CSR

Nissan · NHTSA safety record

2018 Nissan Leaf

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

66

Complaints

9

Crashes

1

Fires

3

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2018 Nissan Leaf have filed 66 safety complaints with NHTSA between May 2018 and August 2026. The most complained-about system is the brakes, named in 19 of them (29%). The typical failure was reported at 7,250 miles, the median across the 24 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Complaints fell 46% year on year: 7 in the twelve months to 2026-Q1, against 13 in the twelve before.

NHTSA has issued 4 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (4)

BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA

24V071000 · February 2, 2024

The defect
Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2022 LEAF vehicles. Damage to the camera harness can cause distortion or loss of the rearview camera display image. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."
The risk
A rearview camera that does not properly display an image can reduce the driver's rear view, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect the rearview camera and harness for damage and replace them as necessary. If no damage is found, the dealer will apply protective tape and reroute the rearview camera harness. Repairs will be performed free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed August 9, 2024. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is R23D7.

Nissan North America, Inc. · up to 57,914 vehicles across all model years covered

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

23V494000 · July 17, 2023

The defect
Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2023 LEAF vehicles. The vehicle may accelerate unintentionally if the driving mode is changed ("D" to "B"; e-Pedal "On"; or "ECO" mode) after disengaging the cruise control.
The risk
Unintentional acceleration can increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will reprogram the vehicle control module (VCM), free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed August 30, 2023. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is R23A6.

Nissan North America, Inc. · up to 66,159 vehicles across all model years covered

EQUIPMENT:OTHER:OWNERS/SERVICE/OTHER MANUAL

23V048000 · February 2, 2023

The defect
Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2023 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."
The risk
Reduced defroster performance can limit visibility out of the windshield, increasing the risk of a crash.
The 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 April 1, 2023. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is R22C5.

Nissan North America, Inc. · up to 64,732 vehicles across all model years covered

BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA

19V654000 · September 12, 2019

The defect
Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Nissan Altima, Armada, Frontier, Kicks, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, NV, NV200, Pathfinder, Rogue, Rogue Sport, Sentra, Titan, Titan Diesel, Versa Note and Versa Sedan vehicles, as well as Infiniti Q50, Q60, QX30 and QX80 vehicles. Additionally included are 2019 Nissan GT-R and Taxi and Infiniti QX50, QX60, Q70, Q70L vehicles. The back-up camera and display settings can be adjusted such that the rear view image is no longer visible and the system will retain that setting the next time the vehicle is placed in reverse. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 111, "Rear Visibility."
The risk
The lack of an image in the back-up camera display increases the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Nissan will notify owners in phases, having dealers update the back-up camera settings software, free of charge. The recall began November 11, 2019 and all affected VINs should be activated. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669 or INFINITI customer service at 1-800-662-6200.

Nissan North America, Inc. · up to 1,228,830 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations (1)

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Pedestrian alert sounds

DP22005

Closed defect petition · opened January 27, 2023 · closed August 7, 2023 · led to recall 22V063000

the electrical system

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 matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 66.

SERVICE BRAKES 19 29%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 18 27%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 13 20%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 12 18%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 12 18%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 7 11%
ENGINE 6 9%
AIR BAGS 5 8%
STEERING 5 8%
STRUCTURE 4 6%
POWER TRAIN 3 5%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 3 5%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2025 at 11.

2018 2025 2026
2018 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

SERVICE BRAKES

1 injured · crash · 7,000 miles

THIS NISSAN LEAF HAS AN EZ-PEDAL FEATURE. WHEN ENABLED, TAKING YOUR FOOT OFF THE ACCELERATOR SLOWS YOU DOWN QUICKLY UNTIL YOU COME TO A FULL STOP. AND THEN THE CAR DOES NOT MOVE. AND THIS NON-MOVEMENT DOES NOT REQUIRE DEPRESSING THE BRAKE. WHILE A CONVENIENCE, THERE IS A DESIGN FLAW. WHEN ENABLED AND THE CAR IS STOPPED (BUT IN DRIVE), THE BRAKE LIGHTS DO NOT COME ONE. IN CONTRAST, WHEN STOPPED USING THE BRAKES, THE BRAKE LIGHTS ARE ILLUMINATED. THIS IS A SAFETY HAZARD! DRIVERS APPROACHING FROM BEHIND DON'T EXPECT A STOPPED CAR TO NOT HAVE BRAKE LIGHTS ON. THEY MAY REALIZE RATHER LATE THAT THE CAR IS STOPPED. IN OTHER WORDS, THE VISUAL CUE OF "BRAKE LIGHTS ON MEANS CAR IS STOPPED OR SLOWING

NHTSA complaint 11301859, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STEERING

1 injured

Steering wheel paint chipping causes multiple lacerations on finger during turn

NHTSA complaint 11436355. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STEERING

1 injured

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.

NHTSA complaint 11521565. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN

fire

Our 2018 Nissan Leaf experienced an error message when we tried to start it saying "Warning Service EV System No Power". Mileage: 29,862. It would go into neutral, but not into drive. We called GEICO to have it towed to dealership Leith Nissan on [XXX]. On [XXX], John Day from Leith Nissan called to request permission to install a new 12V battery. I approved the cost of replacing the battery. They said that they were able to drive the car after the 12V battery was replaced. But then they plugged it into the charger, and got an error message "EV System No Power", and they couldn't drive it anymore. Sometime after that there was a thermal event that caused the Power Distribution Module to

NHTSA complaint 11586167, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
vehicle brakes went out on the driver during normal operation.

NHTSA complaint 11754400. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
vehicle was being driven like normal with no warning lights or icons. vehicle was bring driven at 35 miles an hour when suddenly the ABS fault message appeared on the dash, the dash started beeping and brakes became very hard to press.

NHTSA complaint 11753926. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
This is the second high-voltage traction battery failure on this vehicle. The original HV battery failed and was replaced by Nissan under warranty at an authorized dealer on XXX, at approximately 59,000 miles. The Nissan-manufactured replacement pack has now failed after approximately 16 months in service. On XXX, at ~74000 miles, the vehicle was diagnosed at Johnson City Nissan ([XXX]) with an internal short circuit within the high-voltage battery pack The error codes were P31E7-00 0B and P0AA6-1A 0B. Dealer service personnel identified the condition as an internal short in the pack. Due to the fire risk associated with an internal short in a lithium-ion traction battery, I declined to

NHTSA complaint 11750729, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Car was fast charged on July 9th. 2026. After fast charging from 13% to 80%, and driving for a few miles, the overheating warning came on and car was forced to stop on the side of a busy highway until the engine cooled off. While there is an active recall for a similar problem (24V700), my car is not included and we were not notified.

NHTSA complaint 11749783. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

VISIBILITY/WIPER
Fail component: mechanical linkage (transmission rod) between the motor and the wiper arms. The ball pops out of the socket resulting in the wipers not working despite motor running. This happened with full speed wipers running. I repaired it, and two weeks later it disconnected again while running wipers at full speed in heavy rain. This left me without windshield wipers in heavy rain on a road with a 55mph speed limit. If I had not been able to quickly exit this would have resulted in significant risk to myself and other motorists. I was able to drive home on slower side roads, but the lack of wipers remained a safety issue. I have not taken in into a dealer or shop to have it reproduced.

NHTSA complaint 11741152, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
This vehicle is equipped with a feature known as "e-pedal" also known as one-pedal driving which is quite common on EVs. When this mode is activated, the accelerator pedal acts as a speed command (vs. power) and when the pedal is not depressed, the vehicle applies brakes until it comes to a standstill. Recently, the system has demonstrated a fault condition, where the Vehicle Control Module (VCM) issues a fault warning and disengages the e-pedal mode. This appears to occur randomly after the vehicle has been at a standstill for over one minute (e.g. waiting at a traffic signal) where the driver is using the one-pedal system vs. continuously applying pressure to the brake pedal. The safety

NHTSA complaint 11712360, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Nissan Leaf

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2023 19 3
2022 89 4
2021 52 4
2020 161 6
2019 253 5
2017 17 2
2016 36 4
2015 109 4
2014 34 6
2013 81 5
2012 57 0
2011 95 0

Other 2018 Nissan models

Every Nissan on this site — 200 vehicles, 319 recall campaigns and 5 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst