2013 Nissan Leaf: brake failure

Filed Nov 30, 2023 · Electrical · CA

The car suddenly lost power during freeway driving. The brake system appeared compromised. Turning off 12v accessories - which includes safety critical functions such as the defrost blower - was necessary to restore functionality. This is caused by a defective DC-DC converter that fails to properly charge the 12V battery, risking and repeatedly causing sudden loss power, loss of braking, and loss of safety critical functions. This is not the result of damage to the DC-DC converter or other such damage. This is proven by the fact that activation of the wipers triggers the DC-DC converter to temporarily raise the charging voltage to a level sufficient to restore power and charge the 12v battery. Due to defective programming of the DC-DC converter, the power provided to the 12v battery and system quickly returns to unsafe low levels. The DC-DC converter has a sense line that senses the voltage of the 12v battery, but the programming of the converter is defective such that it does not actually maintain the battery at a healthy level. This is a commonly reported and discussed issue on Nissan Leaf ownership forums. Reprogramming of the DC-DC converter is necessary, but not available from Nissan. This issue also causes early degradation of 12v batteries, and replacement of the 12v does not cure the issue. The most recent occurrence of loss of power was 11/30/23, but it has happened repeatedly in the past.

Filed May 23, 2023 · Brakes · AZ

I was driving and wanted to slow the vehicle to turn on a side street. I pressed the brake and nothing happened. The vehicle did not slow down at all. I pushed harder, still nothing. The brakes completely failed to work. Due to this brake failure, I was unable to make the turn I wanted to make because I was going too fast. I continued going straight, and because the road was slightly uphill, the vehicle eventually stopped and I was able to ease off the road when the vehicle had slowed sufficiently. Fortunately, there were no injuries or accidents. After the vehicle had stopped I looked to see if it was low on brake fluid. It was not. The brake fluid level was at manufactures specification. After I had stopped I did notice several warning lights on the dash, including ABS and other symbols I don't know the meaning of. (I'd have to read the vehicle owner's manual to figure out what they mean). I have not taken the vehicle anywhere to be repaired yet. I thought that maybe the federal safety agency might want to inspect it before it was looked at by a mechanic or manufacturer.

Filed Sep 19, 2019 · Acceleration, Brakes · 70,000 miles · FL

2013 nissan leaf brakes failed completely and without warning while driving 30mph resulting in near collision and potentially serious injury and property damage. Speed very gradually slowed with accelerator pedal not depressed and was ultimately brought to complete stop using parking brake. Vehicle lurched forward without ability to brake when accelerator pressed lightly after stopping. Nissan dealer reported a failure of the "intelligent brake control unit" and replaced at cost of approx. $3,000. Incident occurred in clearwater, florida area in late afternoon in dry weather with temperatures around 80f. Tow truck operator stated that when they attempted to move the vehicle it lurched forward without ability to halt and the operator was extremely frightened and almost crashed.

Filed Nov 6, 2018 · Brakes · 51,100 miles · UT

Brake failure on a city street. The electric brake control unit failed while the car was in motion in a straight line. I was able to stop the car without an accident. The hazard light, warning light, brake light and ABS light were all illuminated. I recycled power to the car but the error did not reset. I took the car to the nissan dealership in murray utah for an assessment. Nissan said the electric brake control unit was bad. Also the car had a can bus error. The car's warranty expired in july of 2018 and nissan refused to fix the car. According to nissan the electric brake control unit is $2000 and $480 to install. I refused to pay. I opened a case with nissan electrical vehicle support (877 664-2738) to see if they would fix the car. They also refused to fix the issue.

Filed May 30, 2018 · Brakes · 42,000 miles · CO

Driving about a mile away from my house on a local street this morning, I was approaching an intersection at about 35 MPH, the lights were about to turn red, tying to brake to stop...all the brake lights lit up after I push the brake pedal, brake pedal came all the way to the floor, car had no brakes, complete brake failure, threw it in neutral and slammed on the emergency brake to stop, this vehicle has only about 42k miles on it. Avoided a collision with oncoming traffic by swerving the car.

Filed Feb 17, 2018 · Brakes · 24,000 miles · ME

I charged the leaf the night before and went downtown. It was winter in maine and around 10 degrees. After going into a store and coming out when I started the car and put it in d the brakes didn't work. I slammed the pedal down to the ground but it didn't seem to do much. I almost hit the parked car in front of me but I put the emergency brake down and luckily stopped. I turned the car on and off but the problem was still happening. The brakes made a weird clicking and electronic noise. I turned the car off for about 5 minutes to call aaa and when I turned it back on it worked. I've done some research and this has happened to other owners. There was a voluntary recall (p5327?) which was already done on the vehicle but this still happened. My leafspy app showed the dtc codes of c118a 0109 ABS e-driven int brake system brc-124 and c1a61 0109 brake motor power supply br-46. I took it to the dealership and they said that power wasn't being supplied to the brakes. Dangerous! They did not really have a fix for it other then put in a $2300 part and then do more tests.

Filed Jan 4, 2017 · Brakes · 50,000 miles · CA

Having undergone a previous recall to fix a brake issue several months ago, at 50000 miles on december 23, 2016 the vehicle experienced complete brake failure narrowly avoiding a serious collision. While driving straight on a city street in traffic at approximately 35 miles an hour the driver removed his foot from the accelerator in preparation to apply the brakes to stop the car for the stopped traffic ahead. The car's regenerative braking ability was already slowing the car when the driver's foot attempted to push the brake pedal and found it solid and unmoving. The driver removed his foot from the brake pedal and reapplied his foot, attempted to depress, and again found the pedal unmoving. With the car continuing toward stopped traffic ahead the driver began to repeatedly and very forcefully attempt to depress the pedal. After 4 or 5 very strong kicks the brake pedal broke loose, went all the way to the floor without the drivers pressure, with no resistance or response. The driver retracted his foot and the pedal did not come back up. The driver attempted to begin to "pump the brakes" and with the first touch on the pedal which was still all the way down, the car's wheels locked and came skidding to a stop with no ABS modulation inches before hitting the car in front. The car was shut down and restarted, the brake pedal returned to the undepressed position but when depressed had no resistance and was ineffective at stopping the car (as though the brakes were not being applied). The parking brake was unaffected and would slow/stop the car. The car was taken to a nissan dealer for repair, they indicated that they had never seen anything like it and had to talk with the nissan engineers. 1/3/17 the owner/driver was told that the entire "brake brain booster controller" would have to be replaced with a replacement part from the nissan factory in kentucky.

Filed May 26, 2015 · Brakes · 15,500 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 nissan leaf. The contact stated that the brakes failed without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician diagnosed that there was brake fluid leakage. The vehicle received unknown repairs and the brake fluid was replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 15,500. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed Jun 6, 2014 · Brakes, Steering · 200 miles · GA · crash

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 nissan leaf. The contact stated that while reversing, the steering wheel became difficult to maneuver and the brakes failed to respond without warning. The vehicle crashed into another vehicle. A police report was not filed. There were no injuries reported. The vehicle was taken a dealer where the failure was unable to be replicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 200 and the current mileage was 3,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Jun 5, 2014 · Body, Electrical · CA

2013 nissan leaf. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle electrical system issues. *smd the consumer stated on two rare occasions, he accidentally pushed the power button in quick succession to turn off the vehicle. All systems shut down, no power steering, no brakes, etc, but the vehicle rolled backward out of the garage.