break softness

Just in the market for the Leaf and recently test drove one. Liked everything except the break felt soft. The first 2-3 inches of pressing down felt no breaking, and if anything, a little acceleration. Pressing beyond that was fine and the break kicked in. Could real owners pitch in so I get a sense if this is a common issue, or just that demo Leaf I drove happened to have a soft break pedal? Thanks a bunch.

Brakes for me are completely fine, pressing soft engage regen. Some people think that they are grabby but I think that is good

Lucky you. Some of us are having the opposite problem - see these threads:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6086" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=6580" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8305" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You may be feeling how regenerative brakes works versus standard friction brakes. It feels just fine to me.

During my test drive the brakes felt so good I don't even recall how they felt.

Brake sensitivty varies greatly between different models. I was amazed how touchy my brothers mazdaspeed3 brakes are.

PLEASE fix the spelling of "Brake" in your thread title. It's physically painful for me to read this common error on forums.

Maybe he has some broken softness... Or needs it to be broken.

Boomer23 said:

PLEASE fix the spelling of "Brake" in your thread title. It's physically painful for me to read this common error on forums.

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TomT said:

Maybe he has some broken softness... Or needs to to be broken.

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Or maybe he just needs to take a break from worrying about his brakes! :lol:

These spelling errors actually create another problem: when you search for topic titles with 'brake', this one would not show up !

Generally, spelling on this forum has been very good, especially compared with the fanboy forums that I've seen. I'd hate to see this one degenerate.

You guys are a bunch of spelling NAZIs.. next you will be demanding photo IDs at the voting booth and a fence at the Mexican border

My brakes are just fine. It takes a little getting used to due to regeneration. That's all.

TomT said:

Maybe he has some broken softness... Or needs to to be broken.

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FLBoy said:

Or maybe he just needs to take a break from worrying about his brakes! :lol:

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Maybe his/her spell checker is braked.

mkjayakumar said:

These spelling errors actually create another problem: when you search for topic titles with 'brake', this one would not show up !

Click to expand...

That might turn out be a good thing!

Re. the original query: if anything, my LEAF's break peddle (hey, might as well pile on!) is firmer than both my previous car, a VW GTI, and my wife's car, a BMW 528i with the sport package, both of which if not downright "sporty" then definitely not garden-variety float-mobiles. If you can depress a LEAF's brake pedal "2-3 inches" and feel no braking, there's something quite wrong. If the dealer has another LEAF, I'd state your concern and ask to drive that one too.

Are you sure that the LEAF wasn't 100% charged when you test drove it? Were you in "D" or "ECO"? On the occasions when I charge to 100% I find the lack of braking power surprising, since I normally drive in ECO with lots of regen. At 100% charge you have NO regen, so it is completely mechanical, and needs a little more pedal effort. Put the LEAF in ECO, drive for a while until more double bubbles appear on the left side of the dash meter, and then see how the brakes work.

kubel said:

During my test drive the brakes felt so good I don't even recall how they felt.

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Sort of the same thing. My test drive was the drive home from the dealer and the brakes were, and are, just dandy.

BTW, I have yet to experience the oft reported grabbing.

Bill

P.S. I can tolerate spelling errors, but long paragraphs void of punctuation and upper case really get to me.

I thought the thread was going to be about a quieter way to "break wind". :lol:

Iff ewe spill sum ting whir ongue, pee pole shunt mak pun off ewe.

Boomer23 said:

Generally, spelling on this forum has been very good, especially compared with the fanboy forums that I've seen. I'd hate to see this one degenerate.

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First it's "breaks" instead of "brakes". Before you know it , "bumpers" becomes "bumbers" and "walla" replaces "voila!".

I say we draw the line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nubo said:

and "walla" replaces "voila!".

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I have seen this already

My LEAF has a feature where mostly the brakes are like silk but sometimes they are like Velcro, so you get to have it either way

And my ICE cars from the '60 always had lots of pedal travel which much fiddling and adjusting could reduce but never eliminate. And all cars seem to have differing amounts of this. I found that I notice this immediately, but then I adjust to it after a few applications and don't think about it until I switch back.

The disappearance of regen when charged 100% is a spooky feeling. But someone who has never driven a LEAF before is not going to notice this because they have no reference to how it feels normally.