Auto industry's family ties show strain as suppliers suffer

— -- Sisters-in-law Jodi and Michele Tinson are not only married to brothers, they are wedded to the fortunes of the auto industry. And those auto ties are on shaky ground these days.

Jodi, 42, works in the communications department at Chrysler in Auburn Hills, Mich. She joined the automaker two years ago after leaving ad agency BBDO Detroit, Chrysler's second-largest creditor. Chrysler owes the agency more than $50 million. Jodi's husband, Mark, was laid off last month by auto supplier TI Automotive in Warren, Mich.

"If you don't work for a car company, you work for a supplier," says Jodi Tinson. "They are very intertwined."

That interdependence is sending a new jolt of concern through an already vulnerable industry. "You're really in a predicament" if a spouse loses a job, Michele says. "You can't sell your home. You can't move. You just take it a day at a time."

More than 4,000 companies make up the $200 billion U.S. auto-supply business and provide the estimated 10,000 parts that go into making a vehicle. Each vehicle relies on more than 200 suppliers.

Tier 1 suppliers — those that provide products directly to automakers — are eligible for some financial aid in the federal bailout plan. But hundreds of secondary suppliers, Tier 2 and Tier 3, have no safety net. "About 80% of the volume is handled by 20% of suppliers, but the largest number of suppliers are Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers," says Neil De Koker, president of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association. Federal assistance could "potentially help a few hundred, but the rest are left on their own to figure out their survival."

E&E Manufacturing in Plymouth, Mich., is one such business. The Tier 2 supplier was founded in 1962 by Wally Smith. His son Wes, 53, now runs the show. His daughters Jeanne, 28, and Amanda, 24, and their husbands all work at E&E.