Need new battery, nissan sucks

Hi all, i've been struggling with my nissan leaf for 4 years now. I contacted nissan in 2016 and they told me that they won't help until my battery goes below 9 bars, which they say represents a capacity loss of 28-30%. i have leafspy and it states my SOH is about 69.5%. I have 9 bars. I don't believe the bars mean a damn thing.

In 2016, the Nissan people i spoke to told me that even if the warranty runs out when it gets to 8 bars, they'll still have an out of warranty program to help me. Now apparently they do not.

Nissan and its dealer have repeatedly lied to me, and i find their conduct absolutely abusive. Fraud is a felony and these people all belong in prison. They are obviously unafraid of any consequences for their criminal conduct.

My car is a 2012 Leaf. I bought it in 2015 with very low miles (now i know why). I just took a closer look at the class action lawsuit covering 2012 leaf cars, and i realize that I am not a member of this class because i don't live in Arizona or California. Don't i have just as much of a claim as the class members, and doesn't this mean that i can still sue them?

Can anyone recommend a lawyer in Pennsylvania who can help me with this? And hopefully get paid by Nissan not by me??

Also what can i do, practically speaking, short of spending $7500 on a battery for my $2000 car?

finally, when i charge normally, according to leafspy my car only charges to about 90%. But when i set the limit to 80%, it charges to 80% on leafspy. So what does this percentage mean and how do i charge to 100%?

Thanks in advance

1. Nissan sucks, but do yourself a favor and do not waste your money on lawyers.
2. You are screwed. If it makes you feel any better, you are not alone. Next time buy a battery that will last, meaning the company has a good reputation and the battery has heat management.

i mean surely i won't be buying any kind of Nissan again... but honestly i'm not looking to buy ANY car right now.

i am looking for a more detailed answer. For example how do i obtain a used/refurbished 2015 battery for my 2012 leaf?

i hope that the nissan ceo spends a LONG LONG time in japanese prison. I'm glad to see him in prison for financial crimes, but his crimes against little people like us need to count, not just his crimes against the finance system!!

I don’t believe there is any way in the US to get a Leaf battery other than via a dealer or a junk yard.

Good luck.

You got four years out of a $2000 car? Doesn't sound bad at all.

Better to just move on. I recommend Tesla, Jaguar I-Pace, or Chevrolet Bolt. The anxiety and anger will ruin your life.
LEAF is what it is. Live with it or move on.

Instead of fighting nissan which may not work out try to find a wrecked car to get a better battery and matching VCM from.

Now you know the reason these cars get so cheap so fast.

alembic42 said:

i have leafspy and it states my SOH is about 69.5%. I have 9 bars. I don't believe the bars mean a damn thing.

In 2016, the Nissan people i spoke to told me that even if the warranty runs out when it gets to 8 bars, they'll still have an out of warranty program to help me. Now apparently they do not.

Nissan and its dealer have repeatedly lied to me, and i find their conduct absolutely abusive. Fraud is a felony and these people all belong in prison. They are obviously unafraid of any consequences for their criminal conduct.

My car is a 2012 Leaf. I bought it in 2015 with very low miles (now i know why). I just took a closer look at the class action lawsuit covering 2012 leaf cars, and i realize that I am not a member of this class because i don't live in Arizona or California. Don't i have just as much of a claim as the class members, and doesn't this mean that i can still sue them?

Can anyone recommend a lawyer in Pennsylvania who can help me with this?

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Nissan has never publicly acknowledged nor given any info about ANY of the values that Leaf Spy can render. Given that, one cannot assert the the SOH value Is the remaining capacity.

The capacity warranty that came about due to the Klee class action lawsuit is by capacity bars. When the Leaf shipped, it had NO capacity warranty at all.

As for "its dealer", in many/most (?) parts of the US, due to state franchise laws, automakers cannot own dealers. Google for tesla franchise laws.

As for class action lawsuit, the settlement didn't apply only to CA and AZ only. AFAIK, it applied to all Leaf owners model years 2011 and 2012. I am not a lawyer, but AFAIK, unless you opted out of the settlement, you will have to abide by it, which likely includes not being able to bring about your own litigation on this. Yes, it truly sucks that Nissan stopped their goodwill program where they helped out of capacity warranty folks w/the cost of a new battery.

While I wouldn't recommend an i-Pace... I tend to agree with smkettner. Just move on. Otherwise, you'll want to find a pack in better shape in which you could hook up or swap in all the modules from. See posts by Cor at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=21997.

I recently bought a '19 Bolt Premier because I became aware of heavy discounting (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=547317#p547317) even though I'm no fan of GM (family has had 3 GM vehicles before, none were very good in terms of reliability). I'm not pissed at Nissan and am still somewhat of a fan of them (current Leaf is my 4th Nissan and is still down only 1 capacity bar). I just plan to be an EV only household with only 1 vehicle. The 40 kWh Leaf and for the price just doesn't quite meet my needs.

LTLFTcomposite said:

You got four years out of a $2000 car? Doesn't sound bad at all.

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He's lamenting the fact that it's only worth $2000 on trade-in.
It sounds quite bad.

garsh said:

LTLFTcomposite said:

You got four years out of a $2000 car? Doesn't sound bad at all.

Click to expand...

He's lamenting the fact that it's only worth $2000 on trade-in.
It sounds quite bad.

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I guess so. I looked back and the OP had posted a rant back in Oct 2016: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=22824. Apparently, a bunch of us (including me) responded to it.

Meanwhile, my 5/2013 built '13 Leaf still has 11 capacity bars, SOH at ~82.xx to 83.xx% at a bit past 63K miles. It lost its 1st bar in Nov 2017.

The Original Poster bought a 3-4 year old used Leaf, and used it for 4 years. It now needs a battery. The OP now wants to sue for damages.. Sounds like an Open And Shut Case....

For that, and many other reasons, just scratch Nissan off your list permanently and move on...

OMG, OP buys used car out of warranty and a part wears out? Get the supreme Court on the line! We need justice and we need it now!

I find it rather alarming that there is so much animosity toward the OP. The majority of Leaf owners have not spent years here learning about all of the pros and cons of this car. Many bought the hype and thought what a neat vehicle this is.

The mistake that many of us made was thinking this could be a car that would last many years as a very usable vehicle and at the end of the day would provide a lot of value. But, $8000 for a battery in a $2000 vehicle!

My 2011 has 7 bars left and only has 34K mi. It would scare me to think what it is worth. Fortunately for me I live in Hawaii. I really do not have a need for a heater, because we all know how bad that is. Also, my 10kw pv system takes care of all of my charging needs. All of the trips I take are less than 40 mi. round trip.

For my situation the Leaf works but I could see where people would find animosity towards Nissan. We took a chance on this in the hope that Nissan would be a good partner in this endeavor. We have found out that they really have not.

No animosity toward the OP, just a slap of common sense. No manufacturer of ANY product is going to warrant something for an open ended period of time.

The pre-1918 Leaf should not be considered in the same league as more modern electric cars like the Bolt, etc. At their best, there is no way the original Leaf had the range to be used for anything more than errands and possibly commuting.

My only complaint is that Nissan has proprietary software in their battery management. As I understand it, Nissan dealers will not install a used battery and the battery will not work if it is installed by anyone but a Nissan dealer.

Nissan offers no help on battery replacement, even in California, beyond their stated warranty. My 2012 was down to 6 bars at 80,000 miles.

First; My 2012 Leaf was a really nice car with a range of 40 miles for $4,000 is a pretty good deal, especially for those not willing or able to commit to the price of a Tesla, Bolt, etc. It is an ideal car for those needing a car for local use and wanting to avoid the expensive maintenance of a cheap gasoline car.

Then, consider how cheaply you can buy a used Leaf. I paid $8.000 for my 2015 with about 30,000 miles. It looks and drives like a new car. One cannot compare the range of my $8,000 Leaf to a new Leaf or a Bolt costing 4 times as much. When the Leaf was introduced in 2011, it was either about $35,000 Leaf or over $100,000 for a Tesla Roadster. (Or a Model S Complaining about the range of a pre-2018 Leaf is like complaining about the performance and driveability of any other old car when compared to a new car. It's like expecting quality merchandise from Wally Mart. People shop there for the price, not the quality.

So, if you can afford and are willing to commit your retirement money to a Tesla, Jag or a new Leaf just do it and don't complain about the performance of the old Leaf. It was the first affordable mass-produced electric car. It's old technology. We have a Leaf in the museum along with Ford Model Ts and even a 100-year-old electric car.

I'll drive my cheap Leaf with a 70-mile range and save my money for traveling, classic cars and other fun things.

OrientExpress said:

No animosity toward the OP, just a slap of common sense. No manufacturer of ANY product is going to warrant something for an open ended period of time.

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Nissan and their affiliated dealerships made claims about the Leaf's range and battery life that were untrue. They also offered NO warranty on the battery - just those claims of exaggerated range and greatly understated capacity loss. That meant that everyone who ever owned a 2011/2012 Leaf with OEM battery, new or used, would be harmed by Nissan. That called for financial assistance with replacing those defective batteries, made through March of 2013, for the life of the car.

OrientExpress said:

No animosity toward the OP, just a slap of common sense. No manufacturer of ANY product is going to warrant something for an open ended period of time.

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Of course not. On the other hand OP has a piece of junk at 35k miles. Even the worst of the worse junk from Russia is not that bad.

downeykp said:

The mistake that many of us made was thinking this could be a car that would last many years as a very usable vehicle and at the end of the day would provide a lot of value. But, $8000 for a battery in a $2000 vehicle!
My 2011 has 7 bars left and only has 34K mi. It would scare me to think what it is worth.

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The wrong way to evaluate, imho. It's not a matter of whether the new battery price is justified by the market value of the car (with worn-out battery). It's whether or not the new battery (which should give much better service than the original) is worth the price. The vehicle itself is basically already fully depreciated. You've already taken that hit.

With 34K mi, it's safe to say the vehicle itself can provide many more years and miles of service. So factor the $8000 over the miles/years you could expect the newly refurbished vehicle to provide service.

bradleydad said:

Then, consider how cheaply you can buy a used Leaf. I paid $8.000 for my 2015 with about 30,000 miles. It looks and drives like a new car.

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A very important point for OP to consider. The LEAF battery problems were factored into the price of the used car. In effect you were already compensated for those shortcomings when purchasing the used vehicle.

LeftieBiker said:

Nissan and their affiliated dealerships made claims about the Leaf's range and battery life that were untrue. They also offered NO warranty on the battery - just those claims of exaggerated range and greatly understated capacity loss. That meant that everyone who ever owned a 2011/2012 Leaf with OEM battery, new or used, would be harmed by Nissan. That called for financial assistance with replacing those defective batteries, made through March of 2013, for the life of the car.

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I don't recall Nissan corporate making false claims about range. I recall them giving results of testing that didn't reflect typical real-world use cases for North American drivers, and of course hoping that had a certain psychological effect on less-discerning consumers. And of course car salesmen will say almost anything. As always it pays to do research on a major purchase. I'd frequented this forum, and did not have unreasonable expectations.

Also, to give credit where it's due I do recall their literature during the Launch Events directly addressing the issue of range vs. driving needs and actually making conservative recommendations about such things as a reasonable commute distance for the car.

As far as battery life, not sure if they were lying or simply relying on inadequate testing. They certainly weren't guaranteeing anything. The complete lack of capacity warranty was a major red flag. As they didn't have the confidence to stand behind the battery, I chose to lease.