2018 Leaf full brake replacement

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Woodj

New member
Joined
Jun 21, 2022
Messages
1
Hi everyone,

I bought a new Leaf in 2018 and enjoyed driving the car until I recently experienced total brake failure. Three months ago I turned on the car, put it in drive and despite the brake being depressed the car started to go forward. Emergency lights came on and a message saying "Malfunction see owner's manual" popped up on the screen. I was able to stop the car by putting on the E brake which also caused the car to turn off immediately. Fortunately I was in an empty parking lot at the time and didn't run anyone over. I tried turning the car on once more and the same thing happened.

I waited for two hours for a tow truck and when it arrived the driver tried the car and it worked as normal. The car was towed to the dealership who were unable to replicate the problem and then just did a generic brake job and told me it was fine.

A month later the problem happened again. I took it to a different dealer this time. While the car was there they couldn't figure it out and just kept running the same test over and over again which didn't instill a lot of confidence. Finally, after four weeks they finally managed to replicate the problem on a test drive. Now they are saying it's going to cost 5k to replace the entire brake system.

The car is just out of warranty and I've been very frustrated not only by the cost of the repair (the timing couldn't be worse but I suppose that's always how these things go) but also the general incompetence of the people who have worked on my car. It certainly doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the brand or the two dealerships I brought the car to.

I tried contacting Nissan's customer service about the issue and they simply said the car is out of warranty so too bad. While I understand that, it seems like they should care just a little bit about the fact that someone could have died from their product. Is there anywhere else I should be contacting with this information?

Thank you for any replies.
 
Welcome. As long as the problem was not actually worn out brakes (I suspect that it was in fact a weak 12 volt battery), your problem initially occurred while the car was under warranty, and this was documented by the dealer. You need to make it clear to Nissan USA (not the dealer) that this was the case, and that should get you some warranty repairs. It may also be the horrifically expensive brake controller unit; in that case it needs to be established that the initial, documented problem was in fact something that happened while the car was under warranty, and the dealer failed to correctly diagnose and repair it than.
 
Was the car actually under warranty when the problem first occurred? I don't think it was clear if the warranty expired before or after the initial service call. If before, the OP might not have much recourse but if after Leftie's statements hold true,
 
LeftieBiker said:
The above is quite true, so please clarify: was the car still under warranty when the problem first occurred...?
Or to be more accurate, when the car was first brought into service :) just because it acted up during the warranty period doesn't mean a thing if they didn't have the first appointment for this issue, before the warranty ran out.
 
I waited for two hours for a tow truck and when it arrived the driver tried the car and it worked as normal. The car was towed to the dealership who were unable to replicate the problem and then just did a generic brake job and told me it was fine.


I think it's pretty clear that the dealer was made aware of the issue immediately - unless the warranty expired during that two hours!
 
The comprehensive warranty is 3 years, no?

Warranty or not, I would consider reporting a complete loss of braking to the NHTSA.
 
Nubo said:
The comprehensive warranty is 3 years, no?

Warranty or not, I would consider reporting a complete loss of braking to the NHTSA.

Totally agree, this is a clear safety hazard and there should be a recall if it's a common problem with 2018 and newer LEAFs. A loss of brake functionality is about as bad as it gets.
 
It can be caused by a bad 12 volt battery. All braking isn't lost, but it takes such high pedal effort to stop that it seems like full loss. The fact that the dealer seems to be blaming the brake controller now doesn't necessarily let the 12 volt battery off the hook - especially if this is the same dealer who treated total loss of braking with a brake job...
 
LeftieBiker said:
It can be caused by a bad 12 volt battery. All braking isn't lost, but it takes such high pedal effort to stop that it seems like full loss. The fact that the dealer seems to be blaming the brake controller now doesn't necessarily let the 12 volt battery off the hook - especially if this is the same dealer who treated total loss of braking with a brake job...

Agreed; it's certainly worth getting the 12V battery load tested.
 
LeftieBiker said:
It can be caused by a bad 12 volt battery. All braking isn't lost, but it takes such high pedal effort to stop that it seems like full loss. The fact that the dealer seems to be blaming the brake controller now doesn't necessarily let the 12 volt battery off the hook - especially if this is the same dealer who treated total loss of braking with a brake job...
Agree on 2 points. Often times when the brake controller goes it can seem like a total loss of brakes, worse than when you lose power brakes because in that case the pedal is generally at the top but it just requires a much harder press. When the controller goes(as happened a couple times on my '13) the pedal almost goes to the floor and is very unnerving, kind of like when you have air in your brake lines although I'm not sure with brake controller issues if you can pump the brakes to get it back to the top, probably not and when I had controller failure I was generally so unnerved I didn't think of trying it, it's a scary feeling!
Also agree replacing the 12v battery might be in order, at around 4 years it's about it's useful life and would be a relatively cheap thing to try. In my case it wasn't caused by a bad brake controller but rather moisture in the system that froze from the car sitting too long without use in the extreme cold, something I highly doubt is the OPs problem(BTW other than their OP they have made any posts....just us regulars chatting back and forth) but it does show how a brake controller is a very integral part in modern braking systems.
 
Had a problem with my 2017 Leaf S, when the first dealer I went to told me I needed a new master cylinder with controller. Estimated cost about $4k. Then had the car towed to the dealer where I bought the car that is farther away from us. That dealer diagnosed as the driver side abs controller, a relatively inexpensive part under $200, and told me that Nissan would cover part of the cost since the car was just a few months out of warranty (about 4 or 5 months.) Total cost for the repair under $150. It really helps to find a dealer that knows what they are doing and has an honest repair facility. At least in my experience, Nissan will at least cover the cost of the parts.

The first dealer is only about 2 miles from our house. Too bad they are so incompetent and dishonest. Since then, I have heard other complaints about Napleton Nissan in St. Louis.

Good luck.
 
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