MY 2013 Speedometer reading incorrect!

[dhanson865]

You can correct this by buying different tires when the time comes.

If tirerack's data is correct and my interpretation of the situation is correct the stock 16" tires are too small but the 17" tires are OK.

Stock P205/55R16 837 24.9" can be switched for P205/60R16 810 25.7" Michelin Energy Saver A/S which will lower the speedometer by about 3-4%. I think that would be about the best adjustment you could make (and you get a better LRR tire in the process if you switch from the Ecopia EP 422 to the Energy Saver A/S).

Stock P215/50R17 815 25.5" is likely OK already, I wouldn't recommend going up to the 225/50/17 as it will likely reduce your range and may make the speedometer too slow.

It appears that they made the speedometer more accurate with the stock tire on the 17" rim than they did with the stock tire on the 16" rim. I'm guessing the 16" tire was chosen more for price than speedometer accuracy.

 

[UkrainianKozak]

What if your leasing the Leaf and go over mileage due to speedo indicating higher speed and thus the car traveling further than actual on odometer?

Always fallback to legal
What is exactly in lease agreement?
ACTUAL miles driven, miles shown on odometer or it does not specify?
In first case you can definitely adjust by proving that your speedometer is off.
In second case, you definitely out of luck.
In third case, it's up to debate, you may try to argue...

 

[Pastgasser]

Thanks for the very interesting information on tires. Now if only my tires were 50K miles old instead of 1500 . . . :?

 

[Ace4]

Just because the speedometer reads high does not mean the odometer is incorrect. My BMW reads 3mph high in speed. The owner's manual actually says that the speedo is 3mph high, but that the odometer is accurate.

 

[Pastgasser]

Just because the speedometer reads high does not mean the odometer is incorrect. My BMW reads 3mph high in speed. The owner's manual actually says that the speedo is 3mph high, but that the odometer is accurate.

Thank you! Question answered!

Mike

 

[siai]

The engineer that sets the calibration for the LEAF speedometers must be one of those people who set their watch 10 minutes fast so they are never late. Problem is they know the watch is fast and therefore are late anyway. I hate any inaccurate gauges on a vehicle. Speedometers included. If the manufacturer wanted to, the speedometers would be accurate. Knowing the speedometer in the LEAF reads fast, then I know I can go over the speed limit without actually doing it---until I get into a car with accurate speedometer. Japanese motorcycles are notorious for "fast" speedometers. I had a Gold Wing once that had me wondering why everybody went 90 on the freeway when they were traveling less then 80. Funny thing, the odometer was right on.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Did you see my earlier post at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=287968#p287968" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;? There are sometimes intentionally off, for legal reasons.

 

[dhanson865]

You can correct this by buying different tires when the time comes.

If tirerack's data is correct and my interpretation of the situation is correct the stock 16" tires are too small but the 17" tires are OK.

Stock P205/55R16 837 24.9" can be switched for P205/60R16 810 25.7" Michelin Energy Saver A/S which will lower the speedometer by about 3-4%. I think that would be about the best adjustment you could make (and you get a better LRR tire in the process if you switch from the Ecopia EP 422 to the Energy Saver A/S).

Stock P215/50R17 815 25.5" is likely OK already, I wouldn't recommend going up to the 225/50/17 as it will likely reduce your range and may make the speedometer too slow.

It appears that they made the speedometer more accurate with the stock tire on the 17" rim than they did with the stock tire on the 16" rim. I'm guessing the 16" tire was chosen more for price than speedometer accuracy.

after reading http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13776&start=50#p318678" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I'm adjusting the desired RPM / diameter for accuracy at highway speeds to about 805 RPM and overall diameter of about 25.9" but in most tire lines you won't find an exact match to that target so I'd choose very slightly higher RPM / lower diameter over the opposite making the soft targets to be 805 to 815 rpm or said another way between 25.9" and 25.5" overall diameter.

Tires to consider in 16 and 17" are

Michelin Energy Saver A/S
P205/60R16 91V SL Green X 480 A A 51 psi max 21 lbs. 25.7" 810 US
215/50R17 90V SL Green X 480 A A 44 psi max 22 lbs. 25.5" 815 CA

Yokohama AVID Ascend
P205/60R16 91H SL BluEarth 740 A A 51 psi max 22 lbs. 25.7" 808 US
P215/50R17 93V XL BluEarth 740 A A 50 psi max 26 lbs. 25.5" 814 US (heavier than most here)

Continental PureContact with Ecoplus
205/60R16 92H SL EcoPlus 700 A A 51 psi max 21 lbs. 25.7" 808 MX
215/50R17 95V XL EcoPlus 700 A A 51 psi max 22 lbs. 25.5" 815 MX

Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus
205/60R16 92V SL LRR 600 A A 51 psi max 24 lbs. 25.7" 812 TH (also on the heavy side)
225/50R17 94W SL LRR 500 AA A 51 psi max 25 lbs. 25.9" 804 ID (also on the heavy side, and wider than the others here)

all of these tires are rated well by tirerack customers though you will see differing efficiency (miles/KWh) with the Energy Saver A/S presumably giving you the most miles per charge.

The heavier tires tend to handle higher loads if you like to move heavy objects in your leaf but they also tend to waste more energy, the wasted energy is a small factor but one some would consider.

Wider tires tend to trade wasted energy for a more stable ride (think cornering). Width is a more noticeable factor than weight when it comes to range/efficiency.

I'd love to see side by side or back to back tests of any of these tires on a Leaf, for now all I'm doing is data diving.

 

[ObjetDart]

The speedometer in my 2013 LEAF also consistently reads about 4 MPH too high. I first became suspicious that something was amiss when cars would routinely pile up behind me even though I had the cruise set at 55mph. When I do the same in my other (gas) car, this doesn't normally happen.

I have checked it multiple times against a GPS and have always seen the same +4 offset. I've never seen such a large discrepancy in any other car I've driven.

I can't help but feel a little bit suspicious that this is deliberate; since the LEAFs range is so dependent upon speed, by inflating the speedometer reading it makes the range at a given speed seem better than it really is.

 

[imposter]

I will be getting a Leaf Model S next month and trading in my Juke in the process. I have a set of winter tires for the Juke that I would like to continue using, size 215/60R16. The diameter/RPMs of these tires are a bit outside the recommended range above, according to 1010tires.com, so I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on whether they would still be ok to use or if I can have the computer or some gearing adjusted when I switch to/from these tires. Or should I just sell the tires and get new ones (presumably I could at least reuse the rims).

 

[ricco]

just bought a 2014 leaf, steering act funny, float to left, when pull to right just a bit to correct, it then start going to right, taking to shop tomorrow, it also speedo read 3 miles higher ( 5% @ 60 mph ), like u all said, if it is legal, but it should not be legal to cheat customer out of their warranty miles, if batteries go dead at 100,100 miles, it is 100 miles over warranty, Nissan will not pay, but my actual miles is 5005 miles under ( 5 % of 100100 miles), if the speedo is correct, I would still be within warranty mileage.

change to bigger tires correct one problem but create another, the ECM ( vehicle's brain ) read the speed from speed sensor or the ABS sensor, the sensor count the revolution of the axle or the hub that is turning to calculation car speed & total mileage, since it already has the input of the recommended tire circumference, by put on larger tire to gain the distance back to match speed on speedo, you make your motor work harder to go the same distance, or climb the same hill, ( require more torque or out put power to roll a larger circumference tire ), now your leaf will use more electricity to climb the same hill, thus make your travel distance shorter.

but if I live on a flat land county, I can put on whole lot bigger tires, make car go 5-8 miles faster than speedo indicate, thus drive more miles than odometer indicated, on flat ground it do not take much to get rolling, bigger tires be OK, it is the hills that kill the battery.

if it is legal for Nissan to under cut our warranty mileage, it should be legal for us to upper our warranty miles.

 

[mwalsh]

Speedo usually works independently of odo. To see if your odo is off you really need to check against mile markers on a highway.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Changing from the OEM size of 205/55/R16 to 205/60/R16 should correct most of the speedo error without making the car 'work harder' enough to notice. I'd rather keep all the (reduced) torque I have now and just take the speedo error into account.

 

[ricco]

I compare my 14 Leaf odometer with mile stick on I 5, for 8 miles, my odometer say 8.1 miles, which is close enough for government work, surprise me thou, I was expecting it be off like the speedo.

 

[ricco]

any one has info on how to calibrate the speedo ?

 

[rogersleaf]

any one has info on how to calibrate the speedo ?

Does anyone know if recalibrating is possible?
Both the speedo and odometer on my 2014 are 5% off (overstating speed and mileage).
If I recall, Honda was sued a few years back over this same inaccuracy and had to extend warranty & lease mileage to compensate.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

We have a couple posted radar based signs showing your speed. My 13 has been right in at multiple speeds (25 - 40) admittedly my tires are t 40

 

[TomT]

Manyt of those radar speed signs are typicality off by a mile or two due to their not being properly compensated for cosine error. So, I would not depend on them as a reliable benchmark.

We have a couple posted radar based signs showing your speed. My 13 has been right in at multiple speeds (25 - 40) admittedly my tires are t 40

 

[brentcd]

I am noticing something similar. On 2 different GPS units I am getting a reading of 2% over in both MPH reading AND mileage on the odometer.
The speed isn't the biggest thing to me, but 2% at the end of my 45,000 mile lease is 900 miles.
I'm not jumping to conclusions just yet, but I will be following up and getting something corrected. And with more accurate testing, but it sounds like this might be a legit issue from these other posts.
If your speedo reads high, then your odometer is also counting slightly faster than actual and if you lease the car you will get slightly screwed.

 

[TomT]

No, on modern cars the odometer and speedometer functions are completely separate. It is possible, and quite common, to have a speedometer that is fast and an odometer that is dead on or even a little slow... If you want to correct the speedometer, you can go in to the diagnostic screen and adjust it to as much as 2.5% one way or the other... Minus 2.5% made mine perfect with my Michelin MXV4 tires at 44 pounds...

If your speedo reads high, then your odometer is also counting slightly faster than actual and if you lease the car you will get slightly screwed.