Odometer Accuracy?

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NeilBlanchard

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
619
I have a 2015 Leaf S and I have been measuring my charges with a Kill-A-Watt, so I can log the energy efficiency. Having done this for nearly 10 years with my ICE, I know that the odometer accuracy can be an issue. So, I checked it against a GPS unit and confirmed that against Google Maps. The odometer indicated 26.6 miles, while both the GPS and Google Maps indicate 26.0 miles.

The bottom line is the car's odometer is ~2.3% too high, so it shows more distance that was actually traveled.

Has anybody else noticed this? How about with the models with 17" alloy wheels?

It is an issue for a lease, and for warranties based on mileage.
 
That's about the same error as my odometer. I calculated mine as 2-3% high. The speedometer is off even more - about 5% high. Supposedly, they aren't tied together which would mean they are both independently crap. I asked the LEAF service "expert" at the dealership where I leased, and he said he'd never heard of a problem like that. :roll: Obviously he hasn't perused the MNL forum.
 
I believe that Honda had a class action suit settled about this issue. It ends warranties too early, and shortens leases, as well. It may not sound like much, but it is 828 miles out of 36,000.
 
Hopefully this does not double post, my submit did not seem to go thru.

The GPS, and odometer are measuring different distances.
The GPS measure straight line(level) distances, while the
odometer measure actual road distance. An example
would be if you could travel on a road at a 45 degree angle
for a GPS distance of 1 mile the odometer would correctly
measure 1.4 miles. So the 2 different measurements will
never be the same unless traveling on roads that are
always flat with no over passes. Also GPS distance is
for center of road, while odometer is center of lane.
And also GPS accuracy is limited and varies on location,
and current atmospheric conditions.
 
There is very little elevation change. Google maps is pretty sophisticated - they have full 3D information on the entire earth. And so does GPS.

If you do the math:

C² - B² = A²
(26.6*26.6) - (26*26)
707.56 - 676 = 31.56
Square root of 31.56 = 5.6 MILES OF ELEVATION CHANGE. That would "just" be 2.8 miles each way to and from work on my commute - that's 14784 feet of elevation change.

No, I think the odometer is wrong.
 
I think your assumption that GPS is showing inaccuracy of odometer
is backwards, the odometer is showing the inaccuracy of GPS.
 
The GPS agrees with Google Maps.

Also: the 16" 205/55 tires on the Leaf S has an outside diameter of 24.9".
The SL and SV have 17" 215/50 tires have an outside diameter of 25.5".

25.5 - 2.3% = 24.9135

It is the odometer that is reading too high.
 
cliff said:
I think your assumption that GPS is showing inaccuracy of odometer
is backwards, the odometer is showing the inaccuracy of GPS.

Sorry, cliff, but in my case, 2 GPS receivers and my Acura speedometer and odometer (Acuras are accurate, right?) confirm that the LEAF instruments are significantly "off". Why do you have such a high opinion of Nissan calibration?
 
NeilBlanchard said:
The GPS agrees with Google Maps.

Also: the 16" 205/55 tires on the Leaf S has an outside diameter of 24.9".
The SL and SV have 17" 215/50 tires have an outside diameter of 25.5".

25.5 - 2.3% = 24.9135

It is the odometer that is reading too high.

So you are saying the odo is fine for the SL and SV with 17" wheels, and they didn't adjust it at all for the S with smaller wheels, so it reads 2.3% too high?

Sorry, I've got the dumb today.
 
woodgeek said:
NeilBlanchard said:
The GPS agrees with Google Maps.

Also: the 16" 205/55 tires on the Leaf S has an outside diameter of 24.9".
The SL and SV have 17" 215/50 tires have an outside diameter of 25.5".

25.5 - 2.3% = 24.9135

It is the odometer that is reading too high.

So you are saying the odo is fine for the SL and SV with 17" wheels, and they didn't adjust it at all for the S with smaller wheels, so it reads 2.3% too high?

Sorry, I've got the dumb today.

I don't have access to an SL or SV, but yes, based on my measurements with the '15 Leaf S and the specs of the stock tires, it looks like the models with 17" wheels are as close to spot on as they could be. Tire wear will change that - smaller wheels means more miles registered.
 
12,000 miles/year is just ~32 miles a day. Way too easy to go farther than that.

Saturday, we drove ours ~75 miles, and Sunday we drove almost 95 miles. My spouse commutes roughly 42 miles a day.

I think our solution will be to get some wonderful Nokian Hakka R2's that are very close to the 25.5" outside diameter. These are really amazing - probably one of the lowest rolling resistance tires made - of any type, and they are also fantastic winter tires.
 
NeilBlanchard said:
12,000 miles/year is just ~32 miles a day. Way too easy to go farther than that.

Saturday, we drove ours ~75 miles, and Sunday we drove almost 95 miles. My spouse commutes roughly 42 miles a day.

I think our solution will be to get some wonderful Nokian Hakka R2's that are very close to the 25.5" outside diameter. These are really amazing - probably one of the lowest rolling resistance tires made - of any type, and they are also fantastic winter tires.


I'll be putting Hakka R2s on this week, 205 65 15 25.5". My cousin is going to be putting on Hakka R2s in 205 60 16, 25.7" (he has the stock 17s at 25.5").

I can't wait to report on it!

Another way to test is by using mile makers on the highway. I've done both the in car to GPS and with about 16 km of mile markers staying in the same lane and found that any error between GPS and mile markers was usually around the .1. This would cause the % error of an odo to a gps and an odo to the mile marker to round to the same number.

I've done it once on my leaf using gps and found it pretty bang on. I do have my tires at 44psi though I doubt that will make much of a difference.


As far as lease and warantee are concerned I'm pretty sure if you are having a major issue fail and are 827 miles over your warantee you could make a case for it. If you are 827 miles over your lease you could probably get them to waive the fees. The odds of either of those happening are slim. If you calculate your avg monthly driving does it actually come out to somethign around 36827 for your lease term?

Perhaps there's a way in a hidden settings menu to set up the car 17s?
 
I have Nokian Kakka R's on my Scion xA, and they are great coasting tires, and great winter tires. The R2's are claimed to be improved on both counts.
 
I did GPS yesterday at 70 km the ODO was 1.7% too high. Using mile markers today at 16km it was 2.2% too high.

I get the 25.5" hakka R2s on Friday and will report after that.
 
Hakapelliitta r2's:

My 205 65 15 25.5in overall after the odo was pretty bang on with a slight under reading. My cousin put hakapelliitta r2's on my old 16s on his sl (so stock 215 50 17 25.5in). He put 205 60 16 on so 25.7in overall. I forgot to do a before test but after 30km he was 1% less on odo than the gps.

I'm guessing they don't change the odo for the stock sv or stock sl.
 
Thanks for the update.

If the odo is electronic, one would think that a quick programing change could fix this problem?
 
We are getting 205/60-16 Nokian Kakka R2 winter tires put on our Leaf S next Tuesday. So our odometer inaccuracy will be corrected, and we will have LRR top notch winter tires. Woo hoo!
 
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