Worker death forces Subaru to suspend output in Japan

TOKYO — Subaru temporarily suspended production at three plants in Japan, including the factories making the Forester and Crosstrek crossovers for export as well as the BRZ sporty coupe, after a 35-year veteran worker was crushed to death, Japanese media reported.

The accident happened on the evening of Feb. 13, after a 25-ton mold fell on a worker at the Yajima assembly plant in Gunma prefecture north of Tokyo, the Nikkei and Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun reported. As of Feb. 16, it still was not clear when production would resume.

A police spokesman in Ota, the city where the Yajima factory is located, confirmed details of the death. Police identified the worker as a 60-year-old man who was a 35-year veteran of Subaru.

A Subaru spokesperson did not immediately return attempts to seek comment.

The man was operating a crane by himself using a remote control to lift and move 25-ton molds, the local Jomo Shimbun reported. One of the molds collapsed, pinning the worker between another mold. An autopsy determined the cause of death as asphyxiation.

The shutdown affected three plants in the Gunma region, Subaru’s main production hub.

The Yajima assembly plant, where the accident occurred, makes the Impreza compact, and the Outback, Crosstrek and Forester crossovers. The nearby Main plant makes the BRZ, Impreza and Crosstrek as well as the WRX sports car and the Levorg, a Japan-market wagon.

Also affected was the local Oizumi engine and transmission plant.

Subaru’s domestic output climbed 8.1 percent to 608,327 vehicles in calendar year 2023, for the second straight year of increases. Production in Japan accounted for about 63 percent of the export-dependent company’s global output. Exports from Japan increased 13 percent to 509,199 units last year, also racking the second consecutive year of higher production.

Subaru has been racing to recoup lost volume since the pandemic and global semiconductor shortage slowdown. Its Japanese factories delivered record production of 727,741 vehicles in 2016. But domestic output fell 7.9 percent to 570,416 in 2020 and dropped to 475,141 in 2021.

Subaru’s Yajima and Oizumi plants will play a crucial role in the automaker’s electrification shift.

Subaru will add a dedicated electric vehicle assembly line at Oizumi as early as 2027, with capacity for 200,000 vehicles a year. Meanwhile, a line at Yajima will have capacity for 200,000 EVs a year around 2026. Combined, the two lines will enable output of 400,000 EVs a year in 2028.