Nissan to recall all new cars sold in Japan in last three years

YOKOHAMA (Reuters): Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. will recall all 1.2 million new passenger cars it sold in Japan over the past three years after discovering final vehicle inspections were not performed by authorised technicians, it said.

The recall is the second major misconduct incident involving a Japanese automaker in as many years, after Mitsubishi Motors Corp admitted in April 2016 it had falsified the fuel economy for some of its domestic market models.

Nissan, Japan’s second-biggest carmaker, said it would recall 1.21 million passenger vehicles produced for the domestic market between October 2014 and September 2017, including top sellers the Serena minivan and the Note compact hatchback.

It added all recalled vehicles would undergo re-inspections for final checks on issues including steering radius and braking and acceleration capabilities, at a cost of around 25 billion yen ($222 million). “We must take the registration framework and procedures seriously, regardless of how busy we may be or how short-staffed we may be,” CEO Hiroto Saikawa told reporters at a media conference.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers.”

Saikawa added the company was investigating how and why the inspections took place, a process expected to take around a month. A third party will participate in an internal investigation into the matter, he said.

The recall includes all of the 386,000 passenger vehicles Nissan sold in Japan in 2016. It excludes Nissan-branded mini-vehicles, which are produced by Mitsubishi Motors.

Passenger car sales in Japan account for roughly 10 percent of Nissan’s global sales.