Brakes Fail upon Powering On

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FireDude

New member
Joined
Aug 23, 2013
Messages
4
I've seen other posts about the brakes on this forum but I am hoping to find a solution to this particular problem.

I charge the car to 100%, disengage the parking brake, apply the foot brake and power on then shift into gear (forward or reverse). The car starts moving as if the foot brake is not applied. Press harder on the foot brake pedal and it vibrates and makes a very loud chattering noise as the pedal pushes nearly to the floor then brakes suddenly lock up. Loud tapping noise can be heard and felt in the brake pedal even when stopped. The red "BRAKE" light is on, the yellow "!" circle is on and the triangular warning light is on.

I am lucky nothing or no one was behind the car when it happened because the car moved about 20 feet before I could get it stopped. I left the car for 6 hours and the problem cleared. I took it to Nissan of Fife dealership for an evaluation. 24 hours later I was told there were no error codes and they could not recreate the problem. They said they felt the car was safe to drive.

Now it's happening again and I cannot put my family in the car with this random and dangerous problem.
 
I'd report the problem to Nissan corporate and after a dealer attempts to resolve it again (hopefully successfully), file a safety complaint w/NHTSA at http://www.safercar.gov/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, including what they did to resolve it.

FWIW, when I lived in WA, I used to sometimes take my Nissans to Nissan of Fife (WAY before the Leaf existed), as their service dept had a good rep.
 
Probably your 12 volt battery is failing.
Read this thread: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=18022" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
billg said:
Probably your 12 volt battery is failing.
Read this thread: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=18022" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Could be, but nevertheless, sounds like a legitimate and reportable safety defect, possibly a design flaw.
 
FireDude said:
... I took it to Nissan of Fife dealership for an evaluation. 24 hours later I was told there were no error codes and they could not recreate the problem. They said they felt the car was safe to drive.

Now it's happening again and I cannot put my family in the car with this random and dangerous problem.
Did they do a capacity test on the 12 V battery :?: :?:

If not, they are not competent to service the car.

Low 12V battery voltage is a well known source of seriously dangerous braking problems in the LEAF.
 
I have been having this problem for couple months. Brand new 2014 Leaf S. Runs fine. Once in a while when I start the vehicle, it goes into a mode where the brake light, ABS light is on. It was in the shop (at dealership) for three weeks, they couldn't figure out the issue. Recently even the battery power failure message also came. It went back to shop this week, still waiting it to get fixed. It is becoming unreliable now. Getting frustrated.

Does anyone have similar experience, if yes, how did it get fixed?
 
migs said:
I have been having this problem for couple months. Brand new 2014 Leaf S. Runs fine. Once in a while when I start the vehicle, it goes into a mode where the brake light, ABS light is on. It was in the shop (at dealership) for three weeks, they couldn't figure out the issue. Recently even the battery power failure message also came. It went back to shop this week, still waiting it to get fixed. It is becoming unreliable now. Getting frustrated.

Does anyone have similar experience, if yes, how did it get fixed?

Check the 12V battery.
 
Hello All from Québec Canada!!

I'm glad we found this post. As of today, we are several 2014-2015 Leaf owners in Québec which has recently reported some momentarily braking system failure (as you described) which seems to occur mostly in cold temperature, (below -20c). One of the Leaf owner that had the problem was able to take a video while it happenned to share it with the others. I know it's in french, but listen until the end, you will see and hear what the problem looks like. Apparently the brake pedal has to be pushed at more than 50% of it course before you can finally feel the car slowing down. After you hear some "Toc" Toc", only then it will start to brake but lightly. So far, we are aware that at least 5 Leaf owners from Québec had this problem and they reported it to Nissan Canada. We are still all waiting and very, very anxious to hear from them. Of course no dealer was able to find the problem, saying it could be just a bad relay contact in this cold weather (!!!!!!!) This braking problem can be potentially VERY dangerous and I hope Nissan will react very quickly before anything bad happens. Again, this seems to be happening only to 2014-2015 Leaf owners. I hope you will be able to see the video with this link.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0rpjac5zo0yz5m8/Freins_leaf.mp4?dl=0&cid=1420776254730-996" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
FireDude said:
I've seen other posts about the brakes on this forum but I am hoping to find a solution to this particular problem.

I charge the car to 100%, disengage the parking brake, apply the foot brake and power on then shift into gear (forward or reverse). The car starts moving as if the foot brake is not applied. Press harder on the foot brake pedal and it vibrates and makes a very loud chattering noise as the pedal pushes nearly to the floor then brakes suddenly lock up. Loud tapping noise can be heard and felt in the brake pedal even when stopped. The red "BRAKE" light is on, the yellow "!" circle is on and the triangular warning light is on.

I am lucky nothing or no one was behind the car when it happened because the car moved about 20 feet before I could get it stopped. I left the car for 6 hours and the problem cleared. I took it to Nissan of Fife dealership for an evaluation. 24 hours later I was told there were no error codes and they could not recreate the problem. They said they felt the car was safe to drive.

Now it's happening again and I cannot put my family in the car with this random and dangerous problem.
Can you update profile with location ? I assume a 13 SV or SL and what were the O/S temps when this occurred? Looks more serious than a 12V battery problem.
 
I had this happen to my 2015 last night after work so it is not always related to cold temperatures. The 12-volt battery was NOT the problem. Two possible causes: 1) I bumped the power button while the car was booting up (don't know how it happened--never before in 3-1/2 years driving LEAFs). 2) Android device disrupted CAN bus communication when it's battery died while sitting on the seat with LEAF Spy running while the car was parked during the afternoon (not likely). I tried turning the car off and back on several times and it always came up in ready mode so it could be driven, but had warning lights for ABS, VSC, and brake control module. Braking was available, but the loud noise (kind of a grinding sound like relief valves opening and closing rapidly) heard in the Canadian video (French) linked in an earlier post was present whenever brake pedal was depressed. DTCs reported by LEAF Spy involved CAN bus communication errors and all three modules noted above. DTCs would not clear so I finally disconnected the 12-volt battery for a few minutes. After reconnecting the battery, I was able to clear the DTCs with LEAF Spy. I was left with a yellow (not red) brake warning light until the brake booster energy storage (probably a hydraulic accumulator) had about 30 seconds to 1 minute to recharge. Everything was normal on the drive home and it seems fine today.

Gerry
 
The problem miraculously disappeared for 10 months but it started happening again and I am sending it to the dealership again. This is a transient problem and they say if they cant recreate it they can't fix it. I have videoed the whole event again as it makes a very loud distinct sound and every warning light on the dash lights up. The last time in they said there were no error codes stored in the car's computer which I really find hard to believe.
 
FireDude said:
...it makes a very loud distinct sound and every warning light on the dash lights up.

...The last time in they said there were no error codes stored in the car's computer which I really find hard to believe.

I'd find a different shop.

clip_image0015.jpg
 
Just had something very similar to GerryAZ's post two posts previous happen on a 2011. The car was perfectly normal yesterday, charged overnight, then standing all day. My wife just went to go out in it, and just after turning the car on, she went to turn off the phone which had been left on with LeafSpy running. Unclear if it was related to pushing the power button the phone, but the car went into a weird state flashing almost everything on the dashboard. In addition the fan for the climate system was pulsing on and off.

Powered off and on a couple of times (exact details unclear at this point) and the car settled in a state where the Brake and ABS warning lights were on. It would go into drive, but on pressing the brake pedal there were unusual noises, unusual feel to the pedal, and very little braking effect.

I used LeafSpy to read out the DTCs and got:

C1109 0008 ABS Battery Voltage Abnormal BRC-75
>C118A 0109 AQBS E-Driven Int brake system BRC-124
C118C 0108 ABS EV/HEV System BRC-126
>C1A60 0109 BRAKE Control Module BR-39
C1A62 0108 BRAKE Control Mod Pwr Supply BR-53
C1A6E 0108 BRAKE EV/HEV System BR-146
P3101 00C4 EV/HEV VCM EVC-200
>P3180 00C3 EV/HEV HV Battery System EVC-249
>P317B 00C3 EV/HEV Motor System EVC-247
P0A8F 00C4 EV/HEV 14V Power Supply EVC-136
>P31E2 00C3 EV/HEV System Interlock Error EVC-308
P316A 00C4 EV/HEV Motor Speed EVC-233
P30FE 0008 HV BATTERY 12V Battery Voltage EVB-94
P0A1B 0008 MOTOR CONTROL Drive Motor A cntl Mod TMS-46
P0A8D 0008 MOTOR CONTROL 14V Power Supply EVC-132/TMS-63
U1232 0108 MULTI AV St Angle Sen Calib AV-88
P1895 0008 SHIFT Motor Speed TM-82
U1A05 0008 TCU USB Comm AV-199

After reading several posts in the forum relating to brake problems I checked the 12V battery. It read 12.57 with the car off. Turning on it dropped momentarily to about 12.3 than jumped up to around 14.4 as the system powered up, but still in the same state.

Turned off again for about a half hour, after which it powered up normally and everything seems to be working, but several settings were lost. We noticed this because it started playing the default tune when powered on, which had previously been turned off. A few other random settings seemed to be off, but most things had not changed.

Turned it off waited another half hour and checked the battery voltage again: 12.57. I pushed the power button without a foot on the brake pedal to get the accessory mode, then turned on the headlights. Battery dropped to about 12.2. After a few minutes I turned the car fully on. As before the voltage dipped momentarily then it came back to 14.4 and the car came up normally.
 
tbr00 said:
...After reading several posts in the forum relating to brake problems I checked the 12V battery. It read 12.57 with the car off. Turning on it dropped momentarily to about 12.3 than jumped up to around 14.4 as the system powered up, but still in the same state.

Turned off again for about a half hour, after which it powered up normally and everything seems to be working, but several settings were lost. We noticed this because it started playing the default tune when powered on, which had previously been turned off. A few other random settings seemed to be off, but most things had not changed.

Turned it off waited another half hour and checked the battery voltage again: 12.57. I pushed the power button without a foot on the brake pedal to get the accessory mode, then turned on the headlights. Battery dropped to about 12.2. After a few minutes I turned the car fully on. As before the voltage dipped momentarily then it came back to 14.4 and the car came up normally.

Check to make sure the battery terminal connections are clean and tight. A loose or corroded connection can result in temporary low-voltage condition.
 
tbr00 said:
... We noticed this because it started playing the default tune when powered on, which had previously been turned off. A few other random settings seemed to be off, but most things had not changed.

Turned it off waited another half hour and checked the battery voltage again: 12.57. I pushed the power button without a foot on the brake pedal to get the accessory mode, then turned on the headlights. Battery dropped to about 12.2. After a few minutes I turned the car fully on. As before the voltage dipped momentarily then it came back to 14.4 and the car came up normally.
Clearly a battery or battery connections or cables problem.

Voltage will not tell you much.

My 12V that failed likely due to water level getting low and a cell failing would show tolerable voltage.
But the instant you put any load on it voltage would sag badly to 10V or less.

I experienced failure to brake with it one day while in Neutral but never got the wierd noise while braking.
Did experience wierd high pitched alarm noise a few times when starting the LEAF that went away once DC to DC powered the 12V back up.

The first thing to try is replace the 12V battery.
The LEAF is extremely dangerous with a bad 12V battery :shock:
 
tbr00 said:
Clean and tight. I was measuring directly on the battery posts.
Good for getting the battery's voltage, but also measure between the positive clamp, and a ground point to see what the car is receiving.

TimLee said:
Voltage will not tell you much.

My 12V that failed likely due to water level getting low and a cell failing would show tolerable voltage.
But the instant you put any load on it voltage would sag badly to 10V or less.
+1. I kept chasing what I thought must be a drain, but in reality my AGM battery had dried out. It would charge up and hold 12.6V, even resting overnight. But it was just a surface charge. When I finally put a load on it (about 17A load), it dropped below 10.5 volts in less than a minute.

I had 25 error codes. :)
 
at -16c I had a slew of similar issues, but the breaks worked I just could not put it in "gear"

Smart key not identified
TCM error
ABS error
VCM error and such,

after charging on L2 and care fully disconnecting it, it worked again.

When at the dealer ship the guy told me of another leaf owner who did have a breaking issue, and they replaced the traction control module and had not heard back from the guy since.

My leaf is a 2013 SV, I got it in November 2013 and it was only in the winter of 2014 when I saw the issues.

When it was at -60c (Real temp not the fake wind chill bs) it showed non of these issues.

IF it happens again, I'll imeadietly take 12v readings.
 
XeonPony said:
...
IF it happens again, I'll imeadietly take 12v readings.
But voltage often doesn't tell you much.

Need a capacity testing instrument, and even they can be wrong depending on how the battery has failed.
 
tbr00 said:
Just had something very similar to GerryAZ's post two posts previous happen on a 2011. The car was perfectly normal yesterday, charged overnight, then standing all day. My wife just went to go out in it, and just after turning the car on, she went to turn off the phone which had been left on with LeafSpy running. Unclear if it was related to pushing the power button the phone, but the car went into a weird state flashing almost everything on the dashboard. In addition the fan for the climate system was pulsing on and off.

Powered off and on a couple of times (exact details unclear at this point) and the car settled in a state where the Brake and ABS warning lights were on. It would go into drive, but on pressing the brake pedal there were unusual noises, unusual feel to the pedal, and very little braking effect.

I used LeafSpy to read out the DTCs and got:

C1109 0008 ABS Battery Voltage Abnormal BRC-75
>C118A 0109 AQBS E-Driven Int brake system BRC-124
C118C 0108 ABS EV/HEV System BRC-126
>C1A60 0109 BRAKE Control Module BR-39
C1A62 0108 BRAKE Control Mod Pwr Supply BR-53
C1A6E 0108 BRAKE EV/HEV System BR-146
P3101 00C4 EV/HEV VCM EVC-200
>P3180 00C3 EV/HEV HV Battery System EVC-249
>P317B 00C3 EV/HEV Motor System EVC-247
P0A8F 00C4 EV/HEV 14V Power Supply EVC-136
>P31E2 00C3 EV/HEV System Interlock Error EVC-308
P316A 00C4 EV/HEV Motor Speed EVC-233
P30FE 0008 HV BATTERY 12V Battery Voltage EVB-94
P0A1B 0008 MOTOR CONTROL Drive Motor A cntl Mod TMS-46
P0A8D 0008 MOTOR CONTROL 14V Power Supply EVC-132/TMS-63
U1232 0108 MULTI AV St Angle Sen Calib AV-88
P1895 0008 SHIFT Motor Speed TM-82
U1A05 0008 TCU USB Comm AV-199

After reading several posts in the forum relating to brake problems I checked the 12V battery. It read 12.57 with the car off. Turning on it dropped momentarily to about 12.3 than jumped up to around 14.4 as the system powered up, but still in the same state.

Turned off again for about a half hour, after which it powered up normally and everything seems to be working, but several settings were lost. We noticed this because it started playing the default tune when powered on, which had previously been turned off. A few other random settings seemed to be off, but most things had not changed.

Turned it off waited another half hour and checked the battery voltage again: 12.57. I pushed the power button without a foot on the brake pedal to get the accessory mode, then turned on the headlights. Battery dropped to about 12.2. After a few minutes I turned the car fully on. As before the voltage dipped momentarily then it came back to 14.4 and the car came up normally.

Your list of DTC codes all look like low voltage on 12-volt battery. I had DTC error codes regarding CAN bus communications which I could not clear without disconnecting the 12-volt battery. I strongly suggest you check battery terminal connections and load capacity of 12-volt battery. I suspect your 12-volt battery is on its last legs.

Gerry
 
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