Stuck in neutral (2013 SL)

[mm2001]

I'm guessing the car will train me out of this, but I've done it at least twice and my wife did it once.

Problem: Car shows "N" (neutral) on the display. Shifting to R/D still shows N. Pressing P still shows N.

Solution: Power off, then On. Then selection works as expected.

Troubleshooting: I assumed this was me being an idiot with either the brake or parking brake somehow. But when it happened to me today, I made sure the (mechanical, left on 'floor') parking brake was off. I also put my foot on the brake and tried shifting then. Nothing seemed to make a difference until I hit the power button to turn "off" and then turned it on again.

Any ideas about what I'm doing wrong? Anyone else seen this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[iamwjh]

Does it display N but actually go into drive?

 

[mm2001]

Does it display N but actually go into drive?

Good question. Today when it happened I was on a slight backward slope and it seemed to roll back when I took my foot off the brake when it was displaying N -- but it wasn't a good time to release it completely to verify either way, and its possible that I had most recently tried to put it in R instead of D. If it happens again I'll try to confirm / deny either way. (I think it truly was in N when my wife had the same problem -- I'm pretty sure she took her foot off the brake and nothing happened ... but, again, it is best for me to confirm!)

 

[PlutoISaPlanet]

This happened to me several times on my 2013 "S" as well and I was just as stumped as you are. I've either figured out how to turn the car on now or it's worked its own bug out because it hasn't happened past my first couple weeks of ownership. Wish I had some insight for you...

 

[mm2001]

This happened to me several times on my 2013 "S" as well and I was just as stumped as you are. I've either figured out how to turn the car on now or it's worked its own bug out because it hasn't happened past my first couple weeks of ownership. Wish I had some insight for you...

Its fun how our devices train us. As a young software engineer know-it-all, I remember helping my mum on her old Windows 3.1 laptop years ago. She cautioned me as I rushed ahead: "I find it works better if I wait until the such-and-such screen comes up before hitting the next key". "Don't worry mum, it will buffer the keystrokes and be fine, I'm sure". Of course, she was right, and I also learned to wait.

Over the years since then, I've noticed many times how we learn to adapt to the foibles of our cameras, phones, laptops and apparently cars too.

But I digress... Maybe someone else can enlighten us both before it becomes something I don't accidentally do anymore, and preferably before my wife does it again!

 

[cwerdna]

Was the ready light on (green car w/arrows)? Your foot must be on the brake to shift out of park (FMVSS requirement) as well as to put the car into ready mode.

We had a lot of discussion about this recently at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=279600#p279600" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

 

[mm2001]

Was the ready light on (green car w/arrows)? Your foot must be on the brake to shift out of park (FMVSS requirement) as well as to put the car into ready mode.

We had a lot of discussion about this recently at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=279600#p279600" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Thanks, I missed that thread (though I did find a similar but different one about being stuck at a red light). Not sure if I had a green car with arrows. I'll look for that next time. I definitely had my foot on the brake. Most fascinating to me was that pressing P would not take it out of Neutral.

I wonder if pressing the power button quickly twice is part of this (with my foot on the brake)? I remember doing that around the same time I had this problem. As I think about it, I think I pressed power twice because I had just hit the door button twice to unlock all the doors and instinctively (and erroneously) did the same thing when I sat down to turn on the car.

I'll try giving the power button a double tap tomorrow and see if I can repro this ... I'll also look at the dash carefully to see if I have a "green car" or if it matches the picture shown in the thread.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Please do read the rest of the responses following that picture. Make sure you understand the 4 (or 5) states: LOCK/OFF, ACC, ON and READY.

The only one in which you can drive is READY.

 

[mm2001]

Please do read the rest of the responses following that picture. Make sure you understand the 4 (or 5) states: LOCK/OFF, ACC, ON and READY. The only one in which you can drive is READY.

Thanks, yes, I responded in that thread. Very informative. I'll see if I can repro accordingly in my car tomorrow.

 

[chargit]

I have 2013 S and my leaf also had same problem. After stopping at intersection, car would go into park/neutral mode and there is no way to get it out of this mode, and no way to move the car except to push it to side in neutral mode. The symptom is nearly identical to the NTB11038: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Warning_lights_leading_to_LEAF_that_won%27t_run" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Turning off the car and turning it back on proved to be of no use. I suspect only (temporary solution) is to remove the negative lead to 12 volt battery to reset the error code. I will be taking the car back to dealership and hope they can resolve this issue as it's already happened more than once.

 

[derkraut]

mm2001 said: "Troubleshooting: I assumed this was me being an idiot with either the brake or parking brake somehow. But when it happened to me today, I made sure the (mechanical, left on 'floor') parking brake was off. I also put my foot on the brake and tried shifting then. Nothing seemed to make a difference until I hit the power button to turn "off" and then turned it on again."

Huh?? The "mechanical parking brake" is on the floor on the left side?? Don't all Leafs have an electric parking brake with the control on the center console?

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
It was changed to a mechanical parking brake (foot pedal) on the left side on the '13. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=257416#p257416" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I saw that exact same unit (same plates and color) in San Jose a few weeks later.