调查显示丰田汽车事故多
Five months into an investigation of safety issues involving Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles, U.S. safety officials have yet to identify any new defects beyond those reported by the car maker itself.And in more than half of the crashes blamed on sudden acceleration analyzed by the government, data from the vehicles' 'black boxes' show the driver was not stepping on the brake at the time of the accident-indicating that driver error may have been at fault.
Those were the findings that U.S. Transportation Department officials disclosed Tuesday to members of Congress, offering the first significant details of the government's ongoing investigation into Toyota's recall of more than 8.5 million vehicles globally since last fall.
Officials stressed that their investigation continues and may take months to complete. But the data, at least for now, support Toyota's assertion that electronic defects in its cars aren't behind the incidents.
Experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration examined 58 vehicles involved in sudden-acceleration reports and found data in 35 of them showed the brakes weren't applied at the time of the crash. Data from nine other vehicles showed the brakes were used only in the last moment before impact.
The report doesn't specify driver error as a cause of unintended acceleration, although people familiar with the investigation have said the findings point to pedal misapplication-mistakenly hitting the gas instead of the brakes-as a likely cause.
The release of the preliminary findings comes after calls from Congress to make public the results of NHTSA's investigation into complaints about sudden acceleration in Toyotas. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that NHTSA had found evidence of driver error in most of the Toyotas it examined in its probe.
Toyota has identified floor mats that can entrap a car's gas pedal as one cause of sudden acceleration. Another problem Toyota identified is a gas pedal mechanism that sometimes can be slow to return to its non-depressed position. Toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles world-wide to correct those issues.
In five of the 58 vehicles NHTSA examined, the data recorders didn't record the conditions in the car at the time of the crash. Black boxes from five additional vehicles showed the brakes were applied early in the incident or in the middle of the event. In one case both the brake and accelerator pedals were depressed. Investigators found one case of sustained braking and concluded the floor mat likely trapped the gas pedal.
NHTSA is still examining the data in one case, and in another it found that the information recorded was unrelated to an incident of sudden acceleration.
'The limited research completed so far has not led to identification of safety defects other than sticking gas pedals or pedal entrapment,' the report said.
Toyota said its own investigation has found no evidence that glitches in the electronic components of gas pedals could cause sudden acceleration, as some auto safety advocates have suggested.
在对丰田汽车公司所产汽车的安全问题进行了五个月的调查之后，美国安全官员尚未确定除该公司自己报告的问题之外，这些汽车还存在哪些新的缺陷。
在政府分析的因突然加速而发生的车祸中，一半以上的汽车“黑匣子”数据显示，驾驶者在事故发生时并没有踩刹车，意味着驾驶者的失误可能是造成事故的原因。
以上是美国运输部官员周二向国会议员披露的调查结果，提供了政府对丰田召回事件调查的首批重大细节，目前调查仍在进行中。自去年秋季以来，丰田汽车在全球召回了逾850万辆汽车。
官员们强调说，调查将继续进行，可能需要数月时间完成。不过，至少在目前，数据支持了丰田此前做出的有关汽车电子系统缺陷并非事故原因的说法。
美国国家公路交通安全管理局的专家们对58辆被报出现突然加速问题的车辆进行了检查，发现其中有35辆的数据显示，在车祸发生时，刹车并没有被踩下。另有九辆汽车的数据显示，在撞击发生前的最后一刻，刹车才被踩下。
报告并没有明确说明驾驶者操作失误是造成突然加速的一个原因，不过熟悉调查的人士说，调查结果指向踩错踏板是一个可能的原因，即驾驶者在应该踩刹车的时候错误地踩了油门。
在初步调查结果公布前，国会呼吁公布国家公路交通安全管理局有关丰田汽车突然加速投诉的调查结果。《华尔街日报》7月份曾报导，国家公路交通安全管理局发现，有证据表明在调查中所检查的大部分丰田车中，驾驶者出现了操作失误。
丰田汽车已经确定会卡住油门踏板的地垫是造成突然加速的原因之一。丰田汽车查出的另外一个问题是油门踏板机械系统有时复位慢。丰田在全球召回了800多万辆汽车，以修复这些缺陷。
在国家公路交通安全管理局检查的58辆车中，有五辆的数据记录器没有记录下来撞车时汽车的情况。另有五辆汽车的“黑匣子”显示，刹车是在事故刚发生或中途踩下的。有一辆车在车祸发生时刹车和油门均被踩下。调查人员发现了一起刹车踏板没有复位的情况，他们得出结论地垫可能把油门踏板卡住了。
国家公路交通安全管理局仍在对一辆汽车的数据进行检查，在另外一辆车中，它发现记录下来的数据与突然加速造成的事故没有关系。
报告说，目前为止完成的有限研究没有发现油门踏板不能复位或油门踏板被地垫卡住之外的安全缺陷。
丰田汽车说，公司自己进行的调查发现，正如一些汽车安全维权人士所指出的，没有证据显示油门踏板电子元件的问题可能造成突然加速。
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