KnownCarProblems2013 Nissan Leaf Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 81 complaints with NHTSA about the 2013 Nissan Leaf, most often about the brakes (40% of complaints, typically around 36,000 miles). It is 6th of 17 Leaf model years by number of complaints and has 5 recalls.
Most common 2013 Nissan Leaf problems
Brakes
32 complaints · 40%Half of these problems showed up before 36,000 miles.
The Leaf was in motion on a city street in "b" drive mode. When attempting to stop from around 45 MPH, the brake pedal became very firm, and the car did not slow. I released the brake and depressed it again. This time there was significant brake travel and the brakes engaged with a mechanical moaning sound. The car…
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. While driving 50 MPH, the vehicle failed to stop when the brake pedal was depressed. As a result, the contact crashed into the preceding vehicle. The front driver's air bag deployed. The vehicle was towed to an independent facility. A police report was filed. There were no…
Electrical
18 complaints · 22%Half of these problems showed up before 8,000 miles.
My Nissan Leaf was plugged into 220v charging station at my home. It was charging for over an hour. My spouse went to leave and when entering the garage she smelled a strong burning smell. Smoke was coming from the charging station plug where it plugs into the car. She turned off the power at the breaker box and then…
The 12v battery in my Leaf goes completely dead once a week. The doors wont even open with the remote. I have to jump the car and then plug it in to my 220v charger at home. This has happened 4 times in the last month. I took it to the dealer and they checked out the vehicle and said everything is fine! Really, a 8…
Air bags
17 complaints · 21%Half of these problems showed up before 30,000 miles.
I had an adult passenger sitting on the front passenger seat with her 8lb dog. She weighs 83 lbs. The airbag light showed that the airbag was shut off. Another time I place a grocery bag with two bags of frozen potatoes and a quart of ice cream on the seat, the "no airbag light" shut off. When I removed the bag the…
My Nissan Leaf was experiencing a seat belt not buckled and it would light up when no one was sitting in the seat. I have taken it to the dealer three times to have it fixed. The first two times they reset the sensor and it would stay fixed for 2 months. I just took it back the 3rd time. The dealer said the airbag…
Other or unspecified
10 complaints · 12%Half of these problems showed up before 42,000 miles.
Started car by pressing brake and ignition. Put the car in reverse. Car started moving at 2-5 MPH with the brake still pressed. Brake lost resistance and had to press hard to floor to stop car. No brake pressure. Took atleast 10-15 feet for the car to complete stop. Same thing happened when moved to drive forward.…
Purchased a new tire and got a blow out that damaged my rim and tire. There was no visible debry on the road and I was driving in the middle lane. The VIN was invalid. Updated 09/26/2017
Visibility and wipers
5 complaints · 6%Half of these problems showed up before 23,000 miles. Parts named most often: defroster/defogger/hvac system.
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…
Wheels and tires
5 complaints · 6%Vehicle began to vibrate and steering became difficult. My spouse stopped the vehicle on the side of the road to look for a problem. She found that air was escaping the front left tire out of the sidewall. She then drove the car to a safe stopping point and called for roadside assistance. It was found that the…
On nov 18. 2016, my wife was driving Nissan Leaf 2013 on the highway under a rainy day, the vehicle suddenly gradually stopped (highway 680 to highway 580 at california state). My wife couldn't make it move even press accelerator until she stopped the engine and restarted again. It is very dangerous for her to have…
Speed control
5 complaints · 6%The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. While driving 20 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated. The contact then coasted over to the emergency lane and observed the floormats were not the cause of the failure and there were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who stated that there were…
The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated that while attempting to park, the vehicle accelerated without warning and crashed into a cinder-block wall. A police report was not filed. The contact sustained unknown injuries and did not require medical attention. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it…
Fuel system
4 complaints · 5%The contact owns a 2013 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated that the vehicle would not re-charge. The vehicle was taken to a dealer for diagnosis and the contact was informed that the software would need to be updated but it was not available. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle had not been…
Car was being charged at pep station at ncsu campus. When I unplugged the charger from the car, I saw fumes and the plastic at the charging port of the car was melted.
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2013 Nissan Leaf recalls
Equipment: owners/service/other manual
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.
Full defect summary
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."
Air bags: occupant classification
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 ser
Full defect summary
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.
Brakes: service brakes
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.
Fix: 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.
Full defect summary
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.
Electrical: software
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.
Fix: 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.
Full defect summary
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.
Air bags
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.
Fix: 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.
Full defect summary
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.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Pedestrian alert sounds
Summary
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 march 1, 2021.on january 27, 2023, NHTSA opened defect petition (dp) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matt
Occupant classification system failure
Summary
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 year 2013 jx35, 2014-2017 q50, 2014-2016 q50 hybrid, and 2014-2016 qx60 and qx60 hybrid.chevrolet m
Occupant classification system failure
Summary
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 received approximately 124 complaints alleging problems with the ocs after the recall repairs and/or o
Questions about the 2013 Nissan Leaf
- What are the most common problems with the 2013 Nissan Leaf?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: brakes (32 complaints, typically around 36,000 miles); electrical (18 complaints, typically around 8,000 miles); air bags (17 complaints, typically around 30,000 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2013 Nissan Leaf have?
- 5 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from April 26, 2023 (equipment). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2013 a bad year for the Nissan Leaf?
- It is 6th of 17 Leaf model years by number of complaints, with 81 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.