  Dissociative recombination of N$_2$H$^+$ is explored in a two-step
theoretical study. In a first step, a diatomic (1D) rough model with frozen NN
bond and frozen angles is adopted, in the framework of the multichannel quantum
defect theory (MQDT). The importance of the indirect mechanism and of the
bending mode is revealed, in spite of the disagreement between our cross
section and the experimental one. In a second step, we use our recently
elaborated 3D approach based on the normal mode approximation combined with
R-matrix theory and MQDT. This approach results in satisfactory agreement with
storage-ring measurements, significantly better at very low energy than the
former calculations.
