general problems of the 2016 Nissan Leaf

On Friday, November 1, at about 3 pm, the brakes failed pulling away from the curb in a forward direction after loading equipment into the vehicle. Really stomping the brakes as though they had a fluid problem did get them to engage. I think the problem occured again backing out of my driveway prior to Monday the 4th when I fixed the problem. Again, really slamming the brake peddle got the brake to engage. You may look at the vehicle if you wish. On Friday, I was at a large senior center party and there were many pedestrian with limited mobility near the exit. An out of control vehicle could have been very dangerous. I applied experience from internal combustion engine (ice) vehicles with brake problems and that fortunately worked, but brake fluid was not the problem and there is no clear documentation of the problem in the owner's manual. This problem is an ev problem. I can't really take the vehicle to the dealership because they have failed to perform warranty service and refused to do so in the time required by MD law. To determine the cause of the problem, I checked the brake fluid level which was normal, brake wear, which was little, checked the owners manual in detail (nothing clearly stated) and then searched the internet. By Monday the 4th, I had seem a reditt post that said a dead cell in the 12-volt battery could cause a confusion in the vehicle between the regenerative braking system and the hydrolic braking system. There had been some odd behavior at startup. The dash info would flash up with missing numbers then come on normally. And, at shutdown a few time, the lights left on buzzer would sound even though the lights were off. I checked the 12-volt battery voltage and it was low, about 10 volts consistent with a bad cell. I ordered a napa battery said to fit the vehicle, and replaced the defective battey which seems to have fixed the problem. The napa store confirmed a bad cell in the old battery. No clear warnings of the problem showed.

Goes into neutral in a matter of seconds while driving at highway speeds and goes into turtle mode while on highway. A scan of the vehicle showed a number of low battery voltage codes (p0aa0, p3180, p3182, p08af) stored when the battery was disconnected. Nissan gave no eta on battery replacement.

On March 8, 2023, my 2016 Nissan Leaf main ev battery failed at 75% charge power going up an incline on the freeway. The car shut down in the center lane with no warning at 60mph and could not be moved or shifted to be driven off the freeway. The car is available for inspection. My safety and the safety of others was put at extreme risk. I could have been killed or rear ended. I called 911 for the highway patrol and a county or city tow truck got me off the freeway. Previously, the main ev battery was diagnosed by the dealer as dropping in capacity to 8 bars in December 2022. I was told the car was safe to drive still although they did put in a warranty claim for a new battery which I was told was on back order and could take up to one year. Yet, I was told the car was 100% safe and drove it from December 2022 until this week. After the March 8 incident I had the car towed immediately to the dealer repair facility and the dealer service again confirmed the battery was compromised and told me not to drive the car anymore. So far Nissan corporate has not asked to inspect the vehicle. The only warning the car gave was it was having a loss of power going up hills from December 2022 to this week but the car never showed a warning or gave a warning light on the dash.

Car shifted into neutral at highway speeds and would not go back into drive on 3 separate occasions over the past 6 days. Car is an ev and there was no warning and the battery soc was 50% or more on all occasions. Can can be shifted from neutral to park only, not drive or reverse. Very unsafe to have to cruise to a stop on busy highways without much or any shoulder depending on where the car stops with snow banks. Had to have car towed. The incidents happened separately on 1/27, 1/28, and 2/2 all on the highway at ~60mph. I will upload some pictures of the dtc codes and battery stats for the vehicle. After the incident on 1/27, I replaced my 12v battery with a new one (having done some searching for possible cause), but the issue happened again on 1/28 and 2/2 after the 12v replacement.

While driving at highway speeds (65mph) on a cold day (10-20f), the car lost all drive power with no warning. Driver was able to coast to the road margin. In another situation this could have been a catastrophic accident. Driver called 911 for police protection and tow. At this point car was completely unresponsive but still on. The car could not be turned off, turned on, shifted into drive, or any other action performed. The car has shown at least 3 other cold weather failures at highway speeds with various error states (ranging from turtle mode, a complete loss of the info display, and sudden power losses). Our mechanic said "I almost died today, this car is not safe to drive on the highway".

We were driving the car on a highway (the 405 in los angeles) in the midafternoon on December 21. We were going uphill and in the flow of traffic. I'd say the speed was about 60-65. The car was functioning well. Then, the driver accelerated to pass a car and suddenly the car lost all power and went into neutral. Fortunately, we made our way to the freeway shoulder without an accident. But, it could have been very different, as we were on a fast-moving highway and there could have been a pile-up. The car had plenty of battery power (around 47 miles) but it would not shift back into drive. We turned the car on and off and it was stuck in neutral. A tow truck came by and suggested a jump start. That worked and we took the car immediately to a Nissan dealership. The dealership found an error code (I believe it's p3398 but I am unsure) and says that a part of the lithium battery is malfunctioning and the car is unsafe to drive. It is under warranty but they say they are unable to replace the battery for many months. I saw no warning lamps prior to the failure (apart from a recurring message about tire maintenance that we had addressed repeatedly). For what it is worth, I had just had the brake pads checked that morning at a local mechanic who said the brakes were in excellent shape.

While driving at speeds of 70 mph, my car turns off in the middle of the highway! I have a video of this ordeal that I'd be happy to send over.

I do not have much range. At 100% charged I'm getting a range of 64 miles. Considering the car only has 10k miles on it, that's terrible range. My car was sitting still, in park and turned on when I took this image.

Traction motor inverter failure on 2016 Nissan Leaf. When this incident occurred, I was not able to charge or start the car.

December 07, 2016 I bought Nissan Leaf 2016 in June 30, 2016. On November 29, 2016, it just stopped and not going in reverse or forward, just stay on neutral and park. It has two recalls issued by transport canada (# 2016179 an # 2016302). Nissan canada never send my any notification about recalls. On November 29, 2016 it was towed to the dealership, 401/dixie mississauga, on canada. Since then service department is working and after repeated call, they are unable to tell me whats wrong with the vehicle. They do not know how long it will take to fix the problem. I requested a replacement vehicle while they are fixing my vehicle and the request was denied. It look like a manufacturing defect associated with safety issue. Service department is not releasing any information about the problem. It is more than one week now. I hope this information may be helpful for owners and potential buyers. December 7, 2016 8:15 pm.