411 on volontary recall P1273 LEAF VCM LBC TCU NTB12-014

[Ingineer]

Although I think it improbable, I can only suspect that CarWings (and other portions of firmware ?) was updated "over-the-air". Any thoughts on that ?

This has never been observed EVER. If Nissan was comfortable with a OTA firmware flash, they would have done it instead of paying for thousands of dealer visits. The VCM (which is the bulk of the update) cannot be "ready" while it's being flashed, and as far as I know there is no way to do this remotely. Plus, what happened if they did this without warning and you suddenly tried to drive the car? You'd probably disrupt the download and "brick" your car!

-Phil

 

[LEAFer]

Ok ... I agree it is improbable. But the scenario(s) you posit could easily be avoided by updating only during a charging event (can't drive the car), at night (in the "middle" of the event -- unlikely that the car's status would change), and with a sophisticated method that downloads separately from the flash phase with a backup of current firmware.

It's also possible only non-critical updates happened; I don't know enough of what modules (if any) would need to see updates to exhibit the reported behaviour.

Again ... improbable. But I wanted to report the unusual circumstances in any case.

 

[Ingineer]

Nothing unusual about the GOM living up to it's namesake! :lol:

-Phil

 

[garygid]

Presumably Nissan COULD do the update by letting you download a file (VIN-specificly encrypted, if necessary) from the web, you write it to an SD card, and put it in the unused SD slot behind the Nav screen.

 

[Ingineer]

Unfortunately it will be a ways off before we see any automakers allowing critical systems to be updated by (god forbid) THE CUSTOMER! Updating the Nav, no problem, although Nissan/Clarion doesn't seem interested in fixing any of the bugs in it even though they could have when the car was in for the P1273.

It really is a shame, the car has all this connectivity, and it's used to such little effect!

-Phil

 

[FairwoodRed]

Speaking of other observed behaviors, I think I’m seeing a change in the heater operation. Currently, I see that when I manually set to 60, I get an initial high use for a couple minutes, then the power drops to ~200w. If I raise the target temp by 1 degree, power usage goes to about 1500w and stays there indefinitely. Go back to 60 and the power drops again. Ambient temps were in the 40’s.

I don’t recall being able to set to 60 and have the power at such a small rate. Anyone else see this?

 

[TomT]

It behaved the same way for me prior to the update. It's dependent on interior and exterior temperatures and the temperature of the fluid in the heating loop.

Speaking of other observed behaviors, I think I’m seeing a change in the heater operation. Currently, I see that when I manually set to 60, I get an initial high use for a couple minutes, then the power drops to ~200w. If I raise the target temp by 1 degree, power usage goes to about 1500w and stays there indefinitely. Go back to 60 and the power drops again. Ambient temps were in the 40’s. I don’t recall being able to set to 60 and have the power at such a small rate. Anyone else see this?

 

[TomT]

The closest yet is the USB stick that Ford is mass mailing to owners that will update the display/info/entertainment system in its vehicles. This was in response to all the criticism the system initially received.

Unfortunately it will be a ways off before we see any automakers allowing critical systems to be updated by (god forbid) THE CUSTOMER! Updating the Nav, no problem, although Nissan/Clarion doesn't seem interested in fixing any of the bugs in it even though they could have when the car was in for the P1273.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Speaking of other observed behaviors, I think I’m seeing a change in the heater operation. Currently, I see that when I manually set to 60, I get an initial high use for a couple minutes, then the power drops to ~200w. If I raise the target temp by 1 degree, power usage goes to about 1500w and stays there indefinitely. Go back to 60 and the power drops again. Ambient temps were in the 40’s.

I don’t recall being able to set to 60 and have the power at such a small rate. Anyone else see this?

I saw this recently. However, like Tom T was saying, I had preheated the car so the core was warm. And I haven't been able to get the update—no dealers within LEAF range—so I have stock firmware on my car. But I sure was surprised when I saw how tiny the power draw was when the CC was set at 60 and how quickly it went up when I increased the set temperature slightly out of curiosity.

 

[DarkStar]

Had the update performed yesterday with my annual battery check. Noticed no differences at all on my commute last night or commute back to work this morning. They did comment that they've never seen a Leaf with 21,500 miles on it before...

 

[TimeHorse]

They did comment that they've never seen a Leaf with 21,500 miles on it before...

Nice. I'm nearly at 9,000 (or maybe just passed, I loose track) after about 23 weeks and had my Tire Rotation scheduled like 2 weeks after the service last month. I'm really pulling ahead and getting the most out of my LEAF even if it means oh, so many laments about on-the-road charging with a 3.8kW charger. But that said, clearly I'm never gonna surpass you DarkStar!

 

[fooljoe]

Had the update performed yesterday with my annual battery check. Noticed no differences at all on my commute last night or commute back to work this morning. They did comment that they've never seen a Leaf with 21,500 miles on it before...

I just had my 1 year battery check done last Friday and also asked them to do the software update, but after looking at a few days of Carwings numbers it doesn't seem that anything has changed. Is there an easy way to verify if the dealer actually performed the update, like a firmware version number accessible from the dash display?

 

[TomT]

The Carwings TCU update is separate and has to be done from an SD card, not the Consult III+. You have to specifically ask for it. It is TB-11-041 “2011 Leaf, No Telematics Communication."

I just had my 1 year battery check done last Friday and also asked them to do the software update, but after looking at a few days of Carwings numbers it doesn't seem that anything has changed. Is there an easy way to verify if the dealer actually performed the update, like a firmware version number accessible from the dash display?