2015 Nissan Leaf problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Service Brakes (77) · Vehicle Speed Control (7) · Air Bags (6)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Nissan Leaf model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
🛣️ Complaints by mileage
68 NHTSA complaints that reported an odometer reading.
Safety recalls (4)
Equipment:other:owners/Service/Other Manual 2023-04-26 · campaign 23V296000 · 94,343 vehicles
Defect: 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."
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.
Air Bags 2017-04-13 · campaign 17V253000 · 30,038 vehicles
Defect: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2015-2017 LEAF and 2014, 2016 and 2017 Sentra vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error within the air bag inflators, the passenger frontal air bag may not properly deploy in the event of a crash.
Risk: In the event of a crash, if the front passenger air bag doesn't deploy properly, it can increase the risk of injury to passengers.
Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began June 7, 2017. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.
Air Bags:sensor:occupant Classification 2016-04-26 · campaign 16V244000 · 3,296,947 vehicles
Defect: 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 incorrec
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 par
Service Brakes 2016-02-29 · campaign 16V119000 · 46,859 vehicles
Defect: 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.
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.
Service bulletins (113)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Structure:body 2026-04-13 · NTB09-131C · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
certification label and vin plate replacement service information because of collision damage or other vehicle repair, a replacement “certification label” or “vin plate/label” may be needed. hint: certification label = fmvss (federal motor vehicle safety standards) label. these items may be availabl
Structure:body 2026-04-13 · NTB09-131C · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
certification label and vin plate replacement service information because of collision damage or other vehicle repair, a replacement “certification label” or “vin plate/label” may be needed. hint: certification label = fmvss (federal motor vehicle safety standards) label. these items may be availabl
Air Bags 2024-09-19 · NTB19-071D · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
dtc b00a0-00 stored this bulletin has been amended. see amendment history on the last page. please discard previous versions of this bulletin. if you confirm dtc b00a0-00 (occupant detection sensor unit) is stored, and ocs zero point reset cannot be performed, (continued on the next page)
Electrical System 2024-05-21 · NTB13-107G · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
vehicle key not detected / authenticated, engine will not start this bulletin has been amended. see amendment history on the last page. please discard previous versions of this bulletin.
Electrical System 2024-05-21 · NTB13-027D · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
can communication – network diagnostic flow chart this bulletin has been amended. see amendment history on the last page. please discard previous versions of this bulletin.
Electrical System 2024-05-21 · NTB10-066C · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
can communication codes – diagnostic tips and guidelines this bulletin has been amended. see amendment history on the last page. please discard previous versions of this bulletin.
Showing the 6 most recent of 113 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-09-01 · Service Brakes“the electrically-driven intelligent brake unit failed on my 2015 nissan leaf. the brakes became inoperative: when pressing the brake pedal there is a loud compression/grinding noise and the pedal goes nearly to the floor with little braking force. the failure appeared suddenly after charging the vehicle; it had been working normally before. the veh…”
2026-08-13 · Service Brakes“the contact owns a 2015 nissan leaf. the contact stated that while reversing at an undisclosed speed, the brakes failed to engage while the brake pedal was depressed. the brake and master warning lights were illuminated. the failure had occurred on several occasions; however, the contact stated that the vehicle recently failed to return to normal o…”
2026-08-06 · Service Brakes“the car was parked in a parking lot, and when we turned it on and pulled out of the space, the brake light, abs light, and other warning lights came on and the brakes went soft. we pulled back into the space and tried again, thinking it was a fluke and heard a strange noise coming from the car when it started. again the lights came on and the brake…”
2026-04-23 · Unknown Or Other“visor on driver side fall down on face causing blockage. paint is pealing off of vehicle.…”
2026-04-23 · Service Brakes“this is the third time my brakes have failed while driving, which seems to have something to do with the 12-volt battery. at least at first, i disconnected my 12-volt battery and reconnected it; this fixed the issue, at least for a while. the other day, i was driving down a road near my house and the brakes failed right before i came around a bend.…”
2025-12-11 · Service Brakes“was driving the car in a neighborhood setting only going 20 mph, abs light turned on the dashboard, traction control light or some other light regarding traction came on as well, brakes failed. had to use parking brake to stop the vehicle. …”
2025-12-07 · Service Brakes“while driving normally, yellow brake warning lights came on but i arrived home without incident. next time i drove, the warning lights were all off, but suddenly the brakes failed almost completely. i pushed the pedal to the floor and heard a grinding/clicking sound, and barely any stopping power. i was only going 25 mph, and was able to stop af…”
2025-07-24 · Service Brakes“my intelligent brake unit failed. i was slowing down at a major intersection to stop. the abs system activated and the brakes did not respond appropriately. the pedal went soft. multiple lights on the dashboard lit up. my two year old child was in the vehicle with me, and we are still recovering from this traumatic experience. i considered the car…”
2025-05-16 · Unknown Or Other“my 2015 nissan leaf is suffering from advanced battery degradation. the car would only charge to 55 miles per charge. the car also has only 85,000 miles only. nissan refused to address or fix the issue as the car was past the 7 year warranty (even though the book says 8 year warranty). battery should still go to 150 miles per charge. dealershi…”
2025-04-09 · Service Brakes“i was driving about 30mph and suddenly out of nowhere my brakes went out. they went out for about 1 second and some lights went out - then i slammed on the brakes, skidded to a halt and stopped in the. middle of the road, nearly crashing. we took it to the garage and they ran two codes and told us to take it to the dealer. the dealer quoted us ab…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.