My 2011 Leaf just burned itself to a crisp and Nissan won't help me.

mollycruz2 said:

2011, bought used in perfect condition in 2015. It was not plugged in, locked and sheltered, nobody home, car incinerated, fire chief said battery caused it , no other plausible explanation, not wet, not near a fire, letter from Nissan said it was out of warranty. Gave me an address to sue them. Didn't seem to want to know what happened to the battery. Car was a pure pleasure to drive and had no problems except short range due to longevity of the battery. The original 60 miles was now more or less 45; but I am far away and had to digest all this by email and phone from witnesses. Glad I wasn't inside it; think they should at least replace it. Not going to buy another, that's for sure. wouldn't suggest anyone else buy one either. They're clearly being irresponsible with this problem. I'm 75, I don't "prank", by the way; to set my car on fire from thousands of miles away, that would be a good one! If you don't have something helpful to say, at least refrain from insulting me. This has been hard enough.

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Unless it can be proven to be a manufacturing defect, or a result of a direct act by Nissan, they are not responsible for the vehicle. That is why you buy car insurance. Based on the age of the vehicle, and no other comparable incidents, it is not likely a manufacturing defect. You would need a battery technician to dismantle and inspect the pack to prove otherwise. A direct short of the battery pack could cause a fire, but you would need some event to cause the short.

I'm sure the Nissan Engineers would be interested in what caused it, but Nissan Corporate would not allow it due to liability issues. Just agreeing to inspect the pack could be used by a lawyer to claim an admission of guilt on Nissan's part, and they are not willing to accept the risk. Depending on the extent of the fire, anything useful to the Nissan Engineers could likely have been burnt up and of no value. Nissan Corporate provides an address to sue them, because the cost to do so and burden of proof is on you, and you are not likely to prevail.

I understand you are frustrated and upset, but coming here and blaming Nissan without evidence does not help your cause. You should be working with your insurance company to obtain a settlement, and complaining about them if they are non-cooperative.

In the present instance, when the Fire Chief mentioned the battery was likely the cause it is possible he meant the 12v battery and not the Li-Ion traction battery.

Flooded cell lead acid batteries can catch fire while being charged if a spark ignites the hydrogen gas. For that to happen you would need several things going wrong. Such as overcharging or a deteriorated battery case together with a degraded electrical connection.
As the traction battery is used to charge the 12V battery periodically even when the car is off, parked and locked, this is not beyond the realms of possibility as the cause.
Certainly more so than the traction battery itself I would think.

Molly has added some additional background info. but more is required as already noted. Such as, did the neighbour that raised the alarm have a chance to observe which area of the car was first affected?
After 6 or 7 years I would guess the 12V battery had been replaced at least once. Possibly under previous ownership. But it would be interesting to know what sort of 12V battery was in there, and for how long.

In other words, still an unsual EV-related cause, but possibly not in the way the owner might presume.

I think this is an insurance claim more than a manufacturer claim. If your six year old Subaru just burst into flames would you really be throwing a lawsuit at them? Random car fires happen every day. There is no recall or persistent trouble with the Nissan battery. Just a fluke.

Nubo said:

NHTSA would be the ones to contact if your interest is public safety. As for lawsuit, proving manufacturing defect or negligence may be time-consuming and burdensome considering the market value probably south of $6K. If you have other damages, maybe a different story.

Statistically, LEAF has not seemed predisposed to fires. There are possibilities that do not involve manufacturing flaws, such as rodent activity.

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Yep, on all of the above. Assuming the OP's story is legit and they're in the US, they should most definitely file a safety complaint w/NHTSA at https://www.safercar.gov/.

smkettner said:

I think this is an insurance claim more than a manufacturer claim. If your six year old Subaru just burst into flames would you really be throwing a lawsuit at them? Random car fires happen every day.

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Yep. Per http://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Fire-statistics/Vehicle-fires/Highway-vehicle-fires, there were 174,000 highway vehicle fires in the US alone, or almost 477/day.

For all we and the OP know it could be arson.

I agree. The OP asking for a replacement is ridiculous. Just the fact that the OP has only posted 2 posts, only about this complaint makes me suspicious. Especially if the poster quickly starts saying for people to not buy the product.....

If this in fact happened, The firemen have only the "battery" to blame for a fire on an EV because that is the only thing that will burn. Unless someone throws a cigarette into the car... A guess that "the battery did it" shows only MANNER, but not CAUSE... Like the cops saying the murder was caused by a GUN.

Somehow people seem to be demanding that Nissan give the Leaf "lifetime" warrantee for battery, and everything else that can go wrong with it.

There are cars that have known problems with transmissions and engines, and they do not get free replacements....

This seems odd in general and I find it even more odd the pack would do this. As mentioned it could have come from the 12V battery, perhaps an improper or alternative chemistry. This poster is also from outside the USA at least from the ISP details.

First, when have sla car batteris gone on fire? They are full of water. Maybe an upgrade 12v lithium battery that some geniouses push on this site caused a fire. If that happens, then they reap what they sew....

Looks like this one fizzled out.

powersurge said:

First, when have sla car batteris gone on fire? They are full of water. Maybe an upgrade 12v lithium battery that some geniouses push on this site caused a fire. If that happens, then they reap what they sew....

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You are a source of amazement for me! I can always count on you to say interesting things.

I can only echo what others have said and I too was in law enforcement for about 20 years. Generally, a car fire was not that big of a deal (the places I have worked at anyway) and generally, we didn't write reports and neither did the fire department (unless there was a death, it was a government vehicle, etc.). If this did happen in Guatemala and the story is as read, I would not expect anything in the way of a paper trail for this anymore than what I dealt with here in the U.S. I know many people around the world in many of these countries and there is no telling what was done to an electric car prior to the OP buying it (again, assuming everything is as read here). Here is a recent fire from August that I got involved with since it was four doors down from my house. The lady who owned it had just taken it to Walmart for servicing and they had supposedly replaced the battery about half an hour before the fire started - she had literally just parked it, walked inside her house, and I noticed the smoke I was pulling into my driveway. Fire department put the fire out and that was the end of it - no police, no arson investigator, etc. Just to provide a different perspective You'll have to click the link - I can't get the pic to upload into here for whatever reason https://drive.google.com/open?id=13oWBxs3PxP1VvlJsbp1PUJkpTBVe-v6P

Evoforce said:

powersurge said:

First, when have sla car batteris gone on fire? They are full of water. Maybe an upgrade 12v lithium battery that some geniouses push on this site caused a fire. If that happens, then they reap what they sew....

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You are a source of amazement for me! I can always count on you to say interesting things.

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Come on,... How many car fires are attributed to the standard SLA 12 volt batteries spontaneously going on fire in the world??? They do not because all they are is full of water and acid. If the battery lead, the acid will damage the body parts of the car over time.. that is all...

I am glad you are amazed by my statements..

I think you mean a flooded cell battery when you say "a standard" battery. SLA batteries are quite likely to be AGM or Gel type so when subjected to thermal runaway can definitely constitute a fire risk.

Even with a traditional flooded cell, non-maintenance free, type of battery I think it has always been quite common for neglectful vehicle owners to let them get down to almost a dry state - such as when their voltage regulator has failed and overcharging takes place.
That could be the scenario for much of the anecdotal evidence of battery fires.