Returning on Friday from a grilling by the United States Congress, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda encouraged staff to rebuild consumer trust and asked employees to help build a new Toyota.

Toyoda addressed approximately 2,000 employees at the company’s headquarters in Toyota City and had it broadcasted to an additional 7,000 employees.

[Akio Toyoda, President & CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation]:
"There was a language barrier, and I'm not sure how much I was able to get across. However, more than just words, what I wanted to convey to customers was that thanks to everyone's efforts to solve this problem, Toyota has changed."

Toyoda also talked about the support he received while in the U.S., at one point choking up while talking about the meeting with U.S. dealers.

[Akio Toyoda, President & CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation]:
"I had a chance to meet with dealers and team members who came to support me. I thought at the time that I was fighting to protect them. What I realized though was that I was being protected by them. I felt proud to be a member of Toyota."

Toyoda said he believed the process of rebuilding Toyota’s reputation for quality will be a gradual one.

The embattled automaker says it has fixed more than a million of the more than six million cars and trucks subject to recalls in October 2009 and January 2010.