Nissan Recall - Bad Ignition Switch Could Affect 166,000 Nissan Vehicles

Nissan Motor Co. said today it is is recalling about 166,000 vehicles in North America because a defective ignition switch can affect the safe operation of airbag systems when an engine closes off while driving.

The automaker said 153,000 vehicles are in a U.S. and 13,000 are in Canada.

The recall covers certain 2017-2018 Juke, Frontier, Sentra, Versa, Versa Note, NV, NV200 and taxicab models, and in Canada the recall has to do with 2017-2018 Frontier, Micra and Versa Note models and 2017 Sentra, NV200, NV1500, NV2500 and NV3500 models.

The automaker is telling drivers to immediately remove all objects, such as additional keys and pivotal chains, from a ignition key ring in an bid to reduce chances of problems.

Nissan said it is not aware of any untoward incidents stemming from the ignition problem.

On certain vehicles with a pivital ignition system, an faulty ignition switch could wear and break, permitting the ignition to inadvertently move from the "on" position to "accessory" (ACC) position while driving, if that happens, it could shut off the engine and airbag power, it could change both steering and braking boosting a risk of a crash. Additionally, in a crash, airbags will not function.