Parts shortages are spreading to U.S. assembly and repair operations of Japanese auto makers. Toyota Motor Corp. warned its U.S. dealers that they face a shortage of some replacement parts while Honda Motor Co. and Subaru of America this week said they would curb U.S. assembly operations to conserve parts.
Toyota said production of most replacement parts resumed in Japan on March 17, and shipments to the U.S. restarted shortly after that. However, the company has identified 233 replacement parts that are made by suppliers who sustained significant damage to plants in Japan from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Production of these parts won't resume for "at least 30 days," the company said in a memo to dealers. It added that "both the number of affected parts and length of production stoppage may increase."
Honda declined to say how much it would cut production or which plants are affected. It will reduce the hours that the affected plants operate each day. It has North American plants in Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Ontario, Canada, and Jalisco, México.
Honda has kept all of its plants closed in Japan since the quake and won't restart production until at least Sunday. Honda has canceled all dealer orders for May delivery for vehicles built in Japan.
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