Nissan recalled over half a million vehicles in the Americas and Africa on Nov. 11 over fears that a fault could cause the steering column to crack. The carmaker said it would recall 303,000 Frontier and 283,000 Xterra SUVs over safety concerns.
"Nissan recently discovered that in certain rare instances, the lower steering column joint on the affected Frontier and Xterra vehicles can develop corrosion that limits the movement of the joint," the firm said.
"If the vehicle continues to be driven in this condition it may, in an extreme case, lead to cracking of the steering shaft."
"We regret any inconveniences that our customers may experience as we address these issues," said Kevin Martin of Nissan North America.
The affected vehicles were built at plants in Tennessee and Brazil between 2001 and 2008.
The company also recalled "18,500 Sentra vehicles in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and a undisclosed number of African countries for problems with the battery cable terminal.
The fault could result in difficulty starting the vehicle, "and in rare cases, a possibility of stalling at low speed," the firm said.
Owners are advised to take their vehicles to a service center in early December to have new parts installed.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
