general problems of the 2013 Nissan Leaf

On 3 occasions the brakes have randomly failed when traveling. In 2 cases, stopping ability was non-existent except for the use of the parking brake. In the other case, stopping was significantly decreased. 13-Jan-2025, when traveling straight on a 40mph road towards a busy intersection, when the brakes were applied to slow to the intersection they failed and a red indicator light came on. Stopping ability was significantly reduced, but not completely gone. The car was able to safely divert into a parking lot without incident. When the car was powered off then on, the error went away and the brakes functioned. There were 2 other incidents prior to this, traveling at low speeds in residential areas. Braking was completely gone and I had to use the parking brake pedal to stop the vehicle. Again, after powering the car off then on, the braking system functioned normally.

I put the car in park as I was pulling in without turning it off to grab trash from the curb and take it to the car, but the car keep accelerating. I jumped in and slammed on the bricks but it hit the brick wall to the house. I see more recent years were recalled for "unintended acceleration" and "brake issues".

I was driving and wanted to slow the vehicle to turn on a side street. I pressed the brake and nothing happened. The vehicle did not slow down at all. I pushed harder, still nothing. The brakes completely failed to work. Due to this brake failure, I was unable to make the turn I wanted to make because I was going too fast. I continued going straight, and because the road was slightly uphill, the vehicle eventually stopped and I was able to ease off the road when the vehicle had slowed sufficiently. Fortunately, there were no injuries or accidents. After the vehicle had stopped I looked to see if it was low on brake fluid. It was not. The brake fluid level was at manufactures specification. After I had stopped I did notice several warning lights on the dash, including abs and other symbols I don't know the meaning of. (I'd have to read the vehicle owner's manual to figure out what they mean). I have not taken the vehicle anywhere to be repaired yet. I thought that maybe the NHTSA might want to inspect it before it was looked at by a mechanic or manufacturer.

I filed this complaint previously on 2/4/19 - confirmation # odi 11174255. You sent me some follow-up paperwork, but I have unfortunately misplaced it. Any way to resend that paperwork, so I can pursue this complaint?.

Tl the contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. After the vehicle was started, the contact noticed that the brake pedal was very soft and traveled halfway to the floorboard. The contact stated that the failure was evident in extremely cold weather. The vehicle was taken to manchester city Nissan (30 tolland turnpike, manchester, CT 06042, (860) 643-4165) to be diagnosed, but the mechanic was unable to retrieve a fault code or duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 16v119000 (service brakes). The failure recurred twice. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The approximate failure mileage was 36,000.

I charged the Leaf the night before and went downtown. It was winter in maine and around 10 degrees. After going into a store and coming out when I started the car and put it in d the brakes didn't work. I slammed the pedal down to the ground but it didn't seem to do much. I almost hit the parked car in front of me but I put the emergency brake down and luckily stopped. I turned the car on and off but the problem was still happening. The brakes made a weird clicking and electronic noise. I turned the car off for about 5 minutes to call aaa and when I turned it back on it worked. I've done some research and this has happened to other owners. There was a voluntary recall (p5327?) which was already done on the vehicle but this still happened. My Leafspy app showed the dtc codes of c118a 0109 abs e-driven int brake system brc-124 and c1a61 0109 brake motor power supply br-46. I took it to the dealership and they said that power wasn't being supplied to the brakes. Dangerous! they did not really have a fix for it other then put in a $2300 part and then do more tests.

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. While driving 50 mph, the vehicle failed to stop when the brake pedal was depressed. As a result, the contact crashed into the preceding vehicle. The front driver's air bag deployed. The vehicle was towed to an independent facility. A police report was filed. There were no injuries. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 16v119000 (service brakes). Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer were notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 36,000.

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. 00 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.

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. While driving 40 mph, the brake pedal was depressed, but the vehicle did not stop. The contact engaged the push start button and turned off the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to Nissan of elk grove in elk grove, California, but the source of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000.

On Nov 18. 2016, my wife was driving Nissan Leaf 2013 on the highway under a rainy day, the vehicle suddenly gradually stopped (highway 680 to highway 580 at California state). My wife couldn't make it move even press accelerator until she stopped the engine and restarted again. It is very dangerous for her to have such experience on the highway. Later I checked the manual, it is said because of Nissan's vdc function. However it is not proper to stopped the car when it is driving. Today, I also experienced the same problem. When I drove back my car, the car didn't allow to move until I pressed "vdc off" button. I believe this is a serious problem by Nissan. I have contacted them to check and repair my car. However I think it is safe to government to check with Nissan to see whether they have issues on any vehicles with vdc feature.

The Leaf was in motion on a city street in "b" drive mode. When attempting to stop from around 45 mph, the brake pedal became very firm, and the car did not slow. I released the brake and depressed it again. This time there was significant brake travel and the brakes engaged with a mechanical moaning sound. The car skidded to a stop as abs ceased functioning. I parked the car and took a photo of the dash warning lights. Similar symptoms occurs 5 days prio, restarting the car returned it to normal operation both times. The weather was about 65 degrees f and dry during one occurrence. A similar temperature on a morning following a rainy night is when this occurred the second time. The car nearly entered an intersection on a red light. This problem looked and sounded like the videos posted on youtube in very. Cold climates in which the Leaf braking systems failed with the exception that this was in mild weather. This car has received the brake module firmware update from Nissan prior to these incidents.

The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. After hitting an obstacle in the road, the power brakes ceased to function without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000.

I was traveling at 25 mph when I was forced to make a sudden stop due to the school bus in front of me stopping abruptly. I engaged the brakes and they went straight to the floor with no resistance. The brakes did not engage in anyway. I swerved but ended up hitting the rear of school bus.

There is an ongoing issue with the Leaf's brakes grabbing to quickly when at low speeds and approaching a stop during cold conditions. It causes the car to jerk. It also creates an issue with the traffic behind us as there have been several times when the vehicles behind almost crash into us as they do not expect the car to break so suddenly.

Baking car out of parking space break light came on. Shifted to drive and started moving forward. Breaks did not function. Rolled car into another parking space and had towed. All happened at low speed without any other traffic but this could have been very dangerous. Failure was catastrophic sudden and essentially complete. There may have been some minimal break function but not enough to stop the car safely from any speed beyond 1mph.

Have experienced multiple times where at low speeds, if the car encounters bumps in the road, the brakes give out and you have to pump a time or two to get the brakes to engage. There are other times at city/highway speeds where if the brakes are pushed medium to medium-hard the brakes seem to lock on and even when removing my foot from the brake pedal, the brake doesn't disengage and the car will slide for a couple seconds. Please do a thorough safety review on the brakes.

I was driving on the freeway in heavy traffic, so I was only traveling at approximately 45-50 mph. I was switching lanes when the car I was moving behind sudden slowed (it did not stop). I quickly hit my brakes so I could slow down as well, but my car's brakes locked-up and the car started to skid. I let-off the brakes but the car continued the skid and stopped. I was very lucky to not have been hit by another car (actually Nissan is the lucky one to escaped litigation).

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.