Title:
'I Am Deeply Sorry,' Toyota Chief Tells US Congress
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
The United States Congress has been dealing with the
safety problems at Toyota. In March, a Senate
committee examined the recent safety recalls
and the government's response.
The House of Representatives held
two days of hearings. Lawmakers questioned Akio
Toyoda, the head of the company since June. He said
he was deeply sorry for any accident that Toyota
drivers have experienced.
Defects have been linked to at least thirty-nine
deaths over the past several years. Toyota has
recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide
because of the risk of gaining speed suddenly and
uncontrollably.
Toyota is Japan's biggest company.
In two thousand eight it passed General Motors as
the world's biggest carmaker. Akio Toyoda said his
company paid too much attention to growth and not
enough to safety.
He said Toyota may have been expanding its business
too quickly.
The grandson of the company's founder rejected the
possibility that the acceleration problem is related
to the electronic controls in his vehicles. The
company has blamed problems with the accelerator
pedal and badly positioned floor mats.
But lawmakers released a company document showing
Toyota had saved one hundred million dollars by
negotiating a limited recall over the issue. The
document added to criticisms that federal officials
did
not act aggressively enough against Toyota. But
others say Toyota is
being treated unfairly because the government now
owns sixty percent
of General Motors.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was questioned
and dismissed that idea. He praised the agency that
deals with auto industry recalls,
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
or NHTSA.
He said over just the last three years, NHTSAs
investigations have resulted in five hundred
twenty-four recalls involving twenty-three million
vehicles.
Rhonda Smith of Tennessee described how in two
thousand six her Toyota-made Lexus sped up for a
time to one hundred sixty kilometers an hour.
NHTSA blamed a floor mat, but she blames the
electronics and says Toyota dismissed her concerns.
Ray LaHood says his department will investigate the
electronics used by Toyota and other automakers.
And Akio Toyoda promised a new
level of openness and speed in
dealing with safety issues.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
