2018 Nissan Leaf Brakes Problems

Your Leaf's e-pedal (one-pedal driving) feature occasionally malfunctions after the car has been stopped for more than a minute. When this happens, the system disengages the e-pedal without warning and the vehicle unexpectedly starts rolling forward, forcing you to quickly apply the brakes to avoid hitting another car or pedestrian. The system should automatically put the car in Park and stop all movement when it detects a fault, rather than letting the car roll.

Your Nissan Leaf's brakes didn't respond immediately when you pressed the brake pedal hard during a collision at a stop sign. You were in Eco Mode with ePedal enabled, and you suspect the transition between regenerative braking and mechanical braking caused a dangerous delay in stopping. Additionally, your car's automatic emergency braking system didn't activate even though the vehicle ahead stopped very suddenly nearby. This brake delay could be hazardous in higher-speed situations or with pedestrians present.

Your car's automatic emergency braking system has activated twice without reason while driving on the Richmond Bridge at 65 mph with no vehicles or obstacles nearby. Both times, the brakes engaged suddenly, causing you to nearly lose control of the car and creating a safety hazard for other drivers. The system needs to be diagnosed to determine why it's falsely detecting collision threats.

On may 12, I was in a long line of cars at a red light , stopped. all of a sudden my car started moving and accelerating toward the car in front of me. When I got over the initial shock, I started stamping on the brake (2-3x) and nothing happened. I clipped the other car as I yanked the car out of line into the turn lane. I turned off the car and shook. Then I handled the insurance stuff with the other guy. I did NOT take my foot off the brake. (I reported this incident to the NTSB, BTW.) I wanted the collision center and Nissan to look at the black box, but the garage didn't and Nissan said that was no black box.

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. Finally pulled into the turn lane and finally the brakes caught. It was like someone had taken a gizmo and turned on my car (like the OnStar mess a few years ago.). Nothing like this has ever happened to me, in any car, including this one, until 5/12 at 2:00 pm. It was terrifying.

Around 45 degree weather, while driving on the freeway, a warning light indicating the AEB had been turned off started flashing on my dashboard without any collision, jerky movements, sudden stops, or changes to settings. At the same time this happened, my electric battery mileage started to fluctuate erratically (73% to 8% to 14% back to 70% and finally to 60%). This is extremely concerning because of the car immediately brakes or if the battery dies on the freeway, it could cause a major collision.

I WAS DRIVING ALONE AT 4:20PM AT ABOUT 30 MPH, WITH NO OTHER CARS OR PEDESTRIANS AROUND WHEN THE BRAKES SUDDENLY ACTIVATED, AND THE ACCELERATOR WENT TO IDLE. THE BRAKING LASTED ABOUT ONE SECOND AND DID NOT STOP THE CAR COMPLETELY. THIS OCCURRED ON A CITY STREET. THESE EVENTS HAVE BEEN HAPPENING SEVERAL TIMES A MONTH.

WAS DRIVING AT APPROX. 30 MPH ALONE ON A LOCAL HIGHWAY WITH NO TRAFFIC AROUND, NO PEDESTRIANS OR OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE ROAD, WHEN THE ACCELERATOR DISENGAGED AND THE BRAKES CAME ON. THE BRAKING ONLY LASTED ABOUT ONE TO TWO SECONDS AND DID NOT STOP THE CAR. A TRIANGULAR WARNING SIGN APPEARED ON THE DASH DURING THE BRAKING, AND WENT OFF WHEN THE BRAKES RELEASED. I BELIEVE THE PROBLEM IS A MALFUNCTION OF THE FORWARD COLLISION WARNING SYSTEM.

THIS HAS OCCURRED MULTIPLE TIMES THROUGHOUT MY ALMOST TWO YEARS OF OWNERSHIP. THE NISSAN LEAF 2018 HAS A MODE CALLED "E-PETAL" THAT ALLOWS THE DRIVER TO OPERATE THE VEHICLE USING ONLY THE GAS PETAL. THE ISSUE I HAVE WITH MY CAR IS WHEN I AM IN A PARKING LOT TURNING MY STEERING WHEEL AS FAR TO THE LEFT OR RIGHT AS IT WILL GO TO NAVIGATE INTO THE PARKING SPACE, MY CAR WILL SUDDENLY STOP BRAKING CAUSING MY CAR TO RUSH FORWARD. I HAVE NEVER BEEN HURT, BUT THE SUDDEN SPEED INCREASE WHILE MAKING A HARD TURN WIPES MY CAR AND HAS CAUSED ME TO ALMOST HIT PARKED CARS. THE "E-PETAL" SHOULD CAUSE THE CAR TO BRAKE WHEN THE GAS PETAL IS DEPRESSED, BUT IT SEEMS TO DISENGAGE ENTIRELY WHEN I DO AS STATED ABOVE. I DON'T SEE ANY REASON TURNING THE WHEEL A CERTAIN WAY SHOULD CAUSE THE "E-PETAL" TO DISENGAGE. I DIDN'T KNOW IF I SHOULD REPORT THIS, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE I COULD REALLY HURT SOMEONE IF THIS HAPPENED WITH PEDESTRIANS AROUND. I AM UNSURE ABOUT THE EXACT MILEAGE, DATE, AND SPEED WHEN THE INDECENT OCCURRED BUT IT HAS HAPPENED MULTIPLE TIMES.

ON THE STREET WE USE TO LEAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, THERE IS ONE SECTION OF THE CEMENT THAT IS A LITTLE TALLER THAN THE ONE BEFORE IT.INTERMITTENTLY, THE AUTOMATIC BREAKING WILL BE SET OFF IN THIS SPOT FOR NO REASON. IT IS ALARMING! WE ARE ALSO WORRIED IT WILL HAPPEN ON A BUSY STREET AND CAUSE AN ACCIDENT.

WHILE DRIVING FORWARD, THE VEHICLE SUDDENLY, UNEXPECTEDLY AND VIOLENTLY APPLIES THE BRAKES WITHOUT ANY DRIVER INPUT WHATSOEVER! THERE ARE NO OTHER VEHICLES OR PEDESTRIANS IN THE VICINITY AT THE TIME. THIS SUDDEN BRAKING PROBLEM BEGAN ON OR ABOUT 5/15/18 AND HAPPENED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS AFTER THAT. TWICE WHILE ENTERING THE UNDERGROUND PARKING GARAGE AT AN OFFICE BUILDING AND TWICE WHILE DRIVING ON A CITY STREET. VEHICLE HAS BEEN AT THE LOCAL NISSAN DEALER FOR OVER A WEEK BUT NEITHER THE DEALERSHIP NOR THE MANUFACTURER APPARENTLY HAS ANY IDEA HOW TO FIX THE PROBLEM. THEY THINK THAT THERE IS A FAULT IN THE AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEM. THE SERVICE MANAGER TOLD ME THAT OTHER INSTANCES OF THE SAME ISSUE HAVE BEEN REPORTED TO NISSAN. THE SALESPERSON INDICATED THAT THERE WERE 4 OTHER SIMILAR CASES AT THEIR DEALERSHIP ALONE.THEY ALSO WILL NOT LET US TAKE THE VEHICLE HOME WITHOUT SIGNING A RELEASE OF LIABILITY DOCUMENT. THE OBVIOUS CONCERN IS THAT THE EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEM WILL AGAIN RANDOMLY ACTIVATE WHILE TRAVELING AT A HIGHER SPEED AND CAUSE AN ACCIDENT RESULTING IN SERIOUS PROPERTY DAMAGE AND INJURIES!

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. MY GUESS IS CAR TRY TO APPLY REGENERATIVE BRAKES FIRST, IF THAT CANNOT WORK DUE TO EXCESSIVE, BUMP / POT-HOLE ON THE ROAD, IT GIVE UP, AND AS A RESULT, CAR LOOSE BRAKING POWER FOR 1-2 SECONDS. THIS 2 SECONDS CAN BE LIFE AND DEATH IN AN EMERGENCY BRAKING SITUATION. I TOOK THE CAR TO DEALER, AND THEY SAID, NO ISSUES FOUND. THIS PROBLEM IS HARD TO REPRODUCE, BUT CAN BE REPRODUCED. THIS HAPPENED IN LOCAL ROADS WITH 45MPH SPEED LIMIT. ONE TIME WHEN THERE WAS ROUGH ROAD DUE TO CONSTRUCTION. ANOTHER TIME WHEN ONE TIRE WAS GOING ON TOP OF ROAD DIVIDERS WHICH ARE ABOUT 1 INCH TALL AND 1 FOOT APART, IT HAD MANY OF THESE NEXT TO EACH OTHER, WHEN I WAS APPLYING BRAKE.