DETROIT, March 3 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:7201.T - News) is recalling nearly 14,000 of its all-new Quest minivans because of potential inadvertent deployment of the front passenger air bag when the seat is occupied by a small child, federal safety regulators said on Wednesday.

In an advisory posted on its Web site, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said testing had revealed a possible problem with the front passenger seat occupant detection system on the Quest and its automatic air bag suppressor.

Nissan spokesman Eric Booth said the tests, conducted internally by the automaker, revealed that the passenger seat failed to detect the weight of an average six-year-old child.

A total of 13,757 Quests, built by Nissan at its assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi, are affected by the recall, NHTSA said.

Although Nissan is fixing the problem, which involves 2004 models of the Quest built from March 26 until Sept. 2 last year, Booth said young children should not travel in the front passenger seat for any number of safety reasons.

"We always recommend, and I think most manufacturers do, that children or young kids ride in the second row seats or the back seats of a vehicle," he said.

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