Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2023 LEAF vehicles. The vehicle may accelerate unintentionally if the driving mode is changed ("D" to "B"; e-Pedal "On"; or "ECO" mode) after disengaging the cruise control.
Acceleration & cruise control
Nissan Leaf Acceleration problems by year
45 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Nissan Leaf's acceleration & cruise control. Unintended acceleration, surging, throttle problems and cruise or adaptive cruise faults.
Acceleration complaints by model year
Acceleration recalls
Latest Leaf acceleration complaints
I am reporting a serious and progressively worsening safety issue involving a 2015 Nissan LEAF with approximately 61,759 miles. The problem involves sudden, unintended jerking and apparent repeated braking while driving, accompanied by a forceful steering pull to the left. The exact cause has not yet been determined. Several years ago, the vehicle experienced a serious braking malfunction in which pressing the brake pedal did not stop the vehicle as expected. No warning light appeared during that incident. The...
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vehicle was taken to an authorized Nissan dealership, where the 12-volt battery was identified as the problem and replaced. The braking issue appeared to be resolved at that time. Beginning in early 2026, the vehicle began experiencing intermittent jerking while driving. Initially, the episodes were brief and infrequent. Over time, they became more frequent, violent, and unpredictable. The malfunction typically occurs while traveling straight on dry roads at approximately 35-50 mph. Without warning or driver input, the vehicle begins rapidly jerking as though the brakes are repeatedly engaging and releasing. At the same time, the steering wheel pulls forcefully to the left, requiring immediate corrective steering to maintain control. The jerking sometimes continues even after the accelerator pedal is released. During some episodes, the brake pedal pulsates when subsequently applied. On October 30, 2026, the front-right tire blew out during one of these violent jerking episodes. The vehicle was subsequently taken to a tire retailer, where the tire was replaced. The retailer did not identify or report any unusual condition. It is UNKNOWN whether the tire failure was caused by the underlying malfunction or was a separate event. These incidents create a serious risk of losing control of the vehicle, colliding with another vehicle, or leaving the roadway. The unexpected steering movement and apparent braking behavior are particularly dangerous at highway speed
So on October 1st, my car, my nissan Leaf went into turtle mode for the first time. And then yesterday, while I was on the highway, it went into turtle mode, dropped down to 50 miles per hour, and I got off the highway, and the car wouldn't move anymore. I had to turn off the car, wait a couple minutes, and turn it back on, and then it worked again. I was told to contact the dealer to get a car rental. The dealer said that they don't have any loaners available and that other customers are waiting. I contacted...
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Nissan, and Nissan is using a third party called Morley to handle this, and Nissan's saying that Morley's in charge of it and Morley isn't responding. I have a car that's under warranty and has an approved battery replacement. They're trying to call buy the battery, and Nissan themselves says that they would provide a rental, but Nissan keeps referring me to Morley and the dealer is not providing me a rental. And I have a car that I believe is a Potential health hazard that I need to feel comfortable driving, and I don't feel like anybody's helping me.
The contact owns a 2019 Nissan Leaf. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V700000 (Electrical System), 24V071000 (Back Over Prevention), and 23V494000 (Vehicle Speed Control); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at an undisclosed speed, the battery level dropped from 100% to zero, causing the vehicle...
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to lose motive power. There were several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence, where the battery was replaced; however, the failure recurred, and the vehicle was towed back to the residence. The dealer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that parts were not yet available. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
While traveling at normal highway speeds (55 MPH), the vehicle's battery capacity rapidly dropped from 80-90% down to 10% in less than 30 seconds, resulting in activation of the vehicle's "turtle mode" and power throttling, which made it impossible to maintain posted highway speed of 55 MPH. A warning appeared on the dashboard, which stated, "Warning Power Reduced". The vehicle traveled at approximately 40 MPH creating a serious hazard to others on the roadway who were traveling at the posted speed limit of 55 MPH....
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Upon pulling over to the side of the freeway, the battery charge rebounded back up to 75%, but maintained power throttle, making it unsafe to reenter the roadway, as the vehicle was incapable of accelerating to the posted speed limit of 55 MPH. It was extremely slow to accelerate at all, making it from 0 - 40 in about a minute, which again, was extremely hazardous to others on the roadway. Nissan has since acknowledged that this was due to a factory defect, and covered under their factory warranty. I have attached photos of the warning message displayed, and have videos of the rapid battery loss, but those files are too large to attach.
Battery charging system cannot be used on fast chargers without potential overheating and fire, therefore, I cannot travel safely beyond my immediate area without incurring a risk to myself and others. The recall has been ongoing with empty promises of a fix since September of 2024, over 1 year and 6 months ago. So, that means this risk has been in place for much longer.
On 1/6/2026, as I slowed down as I was turning into my parking lot. I had Eco and e-pedal ON for regenerative braking. As I was turning into the parking lot, the car suddenly accelerated, went over the curb, across the street, over another curb before finally stopping after colliding with a structure. I was driving slowly and distinctively recall braking. This sudden unintended acceleration put safety at risk and caused significant property damage. There were no warning signs or messages. The car is in the yard now and will be available for inspection.
The contact owns a 2020 Nissan Leaf. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V700000 (Electrical System), 24V071000 (Back Over Prevention) and 23V494000 (Vehicle Speed Control); however, the parts to do the recall repairs were not yet available. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle control module (VCM) had failed and was replaced several times; however, the failure persisted. The contact stated that the vehicle was difficult to start. The contact also stated that the rear...
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driver's side seat belt was locked and inoperable. The Local dealer, Edison Nissan (401 US-1, Edison, NJ 08817), and an unknown dealer were contacted for the recall repairs and informed the contact that a technician for the Nissan Leaf was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 5,000. VIN tool confirms parts not available for NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V700000 (Electrical System). Parts distribution disconnect for NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V071000 (Back Over Prevention) and 23V494000 (Vehicle Speed Control).
On [[redacted]], I was slowly pulling into my driveway, took my foot off the accelerator and turned the steering wheel slightly to the right as the driveway is L shaped. Suddenly, the car sped up towards the garage door. I looked down quickly to see if I'd somehow pressed the accelerator by accident but I had not. I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could but the car kept going and smashed into the garage door and the corner of the garage, causing close to $20k in property damage. The hood and front bumper were...
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badly caved in at the point of impact and pieces of the undercarriage were on the ground. The air smelled like rubber and there were tire marks on the driveway here I had slammed on the brakes. The airbags did not deploy. The Automatic Braking System did not work. There were no warning messages or lamps. The only unusual symptom that I noticed was that on my way home from Kona, when I was pulling up slowly to a traffic light, the car seemed to hesitate a couple of times, which seemed odd but not severe enough for me to be concerned about a wreck. That occurred about a half hour before the incident. I was not physically injured but I have been very shook up and depressed since the incident. If this had happened on the highway, I could have been killed and the car could have killed others on the road. I reported the collision to USAA immediately and, on their advice, I had it towed to Kona Nissan, the dealership where I purchased the vehicle and where I have had it serviced. The expectation was that they would perform diagnostics on the vehicle but they won't touch it, nor will they talk to USAA. I had taken the car in when it was recalled for the VCM issues and I don't believe it was fixed properly. Or the repair wasn't effective. The car is at Gerber Body Shop in Kona, Hawaii. Please arrange inspection with them. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owned a 2019 Nissan Leaf. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 23V494000 (VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL), 24V700000 (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM), and 24V071000 (BACK OVER PREVENTION). The contact stated that while driving approximately 20 MPH and coming up to an intersection, the vehicle ahead of the contact had stopped in front of the contact due to a crash. The contact attempted to stop the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to stop. The contact stated that the brake pedal was depressed;...
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however, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated and crashed into the rear of the vehicle ahead. The contact stated that the vehicle came to a stop at the intersection under the traffic light after the crash. There were no warning lights illuminated; however, there was a beeping sound while attempting to stop the vehicle. The driver's and passenger's side air bags deployed as needed. The contact was unsure if a Police report was filed. The contact stated that the vehicle was driven to the residence. The contact sustained an injury to the right knee from the impact, sciatic nerve injury, shoulder pain, and emotional distress. The contact went to the Emergency room and had since received physical therapy. The contact believed that one other person in one of the other vehicles had sustained injuries. The contact stated that the vehicle had been towed to an auto body shop, and the contact stated that the body shop had deemed the vehicle a total loss. The contact stated that the dealer had contacted the body shop and had been harassing her as well as the body shop about returning the vehicle to the dealer. The contact then took the vehicle home with an abnormal clinking sound. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and suggested that there would be an investigation into the failure. The failure mileage was 82,000.
After hard acceleration then releasing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle does not slow as expected and, at times, will actually continue to accelerate. The vehicle will slow as expected when the brake is applied, but will again gradually accelerate when the brake is released. If slowed to a stop, the vehicle may begin to accelerate once the brake is released. This issue does not occur after normal acceleration. The issue may be related to NHTSA Recall Number 23V-494, which repairs have not been addressed for...
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the subject vehicle, although the issue occurs regardless of the state or change-of-state of the e-pedal switch or cruise control function, both of which are mentioned in that recall. This issue has occurred on multiple occasions in the time that I have owned the car (approx 13 months.) There is no correlation with weather conditions or initial or final speed. The only consistent variable is rate of acceleration.
I put the car in park as I was pulling in without turning it off to grab trash from the curb and take it to the car, but the car keep accelerating. I jumped in and slammed on the bricks but it hit the brick wall to the house. I see more recent years were recalled for "unintended acceleration" and "brake issues"
Unintended Acceleration: Vehicle continue to accelerate even after the gas pedal is released or not slow down as expected.
The contact owns a 2018 Nissan Leaf. The contact stated while driving on several occasions at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle lunged forward. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V494000 (Vehicle Speed Control). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100.
I was driving at 65 MPH on the freeway and the car was acting/driving normally. Without any warning at all, many lights appeared on the dashboard at the same time that the car placed itself into neutral and lost all power to drive. My speed was reduced so quickly without any notice and I had no pull out lane near me, so I was forced to move across 5 lanes of traffic in rush hour speeds of 60-85 MPH traffic in order to get to safety in a pull out lane while my car was quickly losing speed at 30 MPH and below. I...
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tried to put the car back into drive but it was impossible and the dashboard read "EV maintenance needed". Of note, my entire battery was replaced less than 6 months prior and the Nissan Peoria (AZ) dealership reported no other issues with the vehicle. Upon inspection, the dealership reported the traction motor inverter needs replacement, and again there were no indications this was failing.
About 3 months ago, I took this car in after receiving a recall notice for unexpected acceleration while on adaptive cruise control even though this was an issue I had never experienced before. But on monday, driving in stop and go traffic in light rain (intermittent wipers on slow setting), all of a sudden the car started accelerating directly towards the car 20 feet or so in front of us; the brakes had to be manually slammed on to bring the car to stop with now only 2-3 feet or so between the two cars. This was...
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very alarming. When I spoke to the dealership about them needing to fix this safety issue and how I thought it must be related to the recall, they said it could not be given it first happened 3 months later and I would have to pay for an evaluation and if they found anything wrong for the repair. I am reporting this and would like to know if other Nissan Leafs are seeing the same issue post-recall repair. I will say it doesn't happen all the time since I like and use adaptive cruise control regularly. I carefully tried it after this event but with much more distance between me and the car in front and it did slow the car down as it normally does when traffic slowed, but again, I never got as close to the car as this time and it was not raining so who knows. I have reported this to Nissan corporate and was told someone would call me back in the next few days.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data