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2016 Nissan Leaf problems & recalls

NHTSA has issued 4 recalls covering the 2016 Nissan Leaf and owners have filed 36 complaints. The most-reported area is service brakes (16 complaints). 1 complaint describes a fire and 1 complaint describes a crash.

Recalls
4
Complaints
36
Crash reports
1
Fire reports
1
Injuries
0

Recalls (4)

Apr 26, 2023#23V296000

Equipment › Other › Owners/service/other manual

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.

Fix: 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.

Apr 13, 2017#17V253000

Air bags

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2015-2017 LEAF and 2014, 2016 and 2017 Sentra vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error within the air bag inflators, the passenger frontal air bag may not properly deploy in the event of a crash.

Risk: In the event of a crash, if the front passenger air bag doesn't deploy properly, it can increase the risk of injury to passengers.

Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began June 7, 2017. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

Jun 15, 2016#16V436000

Air bags › Frontal › Passenger side › Inflator module

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016 LEAF vehicles manufactured February 24, 2016, to March 23, 2016, and Sentra vehicles manufactured February 9, 2016, to March 4, 2016. The wiring harness connector may disconnect from the dual-stage passenger air bag.

Risk: If the wiring harness disconnects, the passenger air bag may not to deploy during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the wiring harness connector for proper engagement and, if necessary, replace the passenger air bag module and main body harness, free of charge. The recall began on August 9, 2016. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

Apr 26, 2016#16V244000

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.

Fix: 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.

Owner complaints (36)

What owners reported to NHTSA, by component. One complaint can name several components.

  • Service brakes16
  • Electrical system13
  • Fuel/propulsion system8
  • Power train3
  • Engine3
  • Air bags3
  • Steering2
  • Structure1
  • Unknown or other1

Complaints over time

Jul 2016: 1 complaintAug 2016: 0 complaintsSep 2016: 1 complaintOct 2016: 0 complaintsNov 2016: 0 complaintsDec 2016: 1 complaintJan 2017: 0 complaintsFeb 2017: 0 complaintsMar 2017: 0 complaintsApr 2017: 0 complaintsMay 2017: 0 complaintsJun 2017: 1 complaintJul 2017: 1 complaintAug 2017: 0 complaintsSep 2017: 0 complaintsOct 2017: 0 complaintsNov 2017: 2 complaintsDec 2017: 0 complaintsJan 2018: 0 complaintsFeb 2018: 2 complaintsMar 2018: 0 complaintsApr 2018: 1 complaintMay 2018: 1 complaintJun 2018: 0 complaintsJul 2018: 0 complaintsAug 2018: 0 complaintsSep 2018: 0 complaintsOct 2018: 0 complaintsNov 2018: 2 complaintsDec 2018: 0 complaintsJan 2019: 0 complaintsFeb 2019: 0 complaintsMar 2019: 0 complaintsApr 2019: 0 complaintsMay 2019: 0 complaintsJun 2019: 2 complaintsJul 2019: 1 complaintAug 2019: 0 complaintsSep 2019: 0 complaintsOct 2019: 1 complaintNov 2019: 1 complaintDec 2019: 0 complaintsJan 2020: 1 complaintFeb 2020: 0 complaintsMar 2020: 0 complaintsApr 2020: 0 complaintsMay 2020: 0 complaintsJun 2020: 0 complaintsJul 2020: 0 complaintsAug 2020: 1 complaintSep 2020: 0 complaintsOct 2020: 0 complaintsNov 2020: 0 complaintsDec 2020: 0 complaintsJan 2021: 1 complaintFeb 2021: 0 complaintsMar 2021: 0 complaintsApr 2021: 0 complaintsMay 2021: 0 complaintsJun 2021: 0 complaintsJul 2021: 0 complaintsAug 2021: 0 complaintsSep 2021: 0 complaintsOct 2021: 0 complaintsNov 2021: 0 complaintsDec 2021: 0 complaintsJan 2022: 0 complaintsFeb 2022: 1 complaintMar 2022: 0 complaintsApr 2022: 0 complaintsMay 2022: 1 complaintJun 2022: 0 complaintsJul 2022: 0 complaintsAug 2022: 0 complaintsSep 2022: 0 complaintsOct 2022: 1 complaintNov 2022: 0 complaintsDec 2022: 1 complaintJan 2023: 0 complaintsFeb 2023: 1 complaintMar 2023: 1 complaintApr 2023: 0 complaintsMay 2023: 0 complaintsJun 2023: 0 complaintsJul 2023: 0 complaintsAug 2023: 0 complaintsSep 2023: 0 complaintsOct 2023: 1 complaintNov 2023: 0 complaintsDec 2023: 0 complaintsJan 2024: 1 complaintFeb 2024: 0 complaintsMar 2024: 2 complaintsApr 2024: 1 complaintMay 2024: 0 complaintsJun 2024: 0 complaintsJul 2024: 0 complaintsAug 2024: 0 complaintsSep 2024: 0 complaintsOct 2024: 0 complaintsNov 2024: 1 complaintDec 2024: 0 complaintsJan 2025: 1 complaintFeb 2025: 0 complaintsMar 2025: 0 complaintsApr 2025: 1 complaintMay 2025: 0 complaintsJun 2025: 0 complaintsJul 2025: 0 complaintsAug 2025: 0 complaintsSep 2025: 0 complaintsOct 2025: 0 complaintsNov 2025: 0 complaintsDec 2025: 0 complaintsJan 2026: 0 complaintsFeb 2026: 0 complaintsMar 2026: 0 complaintsApr 2026: 0 complaintsMay 2026: 0 complaintsJun 2026: 0 complaintsJul 2026: 1 complaint2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Complaints filed per month. Peak: 2 in Nov 2017. Hover a bar for its count.
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Recent owner reports

Jul 28, 2026Service brakes

THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME intermittently AT FIRST ... NOW permanently AND CANNOT BE DIAGNOSED BY NISSAN. IHAD TOTAL BRAKE FAILURE WHILE ON THE FWY AT 60MPH, THE DASH LIGHTS FOR ALL BRAKE COMPONENETS CAME UP WITH TIRE AS WELL...ALMOST ALL WARNINGS LIT UP AND THE BRAKE PEDAL WENT TO THE FLOOR AND I HAD TO PRESS THE BRAKES VERY HARD AND CAR WOULD NOT STOP BUT EVENTUALLY DID ON SIDE OF ROAD. VERY BAD LOUD GRINDING MALFUNCTIONING SOUND. WHEN I WAS GETTING IT TOWED I TRIED TO TURN ON JUST TO CONFIRM STILL BROKEN STATUS, HOWEVER CAR RAN PERFECTLY TILL THE NEXT INCIDENT WITH SAME DIAGNOSIS. NISSAN 7…

Apr 10, 2025Steering

When turning left there is a plasticky sticking feeling and sound like a plastic bushing is coming apart. this causes the steering to momentarily bind. this happens most often when making gentle curves on the highway. the feeling causes you to overcorrect the steering wheel. there are many complaints online of similar issues from 2016 Nissan leafs. The issue occurs near daily since purchasing the car back in 2023. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Jan 9, 2025Steering, Power train, Fuel/propulsion system

On January 9, a little after 12:30 pm, on Indian Head Highway (MD route 210) northbound near the Manokeek exit, after limiting drive power owing to battery degradation and cold weather (about 30 F) drive power and power steering failed entirely. There was no warning to pull over so I suspect this is an undocumented failure mode. After the car was towed home, it would not charge when plugged in until after I disconnected the 12 v battery and reconnected it after about ten minutes. It would then charge and after a few minutes I checked and it would send power to the wheels and power steering aga…

Nov 5, 2024Electrical system, Service brakes

On Friday, November 1, at about 3 pm, the brakes failed pulling away from the curb in a forward direction after loading equipment into the vehicle. Really stomping the brakes as though they had a fluid problem did get them to engage. I think the problem occured again backing out of my driveway prior to Monday the 4th when I fixed the problem. Again, really slamming the brake peddle got the brake to engage. You may look at the vehicle if you wish. On Friday, I was at a large senior center party and there were many pedestrian with limited mobility near the exit. An out of control vehicle could…

Apr 23, 2024Service brakes

Drove home at 7PM mild day (65-70 degrees). Stopped the car and turned it off for an hour. Had to leave home at 8PM. Turned on the car and backed up the driveway. Tried to stop but break wasn't working.. Pressed all the way that ABS started trickling. Used the hand break to stop the car. Turned off the car and turned it back on. This is when I noticed all the dashboard lights are on including break and ABS and had the same break not working issue.. Pulled the car into the driveway slowly and turned it off till tomorrow morning.. Started the car tomorrow morning and everything was back to norm…

Mar 24, 2024Fuel/propulsion system

While climbing the incline section of the San Mateo Bridge in the fast lane, the Leaf shifted itself into Neutral and would not shift back into Drive. With no power, driver was forced to change lanes to the right with no power, but luckily made it over the top and down the decline to pull over. Vehicle did not want to shut off or shift. Dealer confirmed bad battery. This occured Nov. 27th, 2023. And the car is still at the dealership as of March 24, 2024, waiting for a replacement battery.

Mar 22, 2024Service brakes

The contact owns a 2016 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The brake pedal had to be pushed to the floor to activate the service brakes. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed electronically driven intelligently braking unit and the electronically driven intelligently braking unit needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 93,000.

Jan 23, 2024Electrical system, Engine

Goes into neutral in a matter of seconds while driving at highway speeds and goes into turtle mode while on highway. A scan of the vehicle showed a number of low battery voltage codes (P0AA0, P3180, P3182, P08AF) stored when the battery was disconnected. Nissan gave no ETA on battery replacement.

Nissan Leaf news

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall and complaint records, updated Oct 1, 2026. Complaints are owner reports and are not verified by NHTSA. Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.