PLEASE CALL CS IF YOU HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITH GRABBY BRAKES

KJD said:

LTLFTcomposite said:

It is important that everyone experiencing this problem call customer service and alert them, as it is the number of reports that will drive them to debug the problem and come up with a fix.

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My 2012 had this problem for the first couple of months.

One Saturday I drove it up to the local ski resort (Brighton). Driving down the mountain gave the brakes a good workout.

Next day I drove the car up a different canyon just to check out it in the S curves. Again the brakes got a good workout driving back home.

No more grabby brake problem, they work perfect now.

KJD

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I'd like nothing more than to spend a few weekends running up and down BCC and LCC in my Leaf, but unless I can find a way to check it for free, it'll have to be in an econobox rental, and that fix isn't available to me here in the flatlands :-(

Even though the problem cleared up, it may help for you to call it in. I do believe the key to getting attention to the problem lies in number of reports.

Flushing the brake fluid shouldnt fix this issue. You have to flush the brake fluid when your brake pedal feels spongy and that is because the boiling temperature of the used brake fluid is lowered from use which doesnt apply enough pressure to the pads so if the brake fluid is gone u will have poor braking performance.

The rust could be something that might be related with the braking. Or it might as well just be a poor brake calibration for the force of braking and the pump. (test drive a smart car u will see what i am talking about ) I pressed the brakes on that and it wouldnt stop, the moment i press 1/4 inch more it felt like the wheels were gonna lock up... there is no middle ground so if that is what you guys are experiencing then I feel your pain. The 10 min test drive of the smart made me hate it. (no offence or disrespect towards ppl that love the smart)

my 2 cents

I notice this the most in cold weather or when it rains. I just happened a few days (no rain) 45-50 deg outside temp and when coming to a complete stop it was very difficult to do so smoothly. It's most apparent at very slow speeds.

I also notice this for a day or two after an autocross or track day event. It then seems to goes away.

I don't think the grabby brakes have anything to do with fluids. I haven't been able to figure out the pattern, but mine frequently has a related problem ... when letting brakes off from a standstill, the car's creep is dramatically increased from they way it is normally. Typically, when I let off the brakes, the car just creeps forwards very slowly, like my ICE cars, but sometimes, it just jumps forwards .. it's in this situation that the the brakes suddenly become grabby. There's absolutely no way to modulate the pedal for a smooth stop... I just barely press the pedal, and the brakes instantly clamp on, causing the car to halt very suddenly, even though I'm only going 1-3mph.

I posted last year in a separate thread about how my wife had an episode where she felt like the car was surging forwards on its own. I called Nissan about it, and they did some investigation, and dropped it. I'm pretty certain now that she was just experiencing what I described above, not "sudden acceleration."

Now that I see other people are having this problem, I'll call them back to follow up on my case.
They also gave me the phone number of one of their field engineers. I'll see what I can find out from him.

I have noted 2 unusual things with the brakes:

1. The "grabby" brake problem. This happens occasionally when applying the brakes, and I get WAY more braking than I asked for, which throws me forward in the seat. I'm guessing that somehow the "brake assist" is triggering erroneously. Brake rotors are nice and shiny; I don't think it's rust.

2. Sudden reduction in braking. This sometime happens as the speed reaches less than 5-10 MPH. I'm guessing that this has to do with blending the hydraulic disc brakes with the regenerative braking. Luckily I leave plenty of room to the car ahead of me, so I haven't rear ended anyone yet.

Both problems are a little unsettling, but I've gotten used to them. It would be nice if Nissan figured out what is going on and found a way to fix it.

I just thought I'd chime into this thread that my wife and I have both noticed the grabby brakes issue. Its been going on for a few months now and I'm not sure when it started. I think it crept up gradually. I'm not really worried about it at this point. I try to use regen as much as possible anyway. I've just learned to be more gentle with the brake pedal and everything seems to work fine that way.

I know I used to have a problem on my Prius with rust building up on my brake rotors. Mainly because I would use so much regen there also. The cure I found was to get up to about 80 mph on the highway, take an exit ramp, put the car in neutral (which disables regen) and use the friction brakes to bring the car to a stop. I'd often have to repeat this every week or two. However, I can't see any rust on my Leaf's rotors, but I suppose there could be some on the back side of them that I can't see.

mine has never exhibited this problem. curious; how often do people test their brakes? i ask because i can go days without using friction brakes to any real degree. it really is not that difficult to do.

to test brakes, i get on an empty street, get up to at least 50 mph and do 2-3 controlled rapid stops to "warm" them up. i frequently will hear some slight grinding noise (my rotors are in a perpetual state of rust...) no doubt cleaning the rotors a bit. then i will get up to at least 40 mph and slam on the brakes as hard as I can. i do this once a month (at least i try, sometimes it might go a bit further...)

DaveinOlyWA said:

mine has never exhibited this problem. curious; how often do people test their brakes? i ask because i can go days without using friction brakes to any real degree. it really is not that difficult to do.

to test brakes, i get on an empty street, get up to at least 50 mph and do 2-3 controlled rapid stops to "warm" them up. i frequently will hear some slight grinding noise (my rotors are in a perpetual state of rust...) no doubt cleaning the rotors a bit. then i will get up to at least 40 mph and slam on the brakes as hard as I can. i do this once a month (at least i try, sometimes it might go a bit further...)

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Sounds about what I do once over the life of the brakes, immediately after replacing.

QueenBee said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

mine has never exhibited this problem. curious; how often do people test their brakes? i ask because i can go days without using friction brakes to any real degree. it really is not that difficult to do.

to test brakes, i get on an empty street, get up to at least 50 mph and do 2-3 controlled rapid stops to "warm" them up. i frequently will hear some slight grinding noise (my rotors are in a perpetual state of rust...) no doubt cleaning the rotors a bit. then i will get up to at least 40 mph and slam on the brakes as hard as I can. i do this once a month (at least i try, sometimes it might go a bit further...)

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Sounds about what I do once over the life of the brakes, immediately after replacing.

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in rainy areas or areas of high humidity, its highly recommended that brakes be tested a regular basis

DaveinOlyWA said:

QueenBee said:

DaveinOlyWA said:

mine has never exhibited this problem. curious; how often do people test their brakes? i ask because i can go days without using friction brakes to any real degree. it really is not that difficult to do.

to test brakes, i get on an empty street, get up to at least 50 mph and do 2-3 controlled rapid stops to "warm" them up. i frequently will hear some slight grinding noise (my rotors are in a perpetual state of rust...) no doubt cleaning the rotors a bit. then i will get up to at least 40 mph and slam on the brakes as hard as I can. i do this once a month (at least i try, sometimes it might go a bit further...)

Click to expand...

Sounds about what I do once over the life of the brakes, immediately after replacing.

Click to expand...

in rainy areas or areas of high humidity, its highly recommended that brakes be tested a regular basis

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I've never heard that before but obviously testing doesn't hurt. I have noticed that the rotors stay more rust colored than an ICE.

tps said:

I have noted 2 unusual things with the brakes:

1. The "grabby" brake problem. This happens occasionally when applying the brakes, and I get WAY more braking than I asked for, which throws me forward in the seat. I'm guessing that somehow the "brake assist" is triggering erroneously. Brake rotors are nice and shiny; I don't think it's rust.

2. Sudden reduction in braking. This sometime happens as the speed reaches less than 5-10 MPH. I'm guessing that this has to do with blending the hydraulic disc brakes with the regenerative braking. Luckily I leave plenty of room to the car ahead of me, so I haven't rear ended anyone yet.

Click to expand...

I have grabby brakes as well and I notice it most in slow speed, stop and go type driving. If I am just slowing down to a light I do not notice it. But if traffic is creeping forward and stopping again and again, the grabby brakes show up and I have to apologize to my passengers.

Interesting you mention that second thing because I have had that once or twice. I will go to stop and the brake petal feels harder than usual to press and I had to give it a significant amount more force to stop the car. I was a bit worried after that and had my hand on the e-brake for the next few stops (just in case). But like I said, I have only seen that once or twice over the 9k miles of the car.

I'll try to call CS today and let them know. Curious though, doesn't CS ask you to go to the dealer to get it checked out?