Nissan is recalling 2.5 million vehicles - including more than 400,000 made at the award-winning Sunderplant plant - to check potentially faulty wiring.

The massive recall is the biggest in the Japanese giant's history and effects Almeras, Primeras, the small Tino people carrier and the 4x4 X-Trail.

Checks have revealed that two sensors in the engine management system - the electronic "brain" of any car - can fail.

If they do so the engine will refuse to start or could stall leaving a driver stranded.

More than 2.5 m vehicles are potentially at risk worldwide. In the UK some 108,000 vehicles are to be recalled.

Owners will be sent letters informing them of the problem and instructing them to take their vehicles to be serviced.

Rectification involves replacing the two at risk sensors and should take around an hour.

Japanese officials indicated last night that the recall would cost the company more than £80m.

A Nissan spokesman stressed the recall was a precautionary measure and only an "incredibly small" amount of cars had developed engine problems as a result of the fault.

Nissan is not revealing how many cars have shown signs of the defect to date, but the spokesman added: "We monitor failures very carefully and our dealer networks noted a growing number of sensor problems.

"It soon became obvious that we had a problem and the company has moved quickly to solve it."

Nissan will contact owners by the end of November with the offer of free checks and remedial work at their local dealer.

Although more than 400,000 of the cars affected were built at Nissan's Sunderland factory the recall does not reflect on the plant, which is the most efficient in Europe. Other cars involved in the recall were built at Nissan's factories in Barcelona, Spain, and Kyushu, in Japan.

"The parts we plan to replace are bought and used on a worldwide basis - it has nothing to do with the efficiency of individual factories," explained the spokesman.

A statement from the company read: "Nissan will be contacting the owners of the potentially affected vehicles, requesting that they contact a Nissan dealer who will replace the affected sensors.

"The corrective action will be carried out at no cost to the customer."

In Europe, the recall affects: 273,747 Almera cars, made in Sunderland; 148,173 Primeras, also made in Sunderland; 49,775 Almera Tino cars, made in Spain; 20,225 X-Trail 4x4 vehicles, made in Japan.

A further 1m vehicles are due to be recalled in Japan and more than 700,000 in North America.

Due to the scale and scope of the recall, letters will not be sent out to owners until the end of November.

Motorists owning the old-type Primera, which started production in Sunderland in 1996, and new-shape from 2001 are likely to be affected.

Owners of petrol-engined Almeras built in this country after January 2000 and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) 1.5 and 1.8 manual drive vehicles will also be recalled.

The diesel-engined versions of the two vehicles are unaffected.

Nissan said it will work with the DVLA to track down Primera and Almera drivers in this country. Professor Garel Rhys (correct), director of Cardiff University's Centre for Automotive Industry Research, said: "The litigious world we live in means no car maker can ignore a fault.

"This is a big recall but the problem is with the supplier. I am sure Nissan will be reading the riot act to the supplier behind closed doors. A lot of the cost of this recall will fall on the shoulders of the supplier."