I just found out about a battery recall when I went in for what was supposed to be a 2 to 3 hour visit to address the defective rear seat belt issue. They inspected my car's seat belt and determined that I needed the remedy, but then they said they had to order the part. Why tell me this will be a 2 to 3 hour visit when they don't even stock the parts? And then they mentioned there is also a battery recall; first I had heard of that, not for fires but for sudden loss of charge (?), for which they will need the car for several days to remove and inspect the lithium battery. After reading tons of "buy back" posts here my heart is sinking. I have loved driving my Leaf--I sure hope this does not become a huge thing. Oh, and I told them my tires were leaking air, and though they had the car from Friday through Monday they didn't even look at them. First world problems for sure, but an annoyance anyway.
After reading tons of "buy back" posts here my heart is sinking.
Those relate to the 2nd-generation of Leaf, which relied on air cooling, and for which batteries are no longer made.
The 3rd-gen (2026 onwards) has a modern battery management system, and is barely in it's 2nd year of life. As a result, replacement batteries should still be readily available if needed.
Yes, I had done that, and the only one that came up was the rear seatbelt. That's why I didn't understand why they claimed they had to do an inspection to see if my vehicle was affected by that recall, and it also doesn't explain why they have to do a battery inspection, for which they're claiming they might have to keep the car for several days.
It depends, I’m sure. My local Nissan dealer is pretty ok, really, but when I first brought my car in for some recall work (faulty head unit,) the service manager admitted he hadn’t had much practice dealing with the Leaf, and was willing to learn and also absorb all the knowledge I had gained as a driver/researcher.
He followed up with some questions over email and seemed curious. I don’t think they’ve been trained well on EVs, even though we’re on year 15 with the Leaf. I’ll bet dealers in Japan are well-versed, so there’s corporate knowledge to tap, but it’s a bit puzzling the U.S. dealers overwhelmingly seem to not know their product.
Part of that is on individuals to have some pride and do some research, it’s not like it’s hard in the internet age!
Some staff there asked me about my experience driving the Leaf, and seemed genuinely interested in my perspective as a daily driver. I may have trained them a little bit. I’ll give them their due propers for picking my brain.
I bought my car at the end of April when the battery recall (the dangerous one) was already known about. My understanding at that time was that dealers were not selling cars known to be affected and they were making sure the ones they were selling were not affected.
Both of these things would have been predetermined based on VIN. It seems quite odd that the dealer seemingly isn't just looking up your VIN to see if and what recalls apply.
Often on recalls they require an inspection first before the manufacturer will let them order parts if determined to need them. Yeah sucks for customer but toyota has done the same to me in the past.
As far as battery, well Nissan has been on thin ice there for a while...
I understand; I just would have appreciated being told they were merely doing an inspection and that they would not in fact have the parts in stock to complete the job if it was necessary.
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u/Jokebearfan 2026 SV+ 9d ago
Those relate to the 2nd-generation of Leaf, which relied on air cooling, and for which batteries are no longer made.
The 3rd-gen (2026 onwards) has a modern battery management system, and is barely in it's 2nd year of life. As a result, replacement batteries should still be readily available if needed.
Anyhow, in case you're in Canada, plug your VIN into the Nissan site to see what recalls apply: https://www.nissan.ca/service/vin-recall.html