Nissan Motor Co. plans to recall as many as 143,000 cars to replace a tire-pressure monitoring system nut that may corrode and crack in areas with heavy concentrations of road salt, the government said today.

The cracking of the nut in the monitoring system could cause it to fall out of the sensor-transmitter that it secures, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a report on its Web site.

If that happens, and the driver disregards the monitoring-system lamp that lights up, the vehicle could get a flat tire, and an accident could occur, NHTSA said.

Nissan's field studies this summer “revealed a very low incident rate,” Nissan North America senior manager John Gibbons said in an Oct. 1 letter to NHTSA.

Twenty states--including New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- potentially are affected by the recall, along with the District of Columbia, Nissan's letter said.

The automaker said it plans to tell dealers by Nov. 6 and begin notifying owners Nov. 9. The company will ask owners to bring their vehicles to a Nissan or Infiniti dealership, which will replace the nut free of charge, NHTSA said.

Owners in the other states also will be told that they can have the suspect nuts replaced as part of a Nissan service campaign, the company letter said.

Most of the vehicles to be recalled will be 2008 Nissan Rogues, the company letter said. Other vehicles potentially involved are 2009 Nissan Muranos, 2009 Nissan Cubes and 2008-10 Infiniti M35s and M45s.

A Nissan North America spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.