Strikes at parts suppliers are forcing General Motors and Chrysler to put the brakes on production at two Canadian assembly plants.

General Motors' Oshawa, Ont. truck plant will temporarily shut down because a strike at a supplier is causing a parts shortage.

The Oshawa plant, along with GM pickup truck plants in Flint, Mich., and Fort Wayne, Ind., are slated to halt production following the end of the second shift on Friday night, a GM spokesperson said Friday.

A GM plant in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac shut down Thursday.

All four of the idled GM plants produce the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra.

The parts shortage is due to a strike at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. The New York Times reported that GM is American Axle's biggest customer, accounting for 80 per cent of its business.

In Windsor, Ont., a Chrysler plant is already shut down due to a strike at one of its suppliers.

Chrysler's minivan plant shut down after about 175 workers at TRW Automotive, represented by the Canadian Auto Workers, walked off the job Thursday afternoon.

TRW makes suspension frames for Chrysler. Within three hours of the start of the strike, Chrysler stopped production at its minivan plant.

Wages are at the centre of the TRW contract dispute.