JAPAN: Faulty engine sensors prompt huge Nissan recall - report

30 Oct 2003

Source: just-auto.com editorial team

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Nissan Motor plans to recall a total of 2.56 million vehicles sold in Japan and overseas due to problems with an engine revolution counting sensor, the car maker told Dow Jones on Thursday.

The news agency said Nissan expects to book a Y15 billion-Y16 billion recall charge this fiscal year to the end of March, but has no plans to downgrade its earnings outlook for the current year.

Nissan will recall about 1.03 million vehicles in Japan and 1.53 million vehicles sold in the US and other countries, Dow Jones added.

Japan's ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport told Dow Jones the number of vehicles Nissan plans to recall in Japan represents the country's second largest recall after the 1.04 million vehicles Nissan recalled in May 1996.

Dow Jones said Nissan had already factored the recall costs into its earnings forecast for this fiscal year to the end of March.

In mid-October, Nissan said it expects a group net profit of Y495.0 billion for the full year, with an operating profit of Y820 billion and sales of Y7.450 trillion, Dow Jones noted.

The report said Nissan will recall 23 models, including the Sunny (sold overseas as the Sentra), the Skyline (sold overseas as the Infinity G35) and the Fairlady Z ( sold overseas as the 350Z).

Of the 1.53 million vehicles to be recalled overseas, Nissan will recall 700,000 vehicles in the US, 460,000 in Europe and the remainder in other Asian countries, the Middle East and other regions, the report added.

Dow Jones said some of the engines installed in these vehicles may not start properly due to problems with the sensors needed to count engine revolutions.

The report said the sensor is made by Hitachi Unisia Ltd., a parts maker wholly owned by Hitachi Ltd, and Nissan adds the sensor to its engines during assembly.

The two companies will check whether the sensor problem was caused when they were produced by Hitachi Unisia or when the engines were assembled by Nissan, Dow Jones said.

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