Auto suppliers down and feeling left out

DETROIT, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Parts suppliers who provide the life-blood to U.S. automakers are feeling the effects of a poor economy and slumping automobile sales, a trade group said.

In a relationship perhaps defines as "if you bleed, we bleed," some suppliers are "in the very same shape as General Motors and Chrysler," Neil De Koker, president of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, told USA Today.

The $240 billion a year auto parts industry is also tied to the fate of federal intervention. The White House has said it is working with the U.S. Treasury on a bailout for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

In the meantime, some suppliers are using IOUs from automakers as collateral for bank loans, De Koker said.

Suppliers "don't have access to capital," he said.

Some are in trouble. Auto company suppler Key Plastics filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday. Norway's Kongsberg Automotive Saturday said it would close two U.S. plants and move production to Mexico, citing "market realities." Power train supplier BorgWarner Inc.-- with only 12 percent of its business tied to U.S. automakers -- said profits were down.

With a finger on industry's pulse, Fitch Ratings put seven major automobile suppliers on credit watch last week, the newspaper said.