OK, I'm not getting here much lately, I did read things and maybe will try to add some possible reassurance to those losing the 4th bar.
I, here in Florida, lost the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th bar, and continued to drive it. (What was great was I'd get the 5 Star annual checkup, with the guys completely confused as it had lost 7 bars!!) I would have kept going, but I was at 59,973 miles, this was at about 4.5 years. In my opinion it is because the dealer left it out in the hot sun at 100% charge for the year they had it. But that's not important.
I hope people can somehow continue using their LEAF even when 8 bars or less. I know my situation was about perfect for this, as I'd commute 10 miles round trip, be home, recharge a bit, then commute 10 miles round trip again. However, I did, even at 7 bars lost, still go out for a "long drive." It would just make it to the L2 Charger in Zephyrhills, or the L2 and finally QC charger in Brandon. It ended up about 26 miles range from 100% to LBW. I never took it lower than this at 7 bars down, but I had early on taken it to the --- with just feet to go before connecting to an L2 charger.
In another thread, somebody was saying how impossible it was to have 73 miles on the GOM with 8 bars down, "unless you drive like grandpa," or something like that, calling the guy trying to sell his LEAF a liar so I guess he left the forum. I will say I probably did have 73 miles on the GOM with 8 bars down, ECO mode though, and I was driving like grandma. I'd accelerate slowly, keep momentum as much as possible at lights, and just generally go SLOW. It is really incredible how much farther you can go at lower speeds, and yes, I'd be a few minutes behind somebody else, but I did get there. There was another time, at 6 bars down I think, where I got lost, and ended up driving about 55 miles before I could recharge. I just don't know other people's needed range, but still, 55 miles, even partially on an expressway, is not too bad. It will take another year and a half or so to drop the couple more bars, depending of course on all the factors. The one problem got to be I was needing to keep it at 100% charge almost all the time, although I'm not remembering a huge increase in the degradation for the battery at that point.
Regarding the Klee "settlement," it was a legal atrocity. The judge was well intentioned but completely fooled. To allow a company to set the warranty at 8 bars, when THEY ARE THE ONES WHO PROGRAM THE BARS, is an outrage. It could have been an independent % battery capacity remaining, but they agreed on "around 70%" which in reality rounds out to 62% or so. Giving the LEAF that much more time before the bar drops. I've always wished somebody with either the legal prowess or the financial disposable income could sue Nissan on the basis of my theory that the capacity bars were reprogrammed with their required for the warranty software update.
Now, I did get the battery replaced, under warranty, and I've got the new one which is still going fairly good, better than the original one, but I still can see how unfair it is for others.
The last issue is I wish somebody would keep driving it until the pack just gives out, hopefully within the 8 years, if I remember, defective battery warranty. I'd love to see somebody collect for that. I was tempted, as within 3.5 more years I'd be down at the bottom of the pack, but of course that would be insane to pass up the warranty I was able to get.