My Nissan Leaf 2022 SL Plus Experience

I have had 3 Leafs so far. 2 Two 2015 and one new that I bought in november in 2021. The 2015 worked great... The 2022 worked great until last Saturday when it wouldn't start.

Nightmare started there. I call Nissan assistance and they send assistance. The guy arrives at my home and looks all discouraged... says he'll be back in a few hours and never came back.

We had to call back after 5 hours to get someone else. That other person also had no clue on how to deal with electric cars. He towed my 3 months old 2022 Leaf with the emergency beak on so that must be pretty bad for the car...

Dealer calls us 2 days later says everything is fine and it was the 12v battery. I am extremely sceptical as I got a 13v reading on the battery after charging it and the assistance put a power pack in parallel on the battery and the car still never started.

We go back home... this is during march break here so wasted most of it because I had no car with long range. But now we have the car back, we make plans and the next morning we try to go and the car wouldn't start again and the dash lights up like a christmass tree.

The car is brought back to the dealer.... they lent us a 2019 Sentra that a few hours later had a WARNING TROUBLE pop up in the dash... yep... AND the radio plays for a split sec. here and there even when the car is not running... scary stuff...

During that same time frame my mother sent me an article about leaf having a break problem... I thought my emergency break was frozen a week or two ago but ends up its part of the recall. The break don't respond when it gets too cold... So brought back the 2015 SL to the dealer to have the repairs made... Go back to pick it up SURPRISE!!! they made some unauthorized work on the car and they want a few hundreds to get it back!!

MORE UPDATES COMING UP!!

Update for the 2015 SL, the Nissan dealer accepted to wave the fees on the unauthorized work and gave me my car back. They recognized the technician authorized the work without consultation with us. We plan on selling the car so I don't want to invest in it. Very glad that got sorted out! Waiting for my 2022 SL plus now that I only used for 3 month. Now they are saying It's the break switch that is responsible...

Hmm, I don't get how a brake switch issue would cause the dash on the 2022 SL to "light up like a christmas tree"...

A bad 12V battery issues has been known to cause those sorts of issues though. A resting voltage of 13V isn't really indicative of a healthy 12V battery. You can likely get the 12V battery tested at an auto parts store for free, or for a small fee.

Rather than trust the dealer, I would use LeafSpy Pro and a compatible OBD2 sensor to lookup any trouble codes. Then, I would post those codes on these forums as there are several experts here who can help identify possible root causes. Only then would I go to the dealer, armed with useful diagnostic information to discuss with them.

Although any work should be covered by warranty, you could be without your car for a long time if the dealer isn't competent at LEAF repairs and they are just making guesses at root cause...

SLPlus22 said:

I have had 3 Leafs so far. 2 Two 2015 and one new that I bought in november in 2021. The 2015 worked great... The 2022 worked great until last Saturday when it wouldn't start.

Nightmare started there. I call Nissan assistance and they send assistance. The guy arrives at my home and looks all discouraged... says he'll be back in a few hours and never came back.

We had to call back after 5 hours to get someone else. That other person also had no clue on how to deal with electric cars. He towed my 3 months old 2022 Leaf with the emergency beak on so that must be pretty bad for the car...

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It was probably a definite 12V battery issue. I'm starting to wonder where Nissan is sourcing their 12V batteries from because that seems to be causing +90% of the problems I read about online. Also, anyone that is in the towing business should know better than to tow a car down the road with the parking brake dragging the entire way, that's why they invented flatbed towing trucks. At least he didn't try to "jump" your Leaf and overload the 12V system.

Dealer calls us 2 days later says everything is fine and it was the 12v battery. I am extremely sceptical as I got a 13v reading on the battery after charging it and the assistance put a power pack in parallel on the battery and the car still never started.

We go back home... this is during march break here so wasted most of it because I had no car with long range. But now we have the car back, we make plans and the next morning we try to go and the car wouldn't start again and the dash lights up like a christmass tree.

The car is brought back to the dealer.... they lent us a 2019 Sentra that a few hours later had a WARNING TROUBLE pop up in the dash... yep... AND the radio plays for a split sec. here and there even when the car is not running... scary stuff...

During that same time frame my mother sent me an article about leaf having a break problem... I thought my emergency break was frozen a week or two ago but ends up its part of the recall. The break don't respond when it gets too cold... So brought back the 2015 SL to the dealer to have the repairs made... Go back to pick it up SURPRISE!!! they made some unauthorized work on the car and they want a few hundreds to get it back!!

MORE UPDATES COMING UP!!

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I feel your pain in having to put up with people that just should not be around electric vehicles or trying to fix them. The push to EVs has probably caught a lot of Nissan dealerships off guard because now there is demand and now the dealerships that didn't take care of the Leaf they were selling before are having these simple down the line issues that fall back on the customer and give the Leaf a bad reputation when simple yet show killing issues happen like this. I hope you can get your issues resolved. Many Leaf experts check this forum, so while this isn't a good place to 911 your plight for immediate answers, it will give you the best knowledge in the long term.

Bean 2 weeks now. Still waiting for my car. Apparently they are waiting for the break switch. I have big doubts... I don't think it's the main problem. Loss confidence in the car and THE mechanic team who told me it was the 12v originally. Warmer temps will prob make it ok till next winter and more problems...

Good luck, I hope they resolve the problem, otherwise exercise lemon law

You have electronic parking brake then?

I have the manual kind. It also breaks...at least that is what I've heard.

You must park on a hill then? I only ask because I know people who engage their parking brake ALL the time even when parking in their garage. I am not going to express my views on this practice as I found it to be a waste of time.

Engaging the parking brake if there is any tendency for the car to roll is good practice for a typical automatic transmission. I really don't know if it's necessary for a Leaf, with its minimal "automatic transmission" but I doubt it hurts. I think that the Leaf uses similar pawls in P mode to hold it in place. I agree that there is no reason to use the parking brake if the car is on level ground and not trying to roll.

LeftieBiker said:

Engaging the parking brake if there is any tendency for the car to roll is good practice for a typical automatic transmission. I really don't know if it's necessary for a Leaf, with its minimal "automatic transmission" but I doubt it hurts. I think that the Leaf uses similar pawls in P mode to hold it in place. I agree that there is no reason to use the parking brake if the car is on level ground and not trying to roll.

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Yep. Parking brake has a very specific role but my comment is based on many people I know who use it ALL the time.

When the LEAF is in park, it does lock into place. How? DK but I have tested this on some pretty steep slopes and it works well HOWEVER I would never trust this method as a standalone solution so yeah, parking brakes do have a function.

I am not going to express my views on this practice as I found it to be a waste of time.

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Quoting Dave here, and agreeing: I also will refrain from stating my view as even THAT would be a waste of time!

Heard nothing back for 2+ weeks now... going on 3 weeks and still no 2022 SL plus car... a car I bought new 3 months ago... terrible stuff...

The part they were waining for was arriving monday and heard nothing back so My guess was it wasn't the break switch... looks like I was right, they must be looking for more... It's really sad that they get products out like this and wouldn't prepare their infrastructure to deal with it... They can't make it right and don't know how to repair them... Technicians and road side assistance crews have no idea...

DaveinOlyWA said:

When the LEAF is in park, it does lock into place. How? DK but I have tested this on some pretty steep slopes and it works well HOWEVER I would never trust this method as a standalone solution so yeah, parking brakes do have a function.

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It uses a parking pin. If the hill is steep enough, it can push the pin away. The parking brake (that isn't part of the gears) is different in that it's using the brake pads to hold the wheels. The pin can "break" away, the other can "give" without braking parts. That would be the main difference I believe. I won't go into the debate either, but level ground is the preferred limit for the parking pin, the parking brake is usually for when the parking pin is not strong enough to hold the vehicle in place.

SLPlus22 said:

Heard nothing back for 2+ weeks now... going on 3 weeks and still no 2022 SL plus car... a car I bought new 3 months ago... terrible stuff...

The part they were waining for was arriving monday and heard nothing back so My guess was it wasn't the break switch... looks like I was right, they must be looking for more... It's really sad that they get products out like this and wouldn't prepare their infrastructure to deal with it... They can't make it right and don't know how to repair them... Technicians and road side assistance crews have no idea...

Click to expand...

I would still be dubious of their "explanation" of the problem. It's true, it is an EV, but in reality, they are not really overly-complicated as one might think, especially when compared to the many complex parts of a gas vehicle by comparison. If the 12V battery was the issue, that would make sense, we've seen it here many times before when a cheap OEM 12V battery dies prematurely. On the other hand, the "brake" system keeping it from starting makes no sense. Sure, if the brake was "stuck", you wouldn't be able to go anywhere, but it shouldn't prevent you from at least turning the car on. I hate it when dealerships try to double-speak non-sense jargon to customers in hopes they just believe them. :x

it's def not the 12V... anyway they have changed it and the car still wouldn't start the next day. Before hitting the ON button on the car, you need to step on the brake and IMO they suspected that THAT switch was working properly to fully start the car... I was sceptical and the fact I didn't receive a call from then this week means it wasn't the problem and they are still searching and that I will still have to wait for more parts that might not solve the problem.

In the end as a consumer who paid cash for an expensive car, I am not satisfied and more importantly I have loss ALL confidence in that specific car. I am really expecting to have more problems with it next winter and I can't afford to be stuck nowhere with a car that won't start and road side assistance crews that are clueless to help me. I would understand If I had a used car, but a New car of a couple of months, it's HIGHLY disappointing.

You need a Nissan dealership that is competent - not just certified - to work on the Leaf.

SLPlus22 said:

it's def not the 12V... anyway they have changed it and the car still wouldn't start the next day. Before hitting the ON button on the car, you need to step on the brake and IMO they suspected that THAT switch was working properly to fully start the car... I was sceptical and the fact I didn't receive a call from then this week means it wasn't the problem and they are still searching and that I will still have to wait for more parts that might not solve the problem.

In the end as a consumer who paid cash for an expensive car, I am not satisfied and more importantly I have loss ALL confidence in that specific car. I am really expecting to have more problems with it next winter and I can't afford to be stuck nowhere with a car that won't start and road side assistance crews that are clueless to help me. I would understand If I had a used car, but a New car of a couple of months, it's HIGHLY disappointing.

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I can relate, in my younger years of buying a "new" vehicle and having an issue that the dealership couldn't solve and a month later, I used lemon law to get a refund. Come to find out it was a simple fix when the problem was identified but I didn't want to deal with that dealership again and bought the same vehicle from another dealership in another city. Never had any problems with an identical vehicle as the issue was fixed under a recall and the new dealership had a competent staff.

I would bet money that many of the expert forum users here could (given direct access to your Leaf) probably figure out the issue quickly or at least give you a valid, no non-sense reason why things are not working properly and what it will take to fix it (simple or hard, cheap or expensive for example).

If one of these experts wants to tell me what they need to make the diagnostic I'll be glad to give them what they need. I'll have to read about the lemon law because that is def something I'd consider.

I'd just also like to think everyone who posted and tried to help in this thread. Thank you guys!

If you update your profile to show the closest city/state to you, you may get an offer of in-person help.

After 1 month, still no car. I have bought this new Nissan Leaf Sl Plus 2022 4 months ago so it spent a quarter of the time at the dealer in repair since I owned the car. DON'T BUY A NISSAN LEAF!!! Terrible service!!! Nothing was done or offered! You will be left with problems.