illuminated grille emblem

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TexasLeaf

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Messages
115
Location
Texas
One thing that I'm not real happy about with the 2018 Leaf is that the grille looks a lot more like an ICE grille than the older Leafs. Nissan offers an illuminated grilled emblem accessory for the Leaf. I thought the illuminated grilled emblem might help distinguish the 2018 Leaf as an EV and may also accentuate the jeweled grille plate, at least at night.

Does anyone have one of these illuminated grilled emblems on their Leafs? And if so, what do you think of it? Would you recommend it as a way to distinguish the Leaf?
 
TexasLeaf said:
One thing that I'm not real happy about with the 2018 Leaf is that the grille looks a lot more like an ICE grille than the older Leafs. Nissan offers an illuminated grilled emblem accessory for the Leaf. I thought the illuminated grilled emblem might help distinguish the 2018 Leaf as an EV and may also accentuate the jeweled grille plate, at least at night.

Does anyone have one of these illuminated grilled emblems on their Leafs? And if so, what do you think of it? Would you recommend it as a way to distinguish the Leaf?

Is it a well done grilled emblem? :lol: Sorry, couldn't help it :D

I think part of their design was intentional since they are trying to make all of their vehicles have the same look like many other car makers. As for that accessory, I haven't seen or heard anything about it. With the plastic backing behind the emblem, it probably wouldn't be too terribly difficult to hide a small LED light - have to drill a hole probably.
 
I just got my Leaf a few days ago and when comparing cars I couldnt believe they wanted $350 for a light in the grill emblem. I think this weekend I am going to have a look at the clear plate and see if there isnt a way to add LEDs to it. I have a background and am not shy around things like soldering and circuit design.

I think the best method of lighting it up would be to attach LEDs around the outer edge (not from behind). But until I remove the grill and look at it I wont know how much space there is, or how accessible that edge is. The next step would be to play with brightness and color. Here in CA they tend to get irritated if you have visible blue lights on the front of your car, so that may be an issue since the plastic is blue. I still have blue and red LEDs from when I replaced all the green ones in my IS350 (gauges, radio, hvac, window switches, etc.). But these are mostly surface mount and I may have to get some standard legged ones to play with. It would be cool to maybe have a switch where you can change the color scheme with blue as the primary base, for example white LEDs would make it glow blue, red LEDs would make it glow purple, yellow LEDs would make it green.

I will come back and post some pics and my findings when I get the time to actually do it.
 
My 2019 Nissan Leaf S came with the illuminated grill. I actually like the look that it gives it. This combined with upgraded LED lights and adding 18” Nissan Juke rs wheels make it look really good. Just be aware that some of the after market LED emblems will not illuminate the same. The JDM Nissan emblem illuminates the outer edge and the actually Nissan lettering in the emblem. I also removed all the zero emissions decals on the front doors and the leaf decal and zero emissions on the hatch to make the car a little cleaner
 
I purchased the OEM illuminated emblem during a recent Nissan parts sale (a wiring harness extension part is also required), but my 2019 SL Plus has a front camera hidden in the emblem. The illuminated version does not seem compatible with the camera. I'm going to return it. Be sure to check whether your car has a camera there before ordering this part!
 
Paddymon said:
The illuminated version does not seem compatible with the camera. Be sure to check whether your car has a camera there before ordering this part!
You have a camera in the emblem if you have 360 Around View.
 
jlv said:
Paddymon said:
The illuminated version does not seem compatible with the camera. Be sure to check whether your car has a camera there before ordering this part!
You have a camera in the emblem if you have 360 Around View.

All SL Leafs now have Around View, so no 2018+ SL can get the emblem, apparently.
 
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