Nissan recalls nearly 540,000 vehicles worldwide

(AFP/ERIC PIERMONT)

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, adding that it would pull 178,916 units from US roads.

The company said there had been three reported cases of brake pedal pins loosening and causing problems with braking.

Nissan blamed the manufacturing errors on its suppliers.

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

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.

"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," Nissan said.

The 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 US 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.

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