System Failure Stops Toyota Plants

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:02 JST, August 29, 2023 (updated at 18:00 JST)

A system glitch forced Toyota Motor Corp. to halt operations at 12 of its 14 plants in Japan　on Tuesday morning.

After a malfunction in a system that processes orders for parts, the automaker suspended production lines, including the Motomachi and Tahara plants in Aichi Prefecture, and the Iwate plant of Toyota Motor East Japan, Inc.

Toyota said operations had continued at the Miyata plant of Toyota Motor Kyushu, Inc. in Fukuoka Prefecture and the Kyoto plant of Toyota unit Daihatsu Motor Co. on Tuesday morning. However, Toyota was to halt operations at the two factories on Tuesday evening.

The glitch, which affected the production of models such as the Yaris and Corolla, did not appear to have been the result of a cyberattack, according to Toyota.

A cyber-attack on Toyota supplier Kojima Industries Corp. in March last year forced the car giant to suspend operations at all of its 14 plants in Japan. In July this year, Toyota suspended operations at four factories after a system that manages container terminals at Nagoya Port was hit by ransomware, an attack involving malicious software that is designed to block access to a computer system.