Japan Earthquake Halts Work at Toyota and Nissan Plants

(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. halted operations at plants in northern Japan after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture late Wednesday. 

Work at Toyota’s factories in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures was suspended late Wednesday and resumed in a limited capacity late Thursday, spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said. Toyota’s popular Yaris compact car is among the vehicles made at the plants. 

Nissan halted production at its factory in the city of Iwaki in Fukushima. The plant was already scheduled to close Thursday and Friday as part of Nissan’s employee vaccination schedule, spokeswoman Azusa Momose said.

While there was some damage at Toyota’s plants, there haven’t been any reports of employee injuries, according to the company. Nissan said all of its employees have been safely evacuated and there was no damage impacting production or injuries reported at its Iwaki facility, Momose said.

After some of Denso Corp.’s Fukushima facilities were damaged in the quake, the company was in the process of restarting most production activities as of late Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Toyota supplier said. Toyota also halted operations at its engine factory in Miyagi, but operations resumed late Thursday after safety checks, company spokeswoman Hashimoto said. 

Hitachi Astemo Ltd. has temporarily halted seven factories in northern Japan while inspections are carried out, a spokesman for the company said Thursday. The auto-parts maker can’t forecast when production will resume until checks are finished, he said.

Read more: Toyota Pushes Ahead With Production Schedule Despite Hurdles

Renesas Electronics Corp. meanwhile had three of its facilities halted in Ibaraki, Gunma and Yamagata. Renesas is another key Toyota supplier. Toyota said it doesn’t forecast any impact from the Renesas plant upsets.

Wednesday night’s earthquake killed two people and injured more than 100.

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