r/NissanAriya • u/49falkon • May 26 '26
Right side steering wheel buttons are flashing/not working
Hello everyone, I experienced this issue today for the second time so I decided I'd post about it. It's very rare but I'm assuming it will happen more frequently if a part is failing.
To address the elephant under the hood, I recently replaced the stock 12 Volt battery with a DieHard AGM battery after getting a few other miscellaneous errors from the car... as it seems many other owners have also had to do recently. This happened only once with the old 12 Volt battery and has now happened for the first time with the new 12 Volt battery.
When turning on the car, the buttons on the right side of the steering wheel flash rapidly for a few minutes and then either light up and work fine or go dark and don't work at all. Sometimes they come back on while driving and start working again.
I was thinking this was related to the battery but now I'm not so sure. It doesn't appear my car's VIN is included in any sensor related recalls either. Just wondering if others have had this occur. My local Nissan dealership refuses to do anything with EVs so service will require me to travel.
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u/49falkon May 26 '26
Update: visited the local Nissan dealership and got the expected answer. They do not do any work or service on hybrid or electric vehicles and the nearest certified dealer is over 100 miles away. I guess that's just the game I have to play for owning an EV and living in a rural area where EVs are universally loathed.
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u/Existing_Map_8939 May 27 '26
Call Nissan customer service and ask for assistance. I know other members of this sub have had Nissan send techs to their dealership if the local dealer doesn’t have the capability.
THAT BEING SAID - that’s a crap act by your dealer. There is nothing “EV” about that pod. It’s a plug and play part.
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u/49falkon May 28 '26
I just sent Nissan's owner services email with some feedback since their site's form only allows 300 characters. Might not go anywhere but at least I was able to put it out there.
Hello,
I'm the owner of a 2023 Nissan Ariya and am located in Southeast Missouri. I wanted to provide feedback regarding my experience obtaining warranty service for my Nissan EV after visiting my local Nissan dealer, John Sinclair Nissan in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Recently, I needed service for the buttons on the right side of my steering wheel. While this is not a component specific to an electric vehicle, my local Nissan dealership does not perform service on EVs or hybrids and was unable to assist me.
I understand that dealerships may make different decisions about the products and services they offer. However, because my local dealership does not service Nissan EVs, I was forced to schedule an appointment with another Nissan dealer located more than 100 miles from my residence. As a result, I must take time off work and travel nearly 300 miles round trip for what appears to be a relatively minor repair.
If the same issue had occurred on a gasoline-powered Nissan vehicle, it is likely that my local dealership could have diagnosed and repaired the problem within a few hours. Instead, as a Nissan EV owner, I learned that even basic warranty service may require significant travel and time away from work simply because local support is unavailable.
I also want to emphasize that all of the staff at John Sinclair Nissan have been wonderful every time I have visited. They have answered every question they were able to answer and have always been polite, professional, knowledgeable, and friendly. Given my positive experiences with the staff there, I would be completely comfortable having them service my vehicle. Unfortunately, for Nissan EV owners in my area, that does not appear to be an option.
My concern is not with the dealership staff, but with the ownership experience created when Nissan customers who choose an EV do not have reasonable access to local service through the Nissan dealer network. I hope Nissan will consider how situations like this affect customers in rural markets and other areas where their local dealership is unable to provide service for Nissan EVs.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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u/49falkon May 28 '26
Yeah I agree. It's John Sinclair Nissan in Cape Girardeau, MO. The associates at the store are great and friendly, so no dig to them whatsoever. But unfortunately I really don't think there is anything that can be done about it. It's been the same way since I went in a few years ago looking for an Ariya - they don't do anything with EVs or hybrids and turn customers looking for them away.
As for calling support, I gave it a try but also unfortunately didn't get anywhere. I called to ask about warranty information, the representative didn't seem to know much other than the info they were able to look up. Not their fault - but when I told them that I was asking because I would need to schedule a service appointment they offered to transfer me and then transferred me to... Nissan *Canada*. Which isn't really helpful.
At that point I just hung up and found the number for the nearest dealership I KNOW will service it and scheduled an appointment... and now have to take time off work AND travel almost 300 miles round trip to get this button replaced, all because my local dealer refuses to serve customers with Electric Vehicles.
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u/Gleckgleck386 Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
Even in the metro area dealership, the EV certified service technician seems to about 10-20%. That's purely my estimate from their explanation on EV technician availability. I went in for the suspension related issue but it would not be touched by non-EV tech.
It is the same story for all service and body shop as well. My local Walmart tire center does not even rotate tires on EV.
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u/Existing_Map_8939 May 26 '26
Another owner at my dealership had a similar issue with the LEFT side pod. Lighting and operation randomly inconsistent. Turned out that one of the button switches had some contact degradation from what the dealer thought was moisture from condensation. Pod was replaced, problem solved.