丰田雇用了前NHTSA员工，动用人际关系结束了4项安全调查

节选：

At least four NHTSA investigations into unintended
acceleration by Toyota vehicles were ended with the help of
former regulators hired by the automaker, warding off possible
recalls, court and government documents show.

While all automakers have employees who handle NHTSA
issues, Toyota may be alone among the major companies in
employing former agency staffers to do so.
Spokesmen for General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler
Group LLC and Honda Motor Co. all say their companies have no
ex-NHTSA people who deal with the agency on defects.

全文：

By Angela Greiling Keane
Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. faces record
recalls of defective vehicles because it placed profit first,
according to the head of a committee that will question the
company’s president today.
“There is striking evidence that the company was at times
more concerned with profit than with customer safety,” House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus
Towns, a New York Democrat, said in his opening statement.
Towns’s panel will hear from Toyota President Akio Toyoda,
in his first U.S. testimony since Toyota recalled about 8
million vehicles worldwide for defects that may cause sudden
acceleration. Toyoda, in prepared remarks, linked the defects to
the expansion that made the company the world’s largest
automaker. He is scheduled to speak after Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David
Strickland, who was scheduled to testify, canceled, according to
a spokesman for Representative Darrell Issa of California, the
committee’s top Republican.
“It’s very obvious that there’s an effort to circle the
wagons and control who will speak to Congress and when,” said
Kurt Bardella, the spokesman. “If this committee fails to
receive satisfactory answers today, we will not hesitate to
convene a second hearing next week to get the answers the
American people are demanding.”
LaHood said he would be accountable for the agency’s
actions.



Ex-Employees


“I’m not going to have our NHTSA administrator who’s been
on the job 40 days appear,” LaHood said in response to
questions from Representative Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican.
“If someone wants to criticize NHTSA or the department, I’m
going to be responsible for that.”
Burton also questioned LaHood about former NHTSA employees
who went directly from the regulator to work for Toyota.
Employees are prohibited from contacting the agency “on
issues that you dealt with at DOT,” LaHood said.
At least four NHTSA investigations into unintended
acceleration by Toyota vehicles were ended with the help of
former regulators hired by the automaker, warding off possible
recalls, court and government documents show.
Asked about reports that Toyota executives who used to work
at NHTSA influenced decisions to limit sudden-acceleration
recalls, LaHood said restrictions prevent former employees from
working directly on issues they handled while with the
government.



Assisting Lawmakers


LaHood said he’d be willing to assist lawmakers on writing
legislation to tighten those lobbying rules.
“I don’t want any ethical problems with anyone,” LaHood
said.
While all automakers have employees who handle NHTSA
issues, Toyota may be alone among the major companies in
employing former agency staffers to do so.
Spokesmen for General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler
Group LLC and Honda Motor Co. all say their companies have no
ex-NHTSA people who deal with the agency on defects.
Toyota may not know the cause of unintended acceleration in
as many as 70 percent of reported incidents after recalling
about 8 million vehicles, Jim Lentz, the company’s U.S. sales
chief, told a congressional committee yesterday.

Quality and Customers

The recalls to fix accelerator pedals and replace floor
mats will “not totally” mitigate sudden acceleration in Toyota
vehicles, linked to 34 deaths, Lentz told a House Energy and
Commerce panel.
Lentz’s testimony at times belied Toyota’s image as an
automaker obsessed with quality and customers, portraying
instead an “embarrassed” company that failed to communicate
globally about safety questions and waited for directions from
Japan that were slow in coming.
“I’m sure all Americans are shocked to learn” that the
company didn’t share defect information internally and that
“this system of quality control that Toyota represents to be at
the heart of their corporation” doesn’t reflect reality,
Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said.
A Toyota internal document sent to the House oversight
panel and dated July 6, 2009, said the company saved $100
million through a “negotiated” vehicle recall. The document,
obtained Feb. 21, showed the company outlining accomplishments
described as “Wins for Toyota,” including the savings.
Toyota U.S. American depositary receipts, each equal to two
ordinary shares, rose $2.35, or 3.3 percent, to $73.90 at 12:38
p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The automaker
has lost about $35 billion in market value since Jan. 21, when
it recalled about 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix
sticking accelerator pedals.