Toyota announced plans on April 4 to temporarily close all North American factories due to a parts shortage brought on by the earthquake in Japan.
CBS reported that the temporary closure will affect around 25,000 workers according to Toyota spokesman Mike Goss, who added that the plants will reopen as soon as parts production can be restored in Japan. No layoffs are expected during that time frame.
There are 13 Toyota factories in North America.
“We’re going to get to a point this month where that gap in the pipeline starts to show up. So we’ll have to suspend production for a while,” Goss said, according to CBS.
Plants were relying on parts inventories to service vehicles, but those supplies are running low and maintenance for Toyota vehicles may suffer during the shutdown.
Rachel Shannon, 19, is a sophomore at the university and drives a 2002 Toyota Celica. She said that the parts shortage worries her.
“I drive a Toyota and my dad drives a Toyota,” Shannon said. “They already stopped making Celica parts so I have a hard enough time getting service. Neither one of our cars are brand new so there’s a really good chance we’ll need to take them in sooner or later.”
Shannon also said that her father needs his car, a 2001 Toyota Camry, to drive to work, and that if something happened to his car it could cause serious problems.
“If these plants are shut down and my dad doesn’t have a car then we’re in trouble because I need my car for work too,” Shannon said. “He could take it to another kind of shop but then there’s a good chance they won’t have the part and it’ll cost him a fortune and more time.”
As of now there is no information on how long the plants will be closed.
According to Goss only 15% of the parts come from Japan, but those parts are needed for full production of Toyota vehicles.
“I guess I’ll have to just wait it out, and if something does happen to my car I’ll have to hope that the part I need isn’t made in a Japanese plant.”