2016 Nissan Leaf problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Service Brakes (16) · Fuel/Propulsion System (5) · Electrical System (4)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Nissan Leaf model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
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:frontal:passenger Side:inflator Module 2016-06-15 · campaign 16V436000 · 4,355 vehicles
Defect: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016 LEAF vehicles manufactured February 24, 2016, to March 23, 2016, and Sentra vehicles manufactured February 9, 2016, to March 4, 2016. The wiring harness connector may disconnect from the dual-stage passenger air bag.
Risk: If the wiring harness disconnects, the passenger air bag may not to deploy during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the wiring harness connector for proper engagement and, if necessary, replace the passenger air bag module and main body harness, free of charge. The recall began on August 9, 2016. 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 bulletins (99)
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 99 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-07-28 · Service Brakes“this has happened to me intermittently at first ... now permanently and cannot be diagnosed by nissan. ihad total brake failure while on the fwy at 60mph, the dash lights for all brake componenets came up with tire as well...almost all warnings lit up and the brake pedal went to the floor and i had to press the brakes very hard and car would not s…”
2025-04-10 · Steering“when turning left there is a plasticky sticking feeling and sound like a plastic bushing is coming apart. this causes the steering to momentarily bind. this happens most often when making gentle curves on the highway. the feeling causes you to overcorrect the steering wheel. there are many complaints online of similar issues from 2016 nissan leafs.…”
2025-01-09 · Steering“on january 9, a little after 12:30 pm, on indian head highway (md route 210) northbound near the manokeek exit, after limiting drive power owing to battery degradation and cold weather (about 30 f) drive power and power steering failed entirely. there was no warning to pull over so i suspect this is an undocumented failure mode. after the car was t…”
2024-11-05 · Service Brakes“on friday, november 1, at about 3 pm, the brakes failed pulling away from the curb in a forward direction after loading equipment into the vehicle. really stomping the brakes as though they had a fluid problem did get them to engage. i think the problem occured again backing out of my driveway prior to monday the 4th when i fixed the problem. again…”
2024-04-23 · Service Brakes“drove home at 7pm mild day (65-70 degrees). stopped the car and turned it off for an hour. had to leave home at 8pm. turned on the car and backed up the driveway. tried to stop but break wasn't working.. pressed all the way that abs started trickling. used the hand break to stop the car. turned off the car and turned it back on. this is when i not…”
2024-03-24 · Fuel/Propulsion System“while climbing the incline section of the san mateo bridge in the fast lane, the leaf shifted itself into neutral and would not shift back into drive. with no power, driver was forced to change lanes to the right with no power, but luckily made it over the top and down the decline to pull over. vehicle did not want to shut off or shift. dealer conf…”
2024-03-22 · Service Brakes · 93,000 mi“the contact owns a 2016 nissan leaf. the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. the brake pedal had to be pushed to the floor to activate the service brakes. the vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with a failed electronically dr…”
2024-01-23 · Engine“goes into neutral in a matter of seconds while driving at highway speeds and goes into turtle mode while on highway. a scan of the vehicle showed a number of low battery voltage codes (p0aa0, p3180, p3182, p08af) stored when the battery was disconnected. nissan gave no eta on battery replacement.…”
2023-10-09 · Power Train“while driving at highway speeds (65mph) on a cold day (10-20f), the car lost all drive power with no warning. driver was able to coast to the road margin. in another situation this could have been a catastrophic accident. driver called 911 for police protection and tow. at this point car was completely unresponsive but still on. the car could not b…”
2023-03-10 · Electrical System“on march 8, 2023, my 2016 nissan leaf main ev battery failed at 75% charge power going up an incline on the freeway. the car shut down in the center lane with no warning at 60mph and could not be moved or shifted to be driven off the freeway. the car is available for inspection. my safety and the safety of others was put at extreme risk. i could ha…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.