By AINSLEY THOMSON and THERESA GARNER
New Zealand Nissan customers should know today which models are affected by a mass recall from the Japanese car company.
Over the weekend Nissan's websites offered no information to customers about the recall, which it has said will affect 2.5 million cars worldwide.
But Nissan NZ customer services manager Mike Perez said he expected to receive details today.
"We don't have confirmation yet, but we have indications the new version Primeras, some X-Trails, some Pulsar wagons and some of the newer Pulsars are the New Zealand new vehicles involved."
Mr Perez said he understood the affected cars were built between 1998 and last year.
The defect - the crank position sensor, which effectively told the engine when to turn over - was minor, he said.
"It's not a safety issue. It's not a brake line or a fuel line that is going to cause a fire or anything like that.
"The worst that can happen is the car won't run."
But Aucklander Mark Smith rubbished the company's claim that the fault was not a safety issue and that it only affected cars built since 1998.
He said that about two years after buying his Nissan Sentra new from a dealer in 1994, his family suffered countless stalls.
"We were definitely not safe in it," he said.
"I felt very compromised every time it stalled."
Mr Perez said Nissan would pay for the repair of New Zealand-new cars but not for repairs to second-hand imports.
Consumers Institute head David Russell said Nissan's refusal to repair imported cars was not acceptable.
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