'Nothing costs Toyota more than a loss of trust'
Perhaps the meeting between Toyota's top bosses and members of Congress was never going to be easy.
Toyota's president has been on Capitol Hill for an awkward session filled with mutual misunderstandings, muttered consultations and lengthy translations.
The Japanese failed to give the committee much detail and when they tried to be nice, it backfired.
The head of North American operations attempted to gently correct a Congresswoman who said she wanted to buy American, but had chosen Toyota.
It was an American car, made by American workers, he said. "Are you blaming Americans?", she asked incredulously, totally missing the point he was trying to make. He made it again but didn't get a better result.
When Toyota president Akio Toyoda attempted to answer one part of a long-winded question, a Congressman spoke across the interpreter and demanded he answer another part.
Mr Toyoda's lengthy, formal apology didn't seem to make any impact.
What did emerge from a series of less than gripping exchanges was that the boss of Toyota didn't know about these problems until the end of last year and seemed unaware of what he called "the content" of a meeting at which the US Department of Transportation warned of the safety issues.
One Congressman said it felt like a "hanging before a trial". The atmosphere was one of mutual incomprehension, which may indeed be part of the wider problem.
But the most heartfelt words from a Toyota official came when the company's North American President, Yoshimi Inaba, was asked if there had been an instruction not to discuss liability for the fault. He denied that and said that "nothing costs Toyota more than loss of trust".
I’m Mark Mardell, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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