  We investigate one-dimensional driven diffusive systems where particles may
also be created and annihilated in the bulk with sufficiently small rate. In an
open geometry, i.e., coupled to particle reservoirs at the two ends, these
systems can exhibit ergodicity breaking in the thermodynamic limit. The
triggering mechanism is the random motion of a shock in an effective potential.
Based on this physical picture we provide a simple condition for the existence
of a non-ergodic phase in the phase diagram of such systems. In the
thermodynamic limit this phase exhibits two or more stationary states. However,
for finite systems transitions between these states are possible. It is shown
that the mean lifetime of such a metastable state is exponentially large in
system-size. As an example the ASEP with the A0A--AAA reaction kinetics is
analyzed in detail. We present a detailed discussion of the phase diagram of
this particular model which indeed exhibits a phase with broken ergodicity. We
measure the lifetime of the metastable states with a Monte Carlo simulation in
order to confirm our analytical findings.
