Massive Mitsubishi recall to involve 27,000 New Zealand vehicles

Mitsubishi's senior executive officer Yoshihiko Kuroi speaks to the media in Tokyo. The firm is about to recall 27,000 vehicles in New Zealand. Photo / Kyodo News via AP

A day after Mitsubishi recalled close to 500,000 cars in Australia, they are about to recall 27,000 vehicles in New Zealand.

This comes just a day after Toyota recalled over 35,000 vehicles in New Zealand over faulty fuel systems and airbags, part of a global recall of 3.37 million cars.

While the Mitsubishi recall has not yet been registered on the NZ Transport Agency's Vehicle Safety database, Mitsubishi NZ spokesman Daniel Cook confirmed the plan and said there was a potential risk that could affect a vehicle's headlights or indicators.

"For us here, the issue is a lighting switch connector terminal that can oxidise, basically.

"And if that oxidises, the lighting switch could fail or the lights may turn off or may not turn on or something to that effect."

The 27,000 vehicles set to be recalled include those from the Lancer, Outlander, Pajero, Triton and iMiEV ranges.

The vehicle age range is between 2007 and 2015, but they will vary a bit by model, he said.

Owners will be contacted soon and Mr Cook encouraged them to come forward; given the potential risk.

"It's quite a simple fix, fortunately. We get them in and apply grease to the connector to stop it oxidising, so you don't even need to replace any parts on it.

"We often have troubles with getting enough people back in for recalls - so they should take some action when they get a letter from us."

Their cars recalled in Australia yesterday include almost every Mitsubishi model sold there in the past 10 years.

Although the reasons for recalling every model in Australia differ, that recall also includes the Lancer sedan, Outlander SUV, Triton ute, Pajero 4WD, and the iMiev electric car, plus the Challenger SUV and Colt hatchback. The last two were not listed by Mr Cook in New Zealand.

The Australian faults also included electrical faults affecting turn signals, wipers and lights, and on the Mitsubishi Evo performance car the handbrake cable rubbing on the fuel tank was listed as possibly leading to rust that can cause a fuel leak.