2013 Nissan Leaf problems, complaints & recalls

2013 Nissan Leaf recalls (5)

• Recall 23V296000Apr 26, 202394,343 vehicles
  EQUIPMENT:OTHER:OWNERS/SERVICE/OTHER MANUAL · VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM

  Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2013-2017 LEAF vehicles. The Owner's Manual instructions for defroster operation are incorrect and may result in reduced defroster performance under specific conditions. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 103, "Windshield Defrosting and Defogging Systems."

  Risk: Reduced defroster performance can limit visibility out of the windshield, increasing the risk of a crash.

  Remedy: Nissan will mail an addendum with updated instructions on how to operate the defroster, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed May 26, 2023. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is R23A1.

• Recall 16V244000Apr 26, 20163,296,947 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION

  Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima, 2013-2016 Nissan Altima, NV200, LEAF, Sentra, and Pathfinder, 2014-2016 Nissan NV200 Taxi, Infiniti QX60, QX60 Hybrid, and Q50 Hybrid, 2014-2017 Nissan Rogue and Infiniti Q50, 2015-2016 Nissan Murano, Murano Hybrid, and Chevrolet City Express, 2014-2015 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles. In these vehicles, the front seat passenger Occupant Classification System (OCS) may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied. As a result, the passenger frontal air bag may be turned off and not deploy in the event of a crash.

  Risk: If the passenger frontal air bag does not deploy as intended in the event of a crash, the passenger is at an increased risk of injury.

  Remedy: Nissan will notify their owners. Chevrolet City Express owners will be notified by General Motors. Dealers will reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, and Sentra vehicles, and replace the OCS ECU in LEAF, NV200, NV200 Taxi, Pathfinder, Infiniti Q50, JX35, and QX60 and Chevrolet City Express vehicles, free of charge. Interim notices were sent to owners on May 31, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669, Infiniti customer service at 1-888-833-3216 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020.

• Recall 16V119000Feb 29, 201646,859 vehicles
  SERVICE BRAKES

  Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2013-2015 LEAF vehicles manufactured November 19, 2012, to July 31, 2015. During very cold temperatures, the relay inside the electronic brake booster may freeze, requiring the driver to exert more effort to slow the vehicle down.

  Risk: If the brake relay fails, longer distances or additional brake effort would be required to stop the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.

  Remedy: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the Intelligent Brake Control Unit software, free of charge. The recall began on March 28, 2016. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

• Recall 14V138000Mar 25, 2014989,701 vehicles
  AIR BAGS:FRONTAL · ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:SOFTWARE

  Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2013-2014 Altima, LEAF, Pathfinder, and Sentra, model year 2013 NV200 (aka Taxi) and Infiniti JX35 and model year 2014 Infiniti Q50 and QX60 vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the occupant classification system (OCS) software may incorrectly classify the passenger seat as empty, when it is occupied by an adult.

  Risk: If the OCS does not detect an adult occupant in the passenger seat, the passenger airbag would be deactivated. Failure of the passenger airbag to deploy during a crash (where deployment is warranted) could increase the risk of injury to the passenger.

  Remedy: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will update the OCS software, free of charge. The recall began on April 14, 2014. Owners may contact Nissan at 1-800-647-7261.

• Recall 13V069000Mar 1, 201382,038 vehicles
  AIR BAGS

  Nissan is recalling certain model year 2013 Altima, LEAF, Pathfinder, Sentra, and Infiniti JX35 vehicles. Sensors within the passenger Occupant Detection System (ODS) may have been manufactured out of specification. This may cause the system to malfunction and permanently suppress the passenger airbag.

  Risk: If the vehicle is involved in a crash necessitating airbag deployment and the passenger airbag is suppressed, there may be an increased risk of personal injury.

  Remedy: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the ODS sensors and replace them as neccessary, free of charge. The recall began on May 6, 2013. Owners may contact Nissan Customer Service at 1-800-647-7261.

NHTSA defect investigations

• DP22005Opened Jan 27, 2023Closed Aug 7, 2023led to recall 22V063000

  Pedestrian alert sounds

  NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after Marc…

• EA15004Opened Aug 31, 2015Closed May 2, 2017led to recall 15V681000

  Occupant Classification System Failure

  In May 2016, Nissan North America issued a safety recall (16V-244) to address the problem of improper classification of adult front seat passengers in approximately 3.3 million vehicles, including those in the scope of this investigation when it was opened (almost one million vehicles) and additional vehicles, as shown below.Nissan models: certain model year 2013-2016 Altima, 2013-2016 LEAF, 2016-2017 Maxima, 2015-016 Murano and Murano Hybrid, 2013-2016 Pathfinder, 2014-2015 Pathfinder Hybrid, 2014-2017 Rogue, 2013-2016 Sentra, 2013-2016 NV200, and 2014-2016 Taxi.Infiniti models: certain model…

• RQ15001Opened Mar 18, 2015Closed Sep 1, 2015

  Occupant Classification System Failure

  In April 2014, Nissan North America launched Safety Recall 14V-138 to address problems with the Occupant Classification System (OCS) algorithm in the following vehicles: model year (MY) 2013-2014 Nissan Altima, Pathfinder, Sentra and LEAF; MY 2013 Infiniti JX35; MY 2014 Infiniti QX60 and Q50; and MY 2013 Nissan NV 200/Taxi vehicles.According to Nissan, the OCS may misclassify adult front passenger occupants and turn off the passenger's frontal air bag for an adult occupant of sufficient weight.In March 2015, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this Recall Query after the agency re…

Recent 2013 Nissan Leaf complaints

Excerpts of the newest owner complaints, lightly cleaned of personal details. Complaints are unverified owner reports.

1. Filed Jan 13, 2025ORBrakes

   On 3 occasions the brakes have randomly failed when traveling. In 2 cases, stopping ability was non-existent except for the use of the parking brake. In the other case, stopping was significantly decreased. 13-Jan-2025, when traveling straight on a 40mph road towards a busy intersection, when the brakes were applied to slow to the intersection they failed and a red indicator light came on. Stopping ability was significantly reduced, but not completely gone. The car was able…

   NHTSA complaint #11635731 · source
2. Filed Dec 12, 2024SCCrashBrakesOther / UnknownAcceleration & Cruise Control

   I put the car in park as I was pulling in without turning it off to grab trash from the curb and take it to the car, but the car keep accelerating. I jumped in and slammed on the bricks but it hit the brick wall to the house. I see more recent years were recalled for "unintended acceleration" and "brake issues"

   NHTSA complaint #11630366 · source
3. Filed May 23, 202429,000 miNJVisibility & Wipers

   The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was a whistling sound coming from the engine compartment. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the failure was unofficially diagnosed as a failed air condition hose or a failed air condition line connector. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, however, the contact declined to pay the diagnostic fee. The manufacturer was…

   NHTSA complaint #11590324 · source
4. Filed Nov 30, 2023CAElectrical System

   The car suddenly lost power during freeway driving. The brake system appeared compromised. Turning off 12v accessories - which includes safety critical functions such as the defrost blower - was necessary to restore functionality. This is caused by a defective DC-DC converter that fails to properly charge the 12V battery, risking and repeatedly causing sudden loss power, loss of braking, and loss of safety critical functions. This is not the result of damage to the DC-DC…

   NHTSA complaint #11557774 · source
5. Filed Sep 30, 2023AZElectrical System

   The Nissan Leaf has a 6,600 watt charger that is attached to the top of the 26,000 watt electrical motor. A 30 Amp Nissan charging cord connects the 220 volt electrical outlet (dryer) to the Leaf via a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1772 Plug. Unknown to me a desert rat had chewed the insulation down to the wires of the charging cord, leaving the wires bare. The desert rat was not electrocuted because the onboard charger safety system in the vehicle turns off the 220…

   NHTSA complaint #11547537 · source
6. Filed Jul 2, 2023WAAirbags

   Warning light is flashing and the airbag warning light is flashing. I took it to the dealership and they tell me this is not covered under a recall notice but I have hear other Nissan Leafs do have a recall notice for airbags. It is expensive to fix. Is there a mistake and it is covered under a recall notice?

   NHTSA complaint #11529990 · source
7. Filed May 23, 2023AZBrakes

   I was driving and wanted to slow the vehicle to turn on a side street. I pressed the brake and nothing happened. The vehicle did not slow down at all. I pushed harder, still nothing. The brakes completely failed to work. Due to this brake failure, I was unable to make the turn I wanted to make because I was going too fast. I continued going straight, and because the road was slightly uphill, the vehicle eventually stopped and I was able to ease off the road when the vehicle…

   NHTSA complaint #11523410 · source
8. Filed May 12, 2023CA1 injuredAirbagsSeats & Seat Belts

   The left curtain and driver seat airbags were spontaneously deployed while driving. The driver seatbelt pre-tensioner was engaged and locked. There was no collision or abrupt motion. My wife sustained minor abrasions to her left arm and swerved to the right shoulder of the road. The car would not shift into drive and was towed. The cause is unknown and without warning.

   NHTSA complaint #11521771 · source

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation public data, as of Oct 10, 2026. Complaints are submitted by owners and are not verified by NHTSA or by us; a complaint does not prove a defect exists. View this vehicle on NHTSA.gov Methodology