An explosion on Thursday at Chuo Spring Co. in Toyota City has sent shockwaves through the industry, tragically claiming one life, injuring two others, and forcing Toyota to hit the brakes on RAV4 production.

The automaker had paused manufacturing on three production lines after a deadly explosion last week at a parts supplier factory in Japan.

The RAV4 is quite an important model for Toyota - especially in America, where it beat the Ford F-150 as the best-selling model in 2024. It's among the Japanese automaker's cash-cows, so to speak, but that will be affected for an indefinite time as Toyota has announced a pause in its RAV4's production in Japan.

The Toyota RAV4's Japanese production lines have been suspended following a fatal explosion at a supplier's factory.