Nissan to fix 2.14 million cars in 3rd biggest recall

A man walks past a logo of Nissan Motor Co at the company's headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo July 29, 2010.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co said on Thursday it would recall 2.14 million March/Micra, Cube and about a dozen other models in its third-biggest recall, to fix a faulty ignition relay that could cause engine problems.

No accident was reported from the defect, Nissan spokesman Toshitake Inoshita said.

Nissan said problems in the ignition relay could cause the engine to stall or fail to restart. The recalls are mostly in Japan, with 835,000 units, and the United States and Canada with a combined 762,000 units.

The faulty vehicles were built in Japan, the United States, Britain, Spain, China and Taiwan between August 2003 and July 2006.

Nissan does not disclose cost estimates on vehicle recalls or any impact on its earnings. But the fix is likely to be relatively cheap, with Nissan estimating less than 25 minutes for the repair, which involves replacing the ignition relay.

Recalls exceeding 1 million vehicles have become more common at big automakers as they use common components across multiple models to save design and production costs.

Last week, Toyota Motor Corp announced a recall of 1.66 million vehicles globally for defects involving the brake master cylinder and fuel pump wiring. That brought the total number of vehicles recalled worldwide at Toyota in the past year to about 14 million.

Shares of Nissan, held 43 percent by Renault SA, temporarily erased small gains after the news but later recovered to end up 0.3 percent. Most other auto stocks and the broader Tokyo market fell.

(Editing by Chris Gallagher)