CKP Sensor, broken mounting tab

I bought a '98 Mercury Sable (OVH) with just over 200k miles on it. After about 100 miles of running excellently, the water pump gave out, and the wobbling pulley shredded the drive belt.

Anyway, I'm in the process of replacing the water pump (my first experience in car repair). During this process, I had to detach the CKP sensor. It was on there pretty tight, so I figured prying it off with a screw driver would work just fine.

In doing this, I broke one of the tabs attaching the sensor to its mount in half. (Lesson learned.)

My question to you is, how sensitive is this sensor? I figure I can just reattach it with the 1 1/2 tabs and it'll be fine. The full tab will hold it on there, and the half tab will keep it from pivoting significantly.

Aside from that it increases the likelihood of the sensor failing in the future, does anyone see any issue with this?



TL;DR: how important is the CKP sensor, and would it be totally catastrophic if it were to come loose during operation because it was essentially only attached half way.

http://cdn2.autopartsnetwork.com/images/catalog/brand/delphi/full/SS10228A.jpg

The sensor averages around $25.00. If it was me, I'd try the old but be ready to buy a new one.

I ended up buying a new one since it was a very simple fix and since upon closer inspection, the old sensor was unusable.