Japanese car company Nissan has suspended production of some vehicles in Japan because it is unable to import air pressure sensors from Antrim due to the air traffic disruption in Europe.
Antrim-based Schrader Electronics makes tyre pressure sensors for use on cars sold on the North American market, where the product is compulsory.
Nissan uses a freight forwarding company to transport its components to Japan. Its freight company is working with the car firm and with Schrader to find a way to bring the parts to Nissan's factories.
The parts are at various airports - 50,000 at Dublin Airport, 90,000 parts in London, some in Paris and a truck carrying more parts is on its way to Madrid.
Schrader's Stephen McClelland says the situation is 'unprecedented'. He says Schrader's production has not slowed down, that in fact because of a recent recovery in car sales in the US market, production has increased.
Earlier, Nissan said it was suspending some car production in Japan because it could not import the tyre pressure sensors from Ireland due to air traffic disruption.
Japan's third-largest car maker expects to lose total production of 2,000 vehicles a day in two plants from tomorrow due to a shortage of tyre pressure sensors.
The parts are used in Nissan's Cube, Murano and Rogue vehicles targeting the North American market, a spokesman said, adding that it was undecided when the company will resume production.
The part, which is obligatory in cars that run on US roads, raises an alarm if it senses abnormal air pressure, according to the company official.
Production of other models that do not require the component, including the Note minicar, X-Trail SUV and Dualis hatchback, will also be affected by the suspension.
The Nissan official declined to give a figure on the expected loss from the plants' suspension. 'We had thought that we were pretty much safe from the eruption's impact but conditions changed on very short notice,' he said.
Meanwhile, German luxury automaker BMW is partially halting production at several sites because of spare parts not arriving due to the turmoil in European air traffic, a spokesman said.
The Munich-based firm said that three German factories were affected, with some production stopping at Dingolfing later today and at Munich and Regensburg tomorrow and Thursday respectively.
A spokesman said the stoppage would mean that around 7,000 fewer vehicles would be made than normal. Foreign production and deliveries to customers remained unaffected.
