January 6, 1983

The auto industry closed out its worst sales year in almost two decades, recording total car sales of 7.9 million. But in the final 10 days of the year, sales rose 28.5 percent for the Big Three. Most executives remained cautious in discussing the outlook for 1983. (Page D1.) Ford and Chrysler are asking banks to help finance their cut-rate financing programs for buyers of new cars. (D4.) President Reagan noted signs of economic recovery, but reiterated that he is still troubled by high budget deficits. Speaking at a news conference, the President said he had not made any decisions on his budget for the fiscal year 1984, but said, ''Increasing taxes is not the way out of a recession.'' (A1.)

International A nuclear-powered Soviet satellite is apparently in trouble and will probably crash to earth this month, the Pentagon announced. It said the reconnaissance satellite was believed to contain about 100 pounds of enriched uranium and was similar to a Cosmos satellite that crashed in an uninhabited area of northern Canada in 1978, causing minor radiation contamination. (Page A1, Columns 3-4.) A nonaggression pact would be signed by the Warsaw Pact members if the NATO countries pledged not to use force against the Soviet bloc nations, they announced at the end of a meeting in Prague. Western diplomats said they believed the proposal had no more chance of being accepted than a similar offer that NATO rejected in 1958 as meaningless. (A3:1-3.)

A special committee of the American Bar Association has recommended broad changes in the way New York State disciplines its lawyers. It concluded that the present mechanism was ill-coordinated and poorly financed. The recommendations, contained in a 53-page report, would transfer responsibility for the discipline of the state's 71,750 lawyers from the four Appellate Divisions of State Supreme Court to a newly created statewide agency.

Because of a production error, the Going Out Guide yesterday omitted the first name of a pipe player who appeared at Christ Church United Methodist yesterday and who will perform tonight at 8 at the American Irish Historical Society, Fifth Avenue and 81st Street. He is Bill Ochs.

A Federal warrant was issued yesterday for the arrest of a man in connection with last Friday's bombings in lower Manhattan and in Brooklyn that seriously injured three police officers. The suspect, Luis Rosado, 32 years old, was described as a supporter of the F.A.L.N., a Puerto Rican terrorist group that is suspected in the bombings. He was identified in a Federal complaint as the anonymous caller who telephoned the WCBS radio station after the first two dynamite bombs exploded, asserting: ''This is the F.A.L.N. We are responsible for the bombings in New York City today.'' Since 1974, the terrorist group -Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional, or the Armed Forces of National Liberation - has claimed responsibility for 100 bombings in the name of Puerto Rican independence.