DEARBORN, Mi. — Ford is delaying the restart of production at its North America plants to help protect its workers.

The company wanted to restart production April 6 at Hermosillo Assembly Plant in Mexico and April 14 at several key U.S. plants, including the Kentucky plant – start up has been delayed and new dates will be announced at a later time. 

“The health and safety of our workforce, dealers, customers, partners and communities remains our highest priority,” said Kumar Galhotra, Ford president, North America.

The company says additional safety measures will be put in place at all of the locations to protect returning workers. 

To support these assembly plants, Ford wanted to resume production April 14 at:

  • Dearborn Stamping Plant
  • Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant
  • Integrated stamping plants within Kansas City and Kentucky Truck plants
  • Sharonville Transmission Plant
  • Portions of Van Dyke Transmission, Lima Engine, and Rawsonville Components plants

Wednesday, March 25 an employee at Kentucky Truck Plant tested positive for the COVID-19; the plant is already temporarily closed.

The plant says it is thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the building, as part of its coronavirus emergency response protocol. 

Spokesperson Kelli Felker told Spectrum News 1, "The health and safety of our workforce, dealers, customers, partners and communities is our highest priority. Our thoughts are with our employee and family during this difficult time."