good for toyota talking about 34 deaths linked to sudden and unintended acceleration since 2000. do you deny its so. >> i can tell you that until all the facts are out i dont want to weigh in on exactly what happened. i think thats whats going on in washington right now. we are all waiting for the facts. in the meantime we are repairing thousands of customer veh...

With all respect to the elected representatives and senators, theyre not going to do the best they can to help you. what theyre going to do is question you. so you got to get out there way in advance with your story and be aggressive about it. >> neil: for toyota and this, you know, used to have a name, quality, fuel efficient cars, rarely any problems. thats still by and large the case. were talking a small percentage of their models and the cars but the image sticks people are nervous about th...