2015 Nissan Leaf

The contact owns a 2015 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated while driving 10 MPH, the battery warning light illuminated, and the vehicle lost motive power. The vehicle was towed to the residence and the battery was re-charged. The vehicle was restarted however, the failure recurred several times. The contact took the vehicle to a local dealer who inspected the vehicle but could not determine the cause for the failure. The contact then took the vehicle to Port City Nissan (120 Spaulding Turnpike, Portsmouth, NH 03801, (603) 431-6500) to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the firmware update needed to be performed. The dealer performed the software update however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 41,000.

I backed my car out of the parking space in front of a building, and drove on a 300+ ft long driveway. I stepped on the brake before entering the main road perpendicular to the driveway, but the car didn’t slow down. I almost hit the incoming car on the main road. As I maneuvered my car to avoid the other car, my foot was on the brake the whole time, but I couldn’t feel the brake at all. I panicked and forgot to use the emergency brake. I saw “Brake” on the display screen, with several other warning signs, including the yellow and red triangle exclamation marks. My car cruised for another 500 ft or so and finally stopped. I put the emergency stop flash light on. I called the police to report that my car was blocking half of the lane, before calling my insurance. Luckily it was not a very busy street. A police officer came after 30 minutes and he helped me move my car to the side of the road. He said the brake responded to him. After over an hour, the towing company came to tow my car to the nearest Nissan Dealer/Service Center (about 8 miles away). The guy from the towing company said he could feel the brake fine. It was less than 10 minutes before closing so l left my car at Nissan Service Center. This morning the Service Center called me and said they hadn’t found anything wrong during the initial diagnose yet. They called the Nissan North America to request them to send technicians to check my car. I have found on an online forum several threads discussing the same experience like me - no brake while driving a Nissan Leaf. The dates of those posts range from 2011 to 2014 to 2018. They also had the yellow and red triangle warning signs on, and some of them found their brakes work again after they waited a while and restarted the car. Although the cause hasn’t been identified yet, I wanted to report this incident because it is so dangerous. Imagine what happens if I would be on a highway (using the emergency break would also be dangerous).

CAR STARTED AS NORMAL IN THE MORNING. AS SOON AS I PLACED THE CAR IN REVERSE, THE CAR STARTED MOVING EVEN THOUGH I HAD MY FOOT ON THE BRAKE AND THE EMERGENCY BRAKE WAS ENGAGED. I PRESSED THE BRAKE PEDAL ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR AND THEN THE CAR CAME TO A HALT. THERE WAS LOT OF STRANGE, LOUD CLUNKING AND CHATTERING NOISES WHILE TRYING TO BRAKE. I THEN PUT THE CAR IN FORWARD GEAR AND AGAIN THE CAR STARTED MOVING FORWARD WITHOUT ANY PRESSURE ON THE ACCELERATOR AND I HAD TO PUSH THE BRAKE PEDAL ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR TO GET CAR TO STOP. I TURNED OFF THE CAR AND PERFORMED A VISUAL INSPECTION UNDER THE CAR AND UNDER TO BONNET TO SEE IF ANYTHING IS LEAKING OR VISUALLY BROKEN - NOTHING FOUND. RESTARTED THE CAR AND THERE WAS A YELLOW "BRAKE SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT" BUT BRAKE FUNCTION WAS RESTORED AND NO MORE STRANGE SOUNDS. I CAME TO WORK AND TURNED OFF THE CAR. AFTER 30 MINS TURNED ON THE CAR AGAIN AND YELLOW "BRAKE SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT" HAD CLEARED AND CAR WAS AGAIN OPERATING AS NORMAL.

WHILE I WAS DRIVING ON A CITY STREET AT ABOUT 40MPH, THE ABS LIGHT CAME ON AND THE BRAKES BECAME COMPLETELY UNRESPONSIVE. PUSHING ON THE BREAK PEDAL WOULD NOT SLOW THE CAR DOWN. AFTER BEING ABLE TO COME TO A STOP USING THE EMERGENCY BRAKE I NOTICES THAT THE BRAKE WOULD KEEP RUMBLE BUT STILL UNABLE TO KEEP THE CAR AT A STAND STILL. THIS IS THE SECOND THIS HAPPENS IN ABOUT 8 WEEKS. THIS TIME I AM REPORTING IT. THE CAR HAS 37,000 MILES.

I DROVE MY VEHICLE TO MY CHILDREN'S DAYCARE A FEW MILES FROM MY HOME, PARKED, AND TURNED OFF THE CAR. WHEN I WENT TO START THE CAR TO LEAVE, I HEARD A STRANGE BUZZING TYPE SOUND AT STARTUP, AND THEN GOT A BUNCH OF WARNING LIGHTS FOR THE BRAKES AND TRACTION CONTROL. I TURNED THE VEHICLE OFF AND ON A FEW TIMES TO TRY TO GET THE WARNINGS TO CLEAR. I NOTICED THE BUZZING SOUND WAS COMING FROM WHEN I PRESSED THE BRAKE PEDAL. I TRIED TO GET THE VEHICLE TO GO INTO NEUTRAL BUT IT WOULDN'T. THEN I TRIED PUTTING IT IN DRIVE, AND IT DID GO INTO DRIVE, BUT STARTED DRIFTING BACKWARDS BECAUSE I WAS PARKED ON A SLOPE. THIS IS THE SCARY PART THAT COULD HAVE INJURED SOMEONE. I WAS IN A DAYCARE PARKING LOT AND SOMEONE COULD HAVE WALKED BEHIND MY CAR AT THE TIME IT DRIFTED BACK. THANKFULLY THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. I MASHED ON THE BRAKE TO STOP THE CAR, AND IT DID STOP BUT REQUIRED MORE BRAKE TRAVEL AND MADE SOME GRINDING NOISES, LIKE THE ABS WAS OPERATING. AFTER I REALIZED I HAD A MAJOR PROBLEM, I SEARCHED THE INTERNET AND FOUND SOME PEOPLE ON FORUMS WITH SIMILAR ISSUES. I TRIED DISCONNECTING THE 12V BATTERY FOR A FEW MINUTES, A COUPLE OF TIMES, BUT COULDN'T GET THE BRAKE ALARMS TO GO AWAY. SO I GOT IT TOWED TO MY DEALER. DEALER WAS BUSY AND DIDN'T GET TO LOOK AT THE CAR FOR TWO-THREE DAYS. THEY SAID THAT WHEN THEY TURNED ON THE CAR THEY DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG. I ASKED THEM IF THEY SAW ANY CODES, AND THEY CHECKED AND THEY FOUND CODES FOR THE CAN COMMUNICATION AND INTELLIGENT BRAKE SYSTEM. THE SERVICE ADVISOR CALLED THIS A "FLUKE" AND SAID THAT THE CAR WAS SAFE TO DRIVE. HOWEVER, I AM READING THAT THERE ARE MANY REPORTS OF THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THIS MODEL YEAR LEAF. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE DRIVING THIS CAR, ESPECIALLY NOT WITH MY CHILDREN IN IT. WHAT IF THE "FLUKE" COMES BACK WHILE I AM DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD AND CAN'T SAFELY STOP IN TIME? THE CONTACT STATED SINCE REPLACING THE INTELLIGENT BRAKE MODULE AT THE OWNERS EXPENSE THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN RESOLVED.

CAR WAS DRIVEN ABOUT 3.5 MILES TO THE STORE AND PARKED. AFTER SHOPPING, WHEN THE CAR WAS STARTED THE ABS BRAKING SYSTEM HAD COMPLETELY FAILED WITH NO RESISTANCE TO PRESSURE ON THE BRAKE PEDAL. A CLICKING SOUND WAS HEARD AND PULSING WAS FELT WITH NO BRAKING PROVIDED. LATER IN THE DAY, THE CAR WAS STARTED AGAIN AND THE BRAKES APPEARED TO WORK NORMALLY. OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT WAS BETWEEN 0 & 10 DEGREES F.

ELECTRONIC BRAKE ASSIST FAILED WHILE DRIVING IN TRAFFIC, OCTOBER 9TH, 2020. BRAKING DISTANCE WAS EXTENDED AND THE BRAKE PEDAL DEPRESSED MUCH FARTHER THAN NORMAL, CAUSING DRIVER TO STOP CAR WITH EMERGENCY BRAKE. EMERGENCY LIGHTS ILLUMINATED ON THE DASH. ERRORS CODES INDICATE FAULTS WITH THE ELECTRONIC DRIVEN INTELLIGENT BRAKE CONTROL UNIT, THE SUBJECT OF SAFETY CAMPAIGN 16V119000. SUBSEQUENT NISSAN RECALL, WHICH APPLIED 3NF9B FIRMWARE TO THE EDIB, HAD BEEN APPLIED 5/13/16. FAILURES RE-OCCURRED IN COLD WEATHER IN NOVEMBER 8TH, 2020. PROBLEM IS SPORADIC AND DEALER CANNOT REPRODUCE. HOWEVER, A VIDEO OF THE FAILURE WAS RECORDED AND HAS BEEN SHOWN TO THEM. REPLACEMENT PART CARRIES YET A NEW FIRMWARE, 4NP3E. THIS FIRMWARE SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE UNDER THE SAFETY CAMPAIGN IF IT MORE FULLY ADDRESSES THE PROBLEM WITH THE BRAKES.