10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 12,209 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
The Nissan Leaf has a 6,600 watt charger that is attached to the top of the 26,000 watt electrical motor. A 30 Amp Nissan charging cord connects the 220 volt electrical outlet (dryer) to the Leaf via a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1772 Plug. Unknown to me a desert rat had chewed the insulation down to the wires of the charging cord, leaving the wires bare. The desert rat was not electrocuted because the onboard charger safety system in the vehicle turns off the 220 volts AC before it reaches the car using the control box that is part of the the charging cable. But when I plugged the J1772 Plug into the Leaf Nissan's "safety system" sent 220 volts form the dryer plug to the Nissan Leaf creating an electrocution hazard where the rat removed the insulation. I saw a series of sparks and felt the electricity through my electric car safety gear rubber Crocs. Nissan's "safety system" ensures that there is NO arc of electric current when you unplug the J1772 connector. Unfortunately for me and possibly for tens of thousands of other EV drivers Nissan did not envision a rat eating the wire and causing the system to momentarily electrocute a person attempting to charge their car. Nissan 220 volt charging cord no longer charges the Leaf and the Leaf's entire charging system on top of the motor in no longer operational. I suspect the two, 220 volt wires in the Nissan charging cable shorted to the two safety wires (pilot and proximity wires) which is has about 1/16 of an inch separation, and fired Nissans onboard charger. The cost to replace Nissans onboard charging system is about $7,000 for parts and labor. What does Nissan LEAF-??s EV warranty coverage include? Your confidence gets a boost with Nissan LEAF-??s New Electric Vehicle Limited Warranty. Coverage includes -?" but is not limited to -?" Motor, Inverter Unit, VCM, Reduction Gear, DC/DC Converter, Onboard Charger, Onboard Charger Connector, and Trickle Charge Cable. [*]
- Tucson, AZ, USA
Due to a manufacturing issue certain 2011-2019 LEAF vehicles' lithium-ion battery bonding plates may not meet Nissan internal standards and may fail. Unfortunately the recommended servicing facility does not service electric vehicles. The next nearest facility is beyond the range of the now degraded lithium ion battery. This makes it impossible to drive the vehicle to a servicing facility so that to affect this voluntary recall will require a tow both ways. Nissan refuses to address this issue and I am concerned first regarding the seriousness of this repair and secondly my out of pocket expense to affect this repair.
- Ben Wheeler, TX, USA
The indicators lights can and are being manipulated (turned on and off) via remote control access. The vehicle was in motion, on a city street. Please test this to ascertain if the Nissan vehicles safety indicator lights can be manipulated by someone other than the driver via remote control. It is a safety issue if the light indicates there is a problem with my tires and I'm prompted to exit my vehicle to check the tires on the freeway, at a gasoline station etc., etc., etc., thank you.
- Mountain House, CA, USA
Battery charged to 55 mile range, left overnight and dropped to 39 miles while showing 9 bars. Range drops significantly while driving. The battery rack is under recall for a faulty ground, but Nissan claims this would not affect the battery pack. The "9 bars" is not consistent with this range and the battery should not lose 25% of its charge overnight.
- Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA
My Nissan Leaf was experiencing a seat belt not buckled and it would light up when no one was sitting in the seat. I have taken it to the dealer three times to have it fixed. The first two times they reset the sensor and it would stay fixed for 2 months. I just took it back the 3rd time. The dealer said the airbag would not deploy in an accident. Since it was a safety issue not covered under warranty, I chose for them to fix my vehicle. The OCS sensor and control module was faulty. It cost me $652.56 to repair it. I thought it would be covered under warranty since this was a safety issue. I want to report this issue to you since it was a safety issue. I do not want anyone dying in a car accident due to the airbag not deploying.
- Lilburn, GA, USA
1.passenger air bag light is on continuously when car is on, stationary or moving, regardless of front passenger seat occupancy. 2.airbag system light blinks continuously when car is on, stationary or moving, regardless of passenger seat occupancy. The local Nissan dealership has worked on the problem four times over two plus years, ultimately unsuccessful for more than a few weeks. Dealership now refuses to fix the problem citing Nissan Corp. Reluctance to pay for repair under original warranty, which has expired. Dealership claims passenger seat replacement is necessary at a cost to us of perhaps $2000. We don't know whether the passenger airbag will not deploy when it shouldn't, or will deploy when it should.
- Aromas, CA, USA
I didn't drive the car for a few days and the 12V battery died. So I disconnected it from the car and hooked it up to my 12V battery charger. When it was fully charged, I reconnected it and started the car. Both the yellow and red warning lights were on as were the brake, ABS, and vdc lights. I started backing up in the driveway and as soon as I pressed the brakes, strange noises came from the front of the car. I slammed on the parking brake to stop.I tried backing again and noticed the brakes only engaged when the pedal was pressed almost all the way down. While troubleshooting, I noticed removing the vdc fuse stopped the sounds. Also the brakes are now usable, but require much more force on the pedal than normal. The trouble codes are C118A and C1A61. (ABS E-driven int brake system brc-124 / brake motor power supply br-46) after an expensive diagnosis, the Nissan dealer determined "diag. Used consult. C1A61 current code motor power supply. Checked fuses ok. Electrically driven int brake unit harness and connections ok. 12V present to module. Brake unit internal shorted due to suspected surge. Rec replacing 12V battery and unit. Further testing may be needed.....estimate to replace $2817 parts and labor. Part is from the factory." I have seen many other Leaf owners write about this kind of problem and believe it may be a common defect. I also don't know why it wasn't covered under the warranty.
- Spanish Fork, UT, USA
This is an electric car. The car will not start, even though the battery has plenty of charge. A dashboard message was displayed, indicating the problem is the car is not recognizing the key. There were other unusual electrical issues at the same time, such as only one of the four windows would roll down, and the doors temporarily locked and refused to unlock.
- Honolulu, HI, USA
2013 Nissan Leaf. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle electrical system issues. The consumer stated on two rare occasions, he accidentally pushed the power button in quick succession to turn off the vehicle. All systems shut down, no power steering, no brakes, etc, but the vehicle rolled backward out of the garage.
- Redding, CA, USA
Car was being charged at pep station at ncsu campus. When I unplugged the charger from the car, I saw fumes and the plastic at the charging port of the car was melted.
- Durham, NC, USA
The 12V battery in my Leaf goes completely dead once a week. The doors wont even open with the remote. I have to jump the car and then plug it in to my 220V charger at home. This has happened 4 times in the last month. I took it to the dealer and they checked out the vehicle and said everything is fine! really, a 8 month old car that needs to be jump started once a week is normal. I have checked the website forum, mynissanleaf.com and this is happening to a lot of 2013 Leaf owners. Please help as Nissan will not.
- Chino Hills, CA, USA
Goodness my 2013 Nissan Leaf was park in the recreation. The car won't start because there are ev systems warning icon display on the dashboard. I had to tow my nissa Leaf to broadway Nissan dealer. Everyday the service advisor told me that they are waiting for Leaf engineer to look at the problem. They cannot find the problem and this is a non-comment problem. I told the service adviser this is not acceptable. Everyday their excuse still waiting for Leaf specialist to come and look at it and they cannot find the issue.
- Foster City, CA, USA
Passenger airbag shows off when passenger in the seat is a typical adult, ~130 pounds. The underseat sensor (ods occupant detection system) is not calibrated - needs about 160 pounds to sense a person in the seat. Nissan had a recall (March 2013) for this exact problem. They claim that this vehicle was not included. It is a safety issue. Nissan hotline ([xxx]) says take it to the dealer. The dealer says call Nissan. This car needs to be a part of the recall. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
- Palo Alto, CA, USA
My Nissan Leaf was plugged into 220V charging station at my home. It was charging for over an hour. My spouse went to leave and when entering the garage she smelled a strong burning smell. Smoke was coming from the charging station plug where it plugs into the car. She turned off the power at the breaker box and then proceeded to unplug the charger from the car. Two of the terminals on the plug were damaged and 2 terminals on the receptacle on the car were damaged. The connection had gotten hot enough to melt the plastic and create smoke indicating a fire. Nissan has determined by pictures that the car was not to blame for the incident. They are blaming the charging station for the failure. They have denied any warranty coverage. The burden of the bill has been placed with the customer. The car is currently only 5 months old and has less than 10,000 miles.
- Yates City, IL, USA
When starting the car, all lights on the dashboard illuminated and car would do nothing. Shut down and restarted the car and everything was clear. Put the car into reverse and had nominal braking. It took 10 feet of slamming the brake pedal to bring the car to a stop at 2 mph in reverse. It literally felt like no brake pressure. Stopped and restarted again and things were seemingly back to normal. Took it to dealership who blamed it on low 12V battery. Braking was pathetically weak at the one time... it was not just the typical lack of regenerative and motor assisted braking you would get during a fault.
- Simpsonville, SC, USA
Vehicle is unable to have continuing charge shuts off randomly leaving me unable to drive sometimes due not be fully charged when you expect to be charged and having problems on different charging stations contact Nissan 06/13/13 and was advised to take to the dealer and 6/14/13 left the car at dealer commonwealth Nissan that did not find any problem and claim vehicle is working as designed they was unable to reproduce problem and next day 06/15/13 had problem again unable me to drive home and need to restart charge couple times until get enough charge to drive home on 6/17/13 took the car again to dealer commonwealth Nissan and they before look the car said the problem is the charging station on my house they reset the vehicle and put to charge on their charging station and problem also happen proving the problem is the vehicle they gave the keys back saying they order a charging port did not gave me any date or idea when the part will arrive handle me the key of a defective car that can leave me strand on the street anytime.
- Haverhill, MA, USA
I was driving in heavy traffic on the 101 freeway in camarillo, ca on the way to work. Car suddenly flashed multiple conflicting diagnostic codes (traction control, brake system, electrical system) and reduced power to the car and put it in turtle mode. I was able to move from the middle lane (of three lanes) to the side of the freeway and called Nissan service. Power was only available to the dashboard and car would not go into forward or reverse. Car was towed to dealer after calling Nissan road side assistance. Dealer replaced the accelerator pedal pressure sensor and returned car back to me after car was in service for three days. Car drove fine for two days on very short trips. My wife drove the car again and it died again on highway 33 in ojai in town. She had no power to move the car out of traffic. She powered down the car and powered it back up and was surprised to find that power was restored. She was able to drive it back home (about a mile) and we had Nissan roadside assistance tow it back to the dealer. Car has been in the shop now for almost two weeks. Dealer is in communication with the factory to get a new computer that controls the power distribution system to other car components. However, dealer cannot give us an estimated delivery date of the part. It seems they may have to get it from Japan. Dealer is very friendly but is not able to get car fixed in a timely manner. I also am concerned that they don't really know the source of the problem. I am very concerned that if the problem happens again, either my wife or I will get into an accident on the freeway. Car was is just a month old when this started with no other apparent problems.
- Ojai, CA, USA
- Walnut Creek , CA, USA