Toyota's wheel of fortune

Toyota's three vehicle plants in Thailand halted work last month due to extensive flooding in the country, and a shortage of parts forced the company to cut output in nine other countries including Japan. Photo / Supplied

There's been the good news ... and the bad news for Toyota Motor Company this week with a recall announced at the same time the motoring giant says production will restart at its Thailand plant.

Toyota says it will resume part of operations at its three Thailand factories on November 21 after suspension caused by a shortage of parts from flooded Thai suppliers, based north of Bangkok.

Toyota's three vehicle plants in Thailand halted work last month due to extensive flooding in the country, and a shortage of parts forced the company to cut output in nine other countries including Japan.

Along with Toyota, other big motoring players such as Honda, Mazda and Ford have had production affected due to the flooding in factories.

But Ford plans to restart production in Thailand by the middle of this month, although the American carmaker will lose about 30,000 units as a result of the flooding, its CEO Alan Mulally told Bloomberg TV.

Among the affected Ford vehicles has been the high-profile Ranger ute, that has just gone on sale in New Zealand.

Early this week, Toyota withdrew its annual profit guidance as Thai floods threaten output just as it had recovered from supply shortages that battered production after the March earthquake in Japan.

Another dampener for Toyota has been the news that it's had to recall 550,000 vehicles worldwide after the company detected a potential flaw that may suddenly affect steering.

Toyota recalled the vehicles to replace the crankshaft pulley on the V6 engine, though no accidents have been reported.

"If this condition is not corrected, the belt for the power steering pump may become detached from the pulley and the driver may notice a sudden increase in steering effort," Toyota said.

About 80 per cent of the affected vehicles are in the US while in New Zealand, Toyota says just under 1000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles are being recalled.

Toyota NZ General Manager Customer Services, Spencer Morris, says the affected part is the 3-litre V6 1MZ-FE engine and 3.3 litre V6 3MZ-FE engine used in some 2004/2005 Toyota Camry, Highlander, Harrier, and Estima models.

This engine was also used in the Lexus RX range during the same years.