Nissan: restart problems reported in Leaf electric cars

[Leafittome]

This is only a big deal because it's a LEAF and not another car.

Agreed, and this is why it must be handled properly in the PR arena. Doesn't matter so much if Nissan makes us early adopters feel comfortable with our small numbers of units, it's the worldwide EV perception that must be managed.

 

[GeekEV]

This is only a big deal because it's a LEAF and not another car.

+1

 

[TomT]

Exactly! And that is what Nissan must keep in mind. This is being watched by many through a very different and much more powerful microscope than that which is used with a conventional ICE vehicle...

This is only a big deal because it's a LEAF and not another car.

 

[evnow]

I'm not sure I would classify rolling back the version of software as a definitive fix. It's more like a stop-gap in my opinion, until they can come out with something more permanent... We still don't really even know if there were some compressors out of tolerance with excess HV leakage, a VCU leakage parameter that was set too tight, all of the above, or something else entirely...

Right. If firmware B/C has the problem but not A, it could mean
- The change in firmware caused the issue
- Something else that changed along with the firmware caused the issue (A/C vendor supplied part ?)

Nissan needs to figure this out, make a fix and then regress the change to make sure that fix doesn;t cause some other problem.

Afterall, if they made a change from A to C, they did that for a reason - to fix some other issue. By rolling back, they need to find another way to fix the original issue.

My guess is Nissan will issue a service bulletin when they have a definitive answer.

 

[mwalsh]

"You want answers?"
"I want the truth!"
"You can't handle the truth!"

:lol:

 

[jwhitehouse]

There have been several vehicles I'm watching that have been released from their HOLD status, and are now showing ETA's in the dealer Order Management System. Nissan has never said why the LEAF's were being held at the port of entry, but that they are moving again is good news. Nissan has voiced very strongly that they want "flawless" vehicles delivered to the reservation holders, and that is a commitment they are very serious about. All the LEAF's in the port were held shortly after the pre-cool AC/Restart problem started being reported.

 

[copdoc]

Exactly! And that is what Nissan must keep in mind. This is being watched by many through a very different and much more powerful microscope than that which is used with a conventional ICE vehicle...

(emphasis added)

It's only being watched through a microscope here. (My last tally was 60 pages of posts and counting.) One of the best things a fellow teacher ever taught me was not to let the 5% of students who were LOUD blind me to the 95% of satisfied students.

 

[mwalsh]

Hey...we got referenced on MSNBC!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42535885

They even quoted Mogur and GeekEV!

 

[aqn]

Hey...we got referenced on MSNBC!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42535885

They even quoted Mogur and GeekEV!

And save your energy debating among ourselves here; plenty of responses to that story need responded to:

AMackay | Apr 12, 2011 05:15 AM ET
"Why does a car designed for greens need air conditioning?"

Tom112130 | Apr 12, 2011 03:05 PM ET
"But the fact that the AC unit is seemingly involved is suspiciously near to the already known problem that the LEAF has problems to perform both in Cold and very hot weather" "Already known"?!!!

Lost_in_NJ | Apr 11, 2011 02:40 PM ET
"The Electric Car will become feasible right after they perfect... The Electric Tow Truck.

1) We don't have the electrical backbone to support several million EV's when we still have Brown-Downs every High Temp Summer with A/C over-use.

2) Conventional Vehicles take 5 to 15 minutes to refuel to travel another 500 mile range. EV's take 4 to 8 hours to travel another 240 to 290 miles.

3) Telsa uses several thousand laptop batteries, there's more battery than there is car, runs on 440volts and should be classified as the world's fastest Arc Welder.

4) Would you want an EV in the Rain? Cold? Snow? Long Drives?"

It would only a bit less of a waste of time responding to those responses; those people have already made up their mind. Rather, enthusiastic (and level headed) responses will speak volumes about the LEAF, its future prospect, and those who believe in an EV future.

 

[Kataphn]

"You want answers?"
"I want the truth!"
"You can't handle the truth!"

:lol:

Let me take a stab...."A Few Good Men" Love that Jack!

 

[rv6abob]

In reading about the restart problem, there seems to me to be a nagging engineering issue. It seems that the software of the Leaf decided, based on some of its sensor inputs, to not allow the car to be started. I'm thinking that the list of items that should prevent starting of the car should be very small. I guess the $64 question to me would be, "What are the other cases that software will prevent the car from starting?", "Are there cases when the car is actually started, that the software will stop the car?", "What are the engineering reasons behind these decisions and why not give nagging warnings rather than not allow the car to start?".

No matter how you slice this, this is very much a safety issue and I think there needs to be more information disseminated.