美国加州检察官起诉丰田隐瞒缺陷

Toyota faces 'dangerous vehicle' fraud case Prosecutors in California have launched a lawsuit against car firm Toyota, claiming it had engaged in "fraud" by hiding evidence of dangerous vehicle defects.

The District Attorney for Orange County, Tony Rackauckas, said his office along with private attorneys sued the US sales arm of Toyota - charging that the world's top-selling automaker has endangered the public with defective vehicles - and engaged in deceptive business practices.

Mr Rackauckas said: "We'll be alleging in court, on behalf of the people of Orange County, that Toyota knowingly sold cars and trucks with defects that caused Toyotas to accelerate suddenly and uncontrollably.

"These defects exist in hundreds of thousands of Toyotas sold to Californians over the last several years. Toyota has known about these defects but intentionally did not disclose them to California purchasers."

Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles globally to address the risk that accelerator pedals on a range of its vehicles could become stuck because of a loose floor mat or a glitch in the pedal assembly.

Unintended acceleration in the company's Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been linked to at least five US crash deaths since 2007. Authorities are investigating reports alleging 47 other fatalities over the past decade.

针对丰田汽车的缺陷问题，美国州级检察官首次对丰田提出起诉。据国外媒体报道，美国加利福尼亚州检察官日前针对车辆缺陷问题，对丰田汽车提起诉讼；同时，丰田汽车正面临着更多的政治压力，要求该公司就汽车失控案与调查官员进行合作。加利福尼亚州橙县地区检察官的发言人称，已经对丰田汽车旗下美国销售部门提起诉讼，以“阻止其继续通过销售有缺陷的车辆和进行欺骗性的业务活动来让民众面临风险”。据悉，这是美国州级或联邦检察官首次对丰田提出起诉。丰田汽车尚未就此诉讼置评。

在此之前，丰田汽车已面临多起未决集体诉讼。此外，丰田还面临着来自美国证券交易委员会的调查以及来自于联邦检察官的刑事调查。美国康涅狄格州总检察官也表示，正在推动丰田汽车对过去一周中有关凯美瑞汽车的两桩事故进行调查。在纽约州，参议院下属联合经济委员会主席称，希望看到丰田汽车采取措施，对该州发生的一桩有关普锐斯混合动力汽车的事故原因进行调查。

在最近一例有关丰田汽车的事故中，圣地亚哥一位普锐斯车主在驾车过程中遭遇油门踏板卡住的故障。该车主称，在他驾车行驶的过程中，普锐斯的油门踏板被卡住，甚至当他尝试用手提起踏板时也拉不动。此后，车主拨打了911紧急救助电话，并遵照指示来尝试停下汽车，但仍旧未能减速。最后，加利福尼亚州高速公路巡警队派出的一名官员利用公共广播系统要求车主同时使用紧急刹车和刹车踏板，才使汽车减速到了每小时50英里，并最终得以关掉点火装置。据悉，丰田和美国高速公路交通安全署正在对此事故进行调查。丰田汽车此前表示，没有证据表明，这桩事故是由电子油门控制系统存在缺陷而引起的。

公开资料显示，丰田目前在全球已召回超过 800万辆问题汽车，在美国至少面临89宗车主集体诉讼，赔偿金额涉及30亿美元。