2018 Nissan Leaf problems
NHTSA has received 120 complaints about the 2018 Nissan Leaf, and 16% of them involve brakes. Next are electrical system (16%) and forward collision avoidance (14%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 120 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Brakes 16% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 19 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 4 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 7,000 miles 39 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 33 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 1 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 0 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 0 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 39 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 7,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 19 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 4 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2018 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Nissan Leaf with enough data (67 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Plastic/metal from steering wheel become dislodged/detached/warped, caused major laceration to my right ring finger when making left turn 5/6/23 4PM. Went to urgent care as a result, had to get tetanus shot.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 nissan leaf. The contact stated that their spouse was driving the family vehicle and was about to come to a stop when another vehicle crashed into the contact's spouse from the rear. They attempted to brake however, the vehicle slid until it hit curb. The air bags did not deploy. The contact's spouse was not injured. There was know one else in the vehicle with the contact's spouse. The person that crashed into the rear of the contact's spouse was not injured.
I was stopped at a light, in a long line of cars, my foot on the brake, a few feet away from the car in front of me, and the same in back. All of a sudden, the car started moving, accelerating, jerking forward. I was shocked, pushed down on the brake, nothing happened. starting pulling the car out of line because I was going to hit the car in front of me. I was pumping the brake, and NOTHING HAPPENED. Clipped the car in front's rear left bumper, wrecked my front right bumper.
When the brakes are applied moderately at around 40MPH to slow down, and if a wheel go on top of some bumps or pot holes, car seems to loose braking power, brake padel drop about 1 inch, have to pedal hard to get the brakes back. At one time I saw a message on dashboard "not available" which I was not able to read and confirm, as this happened in a panic situation. This is occational but has happened to be 4 - 5 times now.
The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, there was a rapid battery discharge. There was no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and opened a case. The failure mileage was approximately 53,000.