VOA慢速英语:丰田汽车因隐瞒旗下汽车的安全隐患而遭罚款12亿美元

This is the VOA Learning English Economics Report.

美国之音慢速英语，这里是经济报道。

Toyota Motor Corporation agreed to a record fine of $1.2 billion on March 19th. The fine brought to a close a United States criminal investigation into safety problems with some Toyota vehicles.

丰田汽车于3月19日同意其历史最高记录的罚款数额12亿美元。这也意味着美国将停止对丰田安全问题的刑事侦查。

Toyota is the world's largest carmaker. The head of the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder said the company will admit to misleading the public about two safety issues. The problems cause some vehicles to gain speed uncontrollably.

丰田是世界上最大的汽车生产商。司法部部长长埃里克.霍尔德承认在两个安全问题上误导了大众。这些问导致汽车出现加速失控。

"Today, we can say for certain that Toyota intentionally concealed information and misled the public about the safety issues behind these recalls," said Holder.

霍尔德表示“今天，我们可以很肯定的说丰田在召回事件背后的安全问题是故意隐瞒信息误导大众”。

The settlement ends a four-year investigation into how much information Toyota withheld from safety officials. The problems involved poorly made floor coverings and gas pedals that could become stuck in position. The affected vehicles could speed up unexpectedly as a result.

这次解决方案结束了为期四年关于丰田对安全官员隐瞒多少信息的调查取证。涉及的问题包括劣质的地毯以及油门可能卡住。受影响的车辆可能会因此而意外加速

The company recalled about 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles. But it did not describe the full extent of the problems and said drivers were to blame. Attorney General Holder said Toyota agreed to have an independent group look at how the company deals with safety issues.

公司召回大约1000万辆丰田和雷克萨斯。但是却未公开问题的范围并声称是司机自己的问题。埃里克.霍尔德表示丰田同意由一家独立组织审查该公司如何处理安全问题。

"The company will submit to rigorous review by an independent monitor that will examine and assess the manner in which Toyota regularly reports safety issues to the public and its regulator," said Holder.

霍尔德说，“该公司将接受一家独立监督机构的严格复审。该机构将审查和评估丰田向公众及监管机构定期报告安全问题的方式。”

Mr Holder said the fine was the largest criminal penalty against a car company in US history. He said the amount was right, because of Toyota's actions in the case.

霍尔德说，这笔罚款是美国历史上针对一家汽车公司的最重刑罚。他说，因为丰田在这起案件上的行为，这一罚款数额非常合理。

Toyota owners have brought hundreds of private legal cases against the company in connection with the acceleration issue. Last year, the carmaker agreed to pay more than $1 billion to buyers who said their vehicles lost value after the announcement of the recall.

丰田车主就有关加速问题对该公司发起了数百起私人诉讼。去年，丰田同意向声称自己的车辆在召回信息公布后贬值的车主支付了10亿美元。

Toyota released a statement saying it has made "major changes" to its operations to become a more "responsive" company.

丰田发表声明称，该公司在经营上作出了重大改变，使得自己反应更加迅速。

The world's second largest carmaker, General Motors is also under federal investigation. GM has recalled more than 1.5 million vehicles. Federal officials are investigating problems with the starting mechanisms in some GM models from 2003 to 2007. A number of deadly accidents have been linked to the problems.

全球第二大汽车制造商通用汽车也面临联邦调查。通用汽车已经召回超过150万辆汽车。联邦官员正在调查2003年到2007年期间通用汽车某些车型启动装置的问题。一系列致命事故都和该问题有关。

And that is the VOA Learning English Economics Report. For more programs, English learning lessons and videos, go to our website chinavoa.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I'm Mario Ritter.

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