greengate
Well-known member
While driving east on I94 just after the Lyndon Station WI interchange there was a full sized car carrier in the ditch...full of new Nissan leafs. They were thrown around like toys..one was even bent in half. ugh
Trashed Leafs
- Thread starter greengate
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rmay635703
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Were there any with minor damage?
Durandal
Well-known member
What a shame. I hate to see good cars (or good anything) go to waste. They'll all be replaced by new ones and those will be sold at auction by the insurance company of the carrier.
Stanton
Well-known member
Find those Leafs...or at least their battery packs!
greengate
Well-known member
soldcake said:
Just electron spill!!
I was watching a vid by a gent who put the Leaf battery and drive motor in his MG and when he had a oops that resulted in a small short and damages a few cells which expanded distorting the pack and started leaking lithium. To me there would be the potential for some parts of the pack to have sustained a degree of stress that could lead to overheating in use afterwards with cars that came from a rolled car carrier with enough force to bend one in half.
Who can forget this scene when a Tesla was stolen and crashed in Hollywood on July 4, 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd_e-CfofVY
There is probably a very good reason for there being a removable cover on the hump between the back seat foot wells of the Leaf with an emergency disconnect for the battery in easy reach located inside it.
Who can forget this scene when a Tesla was stolen and crashed in Hollywood on July 4, 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd_e-CfofVY
There is probably a very good reason for there being a removable cover on the hump between the back seat foot wells of the Leaf with an emergency disconnect for the battery in easy reach located inside it.
That isn't there to stop a pack fire, as thermal runaway would keep it going regardless. The shutoff is there for catastrophic damage to the rest of the drivetrain and high voltage wiring that could result in electrocution (or, possibly, fire in another part of the car).
LeftieBiker said:
Quickly pulling the disconnect may just prevent a short in the main connector from causing thermal runaway. Yes it is also there to prevent electrocution and other fire hazards.
Point is that any device with a LiPo battery thats been tossed, rolled, bent, spindled or mutilated especially an extremely high voltage device should have the battery disconnect pulled until it can be verified that its systems have not been compromised along with the battery itself. Cell phones and tablet computers that have been dropped should be monitored before charging or leaving them unattended and the battery disconnected if excess heat is detected.
Have you ever tried quickly pulling the disconnect?
The disconnect (service plug) is in the middle of the passenger compartment, covered with metal shield secured by 3 bolts. It's purpose is not emergency disconnect but rather reducing the danger whenever working on the HV system (by breaking the circuit and also reducing the voltage hazard from 400V to 200V).
powersurge
Well-known member
Just because the car may be in an accident, does not mean that it will go on fire... That insane Tesla accident was driven by a crazy animal to do that to a car. any car would have been obliterated in that way.
nenik said:
The instructional video and written instruction only mentioned prying off the plastic cover on the hump inside the car, flipping the locking lever and pulling it. There was no mention of removing bolts in the printed instructions or in the video,
powersurge said:
I would put a car carrier accident that literally bent one of the cars in half as beyond the average fender bender accident and more on par with a devastating one that has potentially violated the integrity of the battery.
Remember this is about purchasing cars tossed about like toys with one folded in half when a car carrier full of Leafs went off the road. Car bent in half is pretty much an insane amount of force on the any car.
Simple - go to your car, pull up the plastic cover and look down.RockyNv said:
You will see a metal shield with 3 bolts requiring a 10mm socket to undo (like almost everything else on the Leaf).
This "Service Disconnect" has an appropriate name: it is meant to be used by the Service person, before working on the car's HV circuit, to be pulled and stored in a safe place while the person is working on the HV circuits. This "breaking the pack in two halves" was already common practice on the first 2001 Prius and ever since there has been a Service Disconnect on the high voltage batteries (it may have been on earlier vehicles like the original RAV4 EV, but I never worked on that one so I don't know).
Storing the service disconnect in a safe place (such as the mechanic's pants pocket) is common place where maintenance need to be done
on a machine that can have life threatening consequences if not completely disabled. I have heard of stories of divers who will refuse to do maintenance on the prop or even any place below the water line of a ship, unless the keys to the ignition of the main engine are in their pocket.
What the original question was: preventing high power discharge by pulling the service disconnect is a logical idea, but that is the function of the fuse that is bolted onto the service disconnect, it will react way faster than you can open the cover, unbolt and pull the disconnect.
By that time the fuse has already permanently disconnect the pack in the center if the current is substantially higher than the 225 Amp continuous rating of the fuse in the 2013+ service disconnect. (Earlier packs had a higher rated fuse).
Cor said:
I checked the First Responder's Guide and see that there were omissions in the video guide I had watched which seems to be more aligned with the First Responder's Quick Guide. Considering that this is a first responder activity it seems a bit off for it to be such a time consuming activity requiring tools and the removal of three bolts however the entire first responder procedure appears a quite long and drawn out. Even once you have defeated the high voltage connection there is a capacitor powering the system that takes 10 minutes to discharge before the threat it poses has diminished.
Anyways removing the service disconnect is one of the first responder emergency activities especially if damage to the front of the car makes safe access under the hood more difficult.
I see why the jack handle is included in the Leaf even though there is no jack as it is to be used as a tool by first responder's to release and disconnect some of the high voltage systems.
Now that I have read the First Responder's Guide I will probably re-sort the contents of my owners packet in the glove box to ensure that the LEAF First Responder's Guide is always at the very front and easy to find. If your one who removes the owners manuals from their cars it would be a good idea to put the First Responder's Guide back sealed up in a nice clear zip lock type storage bag.
See LEAF First Responder's Guide:
https://owners.nissanusa.com/conten...EAF/2014/2014_LEAF-first-responders-guide.pdf
Rocky,
Thanks for the link to the first responders' guide.
Does the 2014 have no charge door release handle under the dash?
My 2011 has two handles side by side: charge door and hood.
Did the guide use a wrong picture or is the 2014 charge door not operated by a handle next to the hood release?
Thanks for the link to the first responders' guide.
Does the 2014 have no charge door release handle under the dash?
My 2011 has two handles side by side: charge door and hood.
Did the guide use a wrong picture or is the 2014 charge door not operated by a handle next to the hood release?
On 2011/2012 models, the charging door release handle is beneath the left side of the dash, directly next to the hood release. Like the hood release, it's cable operated. On 2013 and later models, the charging door release is a button in the group of buttons directly to the left of the steering wheel that also contains the steering wheel heater. Nissan made it electric on these models to allow the door to be opened by keyfob as well.
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