Toyota plants shut down after database maintenance work exhausted disk space

Toyota Motor Corporation was forced to suspend operations at its Japanese plants late last month after database maintenance work caused it to run out of disk space.

In a brief post-incident report, the carmaker said that it had performed “regular” systems maintenance work on August 27, including to its database systems that process parts orders.

“During the maintenance procedure, data that had accumulated in the database was deleted and organised, and an error occurred due to insufficient disk space, causing the system to stop,” Toyota said.

“... A similar failure occurred in the backup function, and a switchover could not be made. This led to the suspension of domestic plant operations.

“The system was restored after the data was transferred to a server with a larger capacity on August 29, and the plants resumed operation on the following day.”

Toyota said that it had applied unspecified “countermeasures” to prevent a recurrence “by replicating and verifying the situation.”

The carmaker apologised for the disruption to its operations, which affected 14 assembly plants.

It reiterated earlier statements that the problems weren’t due to a cyber attack.