Though Problem Recognition (PR) is a critical phase of the consumer decision making process, it has been relatively under-researched. Since PR frames the problem-solving situation, the remaining stages in the purchase decision are dependent on it. An analytic framework of problem recognition, consisting of four segments -- "new need," "product depletion," "expected satisfaction" and "current dissatisfaction" -- is proposed. A sample of 1056 new car buyers is used for empirical validation. The "new need" and "product depletion" groups differ significantly from the others in terms of several pre-search, search, alternative evaluation and satisfaction variables.