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Nissan Motor Co. has sent about 200 engineers from Japan to the United States, in part to investigate quality problems with its full-size Titan pickup and other new models.

Nissan had planned to bring in engineers to monitor new vehicle launches this year, but the number has grown because of recent quality complaints, said Fred Standish, a Nissan spokesman.

“We’re going to fix what we find wrong,” he said. “Simple as that.”

The engineers will review operations at Nissan assembly plants in Canton, Miss., and Smyrna, Tenn., as well as a San Diego design center and an engineering center in Farmington Hills. They will also drop in on key parts suppliers, Standish said.

The news was first reported Monday by Automotive News, an industry trade publication.

Nissan bombed in the 2004 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Survey, released in April, with the automaker’s new full-size Titan pickup, Quest minivan and Armada sport utility vehicle scoring last in their categories.

Survey respondents complained about faulty instrument panels, soft brakes and wind noise in the new models, all of which are built at Nissan’s new $1.5 billion Canton, Miss., plant.

The problems in Canton are understandable given the fact that Nissan is launching so many new vehicles so fast in a new plant and with an untested work force, said John Tews, a spokesman for J.D. Power.

“When you have that combination, there’s going to be a lot of growing pains.”

Overall, Nissan finished 11th in the survey, down from sixth place last year. The company’s vehicles averaged 147 problems per 100 vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership, well above the industry average of 119.

The quality problems are one of the first dents in Nissan’s amazing five-year comeback under CEO Carlos Ghosn. The Titan pickup and Pathfinder Armada SUV are targeted at the heart of the Big Three’s most profitable market. Some industry experts now wonder if Nissan is trying to develop too many new vehicles in too short a period of time.

Yet Nissan’s quality troubles have not stopped its sales gains in the United States. Through May, Nissan and sister brand Infiniti’s combined U.S. sales were up 28.2 percent.

You can reach Brett Clanton at 313-222-2612 or bclantondetnews.com.

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*Retired.