2/3/10 Nissan recalls nearly 540,000 vehicles worldwide

by **embm** » Mar 3rd, '10, 16:48

by Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura Kimiko De Freytas-tamura – Wed Mar 3, 5:10 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's Nissan Motor said Wednesday it would recall nearly 540,000 vehicles worldwide, most of them in the United States, due to brake pedal defects and faulty fuel gauges.

Nissan -- Japan's third-largest carmaker, and partnered with France's Renault -- said it plans "to inspect and, if necessary, repair brake pedal pins and fuel-gauge components on certain trucks and minivans".

"No accidents or injuries have been reported with these issues," it added.

The recalls also affect Canada, Mexico, the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia and Taiwan, Nissan North America said in a statement.

The models with faulty brake pedals are the Titan pickup trucks, the Armada and Infiniti QX56 SUVs and Quest minivans built between 2008 and 2010, the company said. Nissan plans to pull 178,916 units from US roads and another 25,869 in other countries to fix the brake pedal pins.

"When the pin loosens, the brake pedal gets wobbly. In the worst case, the brake pedal slips towards the outside and it becomes difficult to operate on the road," said Nissan spokesman Mitsuru Yonekawa.

The company said three customer complaints of brake pedal pins loosening and causing problems with braking had been reported in the United States.

Nissan said it inspected 6,000 vehicles following the first report in December but found no defects.

The fuel gauge defect recall covers the Titan, Armada and Infiniti QX56 built from 2005 to 2008, and the Frontier, Pathfinder and Xterra produced between January and March 2006 and between October 2007 and January 2008.

The problem affects 418,865 US vehicles and 53,253 elsewhere, Nissan said. Related article: Toyota fixing 1.3 million vehicles over oil leak

Both problems occur in some of the 2008 models of the Titan, Armada and Infiniti QX56.

"Vehicles at higher mileage levels may have fuel gauges which incorrectly indicate the amount of fuel in the tank. This may result in the vehicle running out of fuel while the gauge reads greater than empty," a Nissan statement said.

Until their fuel gauges are repaired, customers with affected vehicles are encouraged to maintain a fuel level of at least half a tank, it said.

Nissan blamed the manufacturing errors on its suppliers.

A spokesman said Canada-based KSR International had manufactured the faulty brake pedal pins, while Paris-based Inergy Automotive Systems was responsible for the fuel gauge problem.

Nissan's action follows recalls by the world's largest carmaker, Toyota, whose faulty accelerator and braking systems have been blamed for 52 deaths in the US, prompting its president to apologise before Washington lawmakers.

Honda, Japan's second-biggest carmaker, just three weeks ago recalled more than 400,000 vehicles to fix airbags, saying that they could explode and spray out potentially deadly metal shards.

In January Honda announced a recall of 646,000 vehicles after a fire hazard involving a defective window switch resulted in a death.

Nissan shares were down 0.43 percent to 702 yen at the close in Tokyo trade.