Tokyo, Japan — Toyota will partially suspend operations at seven domestic plants through Thursday following an explosion that occurred at a component supplier’s factory.
This suspension expands on an earlier decision to halt several facilities’ production following a blast that occurred at the Chuo Spring Co factory in Aichi prefecture—a factory where vehicle suspension coils are made for a number of Japanese automakers.
One employee at the factory was hospitalized following the blast, the supplier said on Tuesday, although it did not reveal the exact cause of the incident.
At the time of the incident, Toyota paused some manufacturing at six plants on Tuesday and then expanded the order to include 11 production lines across seven facilities, according to a spokesperson.
This move on the automaker’s part marks the biggest domestic production halt since August when Toyota was forced to shut down all 14 of its domestic plants for a day due to a glitch in its manufacturing system.
Toyota Auto Body’s Yoshiwara and Inabe plants, as well as some production lines, have been offline since Monday evening, while the Takaoka and Tsutsumi plants were stopped Tuesday morning.
No information has been provided as of yet as to when all production will be resumed.
