Brake issue

[minispeed]

So how many times have you actually gone past turtle to the car not moving when you haven't made it home? Has it ever stopped without getting to a flashing "--" GOM or with a very short turtle mode? I've hit turtle on my 2015 once, and it was on purpose to learn. I floored the car from a stop to 25 mph about 6 times after the "--" while going around my block 3 times, I hit turtle mode right before my driveway and didn't drive in that mode for more than a few feet.

Those are the only times that really mean the car didn't have enough range.

All the others could be a problem with the car calculating the energy inside the battery. IE you could have your low battery warning coming on at the wrong % and be able to drive 30 miles past that. You shouldn't be afraid to drive with the low battery warning or even the very low battery warning. You need to learn how much range your driving style will actually have. You also have so few miles on the car that it might be possible that the computer just has to learn the upper and lower limits better and you have to show it what it can and can't do. This may mean driving around in the shortest loop possible on your street till turtle like I did. You could also have a drive that cause the guess o meter to spike.

For example my drive, I live on the top of an escarpment. Everyday that I leave for work I'll go down the hill, I will also usually have any wind at my back and then the rest of the drive (45 miles) is mostly down hill but slight. By the time I get to work and charge back up to 100% the GOM sees a history of downhill wind at the back driving and gives me a high guess, in the winter it's been 90ish miles, in the summer it was as much as 125. But then I turn around, head against the wind and mostly up hill then right at the end I climb the escarpment and get around 1.5 miles/kWh while going up. So after driving 45 miles from an original 90 (winter time) estimate it will now show me 10-20 miles on the GOM but if I turned around and drove the other way I could easily go double that before running out for a total range of 65-95. Then when I charge at home it will have it's last memory of being that climb up the hill and show me 75 in the winter to 100 in the summer.

If you were getting 41mpg in a civic automatic then this probably has nothing to do with your driving. However if that number was from the civic computer and not your own pump calculations it could be about 5% off which would still be pretty good. If it was a civic manual transmission most of your good habits could be from the way you shift since a manual civic is capable of over 50 mpg. If that is the case you could have some really good manual transmission habits that now don't have any ability to show up in your Leaf driving and you could have some bad habits that aren't masked by your good shifting anymore.

You mentioned the car feels like it's got a pull or drag. Try a neutral coast down (if you're really concerned about the law like another poster stated do it in a parking lot) to see if that makes it go away. If not then you could have a brake or alignment drag. If it does go away then it is almost certainly the regen that you are feeling.

The tire PSI can be a good "patch" to get you back up to feeling more comfortable with the car but from the numbers you quote it doesn't sound like your tires are under inflated. There's a lot of info out there for people who have gone over PSI (over both car specs and tire specs). I'll let you do the searching and make up your mind without trying to force it on you but I'll point out that the info that says over PSI tires "round out" and ride high in the centre isn't true to todays modern built tires.

I don't want to sound like I'm telling you to throw money at it but did you also know there is the option to use a generator (if you buy the right type) to charge it? If this is an option for you where you park it at work it may make it easier to live with the car and will probably be cheaper than getting out of the lease right now.

 

[Yogi62]

1. full charge morning display shows 100% with 85 or 91~93 miles.
2. soon as i drive out to 45miles/h local road (talks 1 mile) my battery down to 98%
3. i get on hwy after 3 miles i do those ruls (three bubbles with up to 60miles or less speed with ECO)
then I get 87%
4. kept drive to work like that for another 15 miles hwy and get off. battery is down to 65% and shows 55mile left.
5. when i get to work another few more miles on the local road. keep below 40miles/h then i get 57% or less battery life.

now going back home is same way... when i get home i get either 15 or 18% battery life and some times i get low battery warning signal.

total round trip appox. 50 miles with no a/c no heat on!!

In 3 to 4 miles you used up 13%? almost 3 kWh?

That's a lot of energy...like triple what I am seeing from driving a mile to the turnpike, hopping on a going a few miles at 65....

Get the app and find out the GID numbers. (and remember the dealer is not going to set the tires for efficiency....)

 

[mbender]

I wrote just average range...

I think the fluctuation of the Guess-o-meter has been explained. Still, there's a big difference between 98 on page 1 and 60 later on.

and more lastly dealers big time lie. Some people are happy because that dealers lie doesn't effect much of their life style and driving environmrnt. May be purhapse i am the only victom of us all. I address this issue to dealer and nissan corp many times and they totally band me not want to do anything. I am posting here just because hopping some one who are like me to see and tell me how they could get away with this bs. Thats all.

Dealers can and do lie and can get away with it as long as it is not in writing. This should be understood, if not expected by most prospective buyers who dare to deal with them. "Proper preparation" and "due diligence" should always be done before buying a new car, especially one in a whole new category.

Nissan (who has little to do with the dealers) can not get away with selling you a car with a defective battery, however. So if you can prove it, do so, and you will be given a new one. If you were banned by Nissan and/or the dealer, it just might have something to do with HOW you presented your complaints (and yourself) and possibly their legitimacy. It's possible that they did check your battery and it is perfectly fine, and they just don't do refunds simply because of buyer's remorse.

If you still feel you have a legitimate case of written misrepresentation or failure to live up to warranty though, by all means hire yourself a lawyer, because there isn't much more that we can do or suggest!!

If not then i wont come back here. My ultimate goal is to get out of this car.

What I said above notwithstanding, you might look into transferring the lease, something I know nothing about (use search feature here).

 

[cwerdna]

We really need the OP to confirm his miles/kWh figures per leg of the trip, actual % SoC values and check (and likely inflate) his tires.

Providing and debating over GOM (guess-o-meter) values is pointless. They're of virtually no use and only adds to confusion.

These are the first steps in trying to identify if energy consumption is abnormal and if so, the source (e.g. driver, commute, user error, car problem, etc.) If it's not, we could move onto a battery problem, but at that point he'll need something like LeafSpy.

If not then i wont come back here. My ultimate goal is to get out of this car.

What I said above notwithstanding, you might look into transferring the lease, something I know nothing about (use search feature here).

OP would want to check to see if this crap policy has changed: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=354789#p354789" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

As a data point, today, I completed a trip from home to a bunch of places and back in somewhat cold weather in my '13 Leaf SV (w/hybrid heater) that I began leasing at end of July '13, so its battery is ~1.5 years old now. I averaged 4.0 miles/kWh and was down to 13% SoC per the dash display (yes, LBW sounded at around 18 or 19%) after 65.3 miles. when I arrived at free public charging 5 miles from home. I'd say that my driving was roughly 2/3 highway, by distance. I was in a rush to my 1st destination and had spurts of over 70 mph, sometimes as fast as 78 mph. For the highway portions going there, I don't think I was ever below 65 mph for any significant length of time.

Temps were probably in the mid-50s F in the afternoon (began at ~3:15 pm). In the evening, OAT was 45 to 48 F. Heater was used for much of the driving. I did use the heated steering wheel and seats for myself and my passenger.

I had to conserve juice for rest of the highway driving later and had to keep my speed down, esp. going home where I stayed below 60, sometimes as slow as 50 mph. I kept the heater use down, slowed down and used Eco for the last leg.

 

[gotd77]

So how many times have you actually gone past turtle to the car not moving when you haven't made it home? Has it ever stopped without getting to a flashing "--" GOM or with a very short turtle mode? I've hit turtle on my 2015 once, and it was on purpose to learn. I floored the car from a stop to 25 mph about 6 times after the "--" while going around my block 3 times, I hit turtle mode right before my driveway and didn't drive in that mode for more than a few feet.

Those are the only times that really mean the car didn't have enough range.

All the others could be a problem with the car calculating the energy inside the battery. IE you could have your low battery warning coming on at the wrong % and be able to drive 30 miles past that. You shouldn't be afraid to drive with the low battery warning or even the very low battery warning. You need to learn how much range your driving style will actually have. You also have so few miles on the car that it might be possible that the computer just has to learn the upper and lower limits better and you have to show it what it can and can't do. This may mean driving around in the shortest loop possible on your street till turtle like I did. You could also have a drive that cause the guess o meter to spike.

For example my drive, I live on the top of an escarpment. Everyday that I leave for work I'll go down the hill, I will also usually have any wind at my back and then the rest of the drive (45 miles) is mostly down hill but slight. By the time I get to work and charge back up to 100% the GOM sees a history of downhill wind at the back driving and gives me a high guess, in the winter it's been 90ish miles, in the summer it was as much as 125. But then I turn around, head against the wind and mostly up hill then right at the end I climb the escarpment and get around 1.5 miles/kWh while going up. So after driving 45 miles from an original 90 (winter time) estimate it will now show me 10-20 miles on the GOM but if I turned around and drove the other way I could easily go double that before running out for a total range of 65-95. Then when I charge at home it will have it's last memory of being that climb up the hill and show me 75 in the winter to 100 in the summer.

If you were getting 41mpg in a civic automatic then this probably has nothing to do with your driving. However if that number was from the civic computer and not your own pump calculations it could be about 5% off which would still be pretty good. If it was a civic manual transmission most of your good habits could be from the way you shift since a manual civic is capable of over 50 mpg. If that is the case you could have some really good manual transmission habits that now don't have any ability to show up in your Leaf driving and you could have some bad habits that aren't masked by your good shifting anymore.

You mentioned the car feels like it's got a pull or drag. Try a neutral coast down (if you're really concerned about the law like another poster stated do it in a parking lot) to see if that makes it go away. If not then you could have a brake or alignment drag. If it does go away then it is almost certainly the regen that you are feeling.

The tire PSI can be a good "patch" to get you back up to feeling more comfortable with the car but from the numbers you quote it doesn't sound like your tires are under inflated. There's a lot of info out there for people who have gone over PSI (over both car specs and tire specs). I'll let you do the searching and make up your mind without trying to force it on you but I'll point out that the info that says over PSI tires "round out" and ride high in the centre isn't true to todays modern built tires.

I don't want to sound like I'm telling you to throw money at it but did you also know there is the option to use a generator (if you buy the right type) to charge it? If this is an option for you where you park it at work it may make it easier to live with the car and will probably be cheaper than getting out of the lease right now.

Thank you for all that info!
yeah my driving style is normal...I know that from 20 years fuel saving drive experience. yes I really get 39-41mpg from civic automatic. Nissan told me 5 times that it is my driving style and it is all my fault how I drive. they are evil.
anyway, nobody seem to know how to get out of this car so I did some experimental on my leaf. first I did put some air on tire. second I drive with ECO off. it give me more mileage because it coast better and no huge deduction on spend. I don't know if this is better solution or make it worse?? I don't know but it seems work better.
still can not use heater on the way back home though..i was freeze my hands off last time...it did not gives me turtle but it blinks almost every time and again I only drive 50miles with no heat or AC on. with full charge.

 

[mbender]

You can get out of it by proving you got a bad car/battery and taking them to court for lying in writing and/or not honoring a warranty. And yes, that might involve a few more dreaded "steps", but it might be worth it given how much it sounds like you hate the car, the dealer and Nissan. If you are right and win, you might even be able to make money in the process!

Otherwise, no, you can't "get out of it" simply because you regret your poorly-researched decision.

 

[cwerdna]

I did some experimental on my leaf. first I did put some air on tire. second I drive with ECO off. it give me more mileage because it coast better and no huge deduction on spend. I don't know if this is better solution or make it worse?? I don't know but it seems work better.
still can not use heater on the way back home though..i was freeze my hands off last time...it did not gives me turtle but it blinks almost every time and again I only drive 50miles with no heat or AC on. with full charge.

Well... what were the before and after cold tire pressures?

What was the beginning and ending % SoC? How many miles/kWh did you get, assuming you reset it at the beginning of the trip? What is the max speed you went and how fast did you typically drive on the highway portions? Just for kicks, you may as well reset the average speed screen and state what it was at the end. Outside air temps?

You can use the heated steering wheel and heated seats. They draw very little power compared to the power hungry heater.

 

[gotd77]

You can get out of it by proving you got a bad car/battery and taking them to court for lying in writing and/or not honoring a warranty. And yes, that might involve a few more dreaded "steps", but it might be worth it given how much it sounds like you hate the car, the dealer and Nissan. If you are right and win, you might even be able to make money in the process!

Otherwise, no, you can't "get out of it" simply because you regret your poorly-researched decision.

I am asking around for court option but I am thinking that's not realistically wining story. and yes, I did some research on it. what do you think I am some kind of stupid? I even ask my friend who drove Leaf and he even assure that with his first generation leaf can do the job for me...but he kind of warn me that I only can do just commute to work after I gave him all info...which road I am going and how fast I am driving....and all. and I decided to go test drive at the dealer ship. this dealer told me 2015 is even improved battery life and he guaranteed this car will do the job for sure!! more than just guaranteed. he told me even old model can do it and now I am getting 2015 model so it will only going to be better! And I notice it is not going to work with in the week.
so tell me again how much do you do research on the car before you buy?? all I wanted to know was this car can do the job for me or not for me to go to work or not? so isn't that a lie then what is lie??
when I go back to the dealer and talk to the same sales man about this issue and this guy told me this car is design for not to drive hwy or to intense commute. just for grocery or pleasure drive.
that is totally BS!!!! right? so you still think I was stupid enough to sign the paper?? really??

 

[TimLee]

...
when I go back to the dealer and talk to the same sales man about this issue and this guy told me this car is design for not to drive hwy or to intense commute. just for grocery or pleasure drive.
that is totally BS!!!! right? ...

The OP should revise the title of this thread.
Started as a question / complaint about braking.
But OP has mostly turned it into complaint about 2015 LEAF S not being adequate for 50 mile round trip Atlanta commute.

I think the salesman post-sale characterization of the LEAF is a bit unfairly negative, but I don't think it is a good choice for 50 mile round trip commuting in Atlanta.

The OP went in with unrealistic expectations.
Some have died like using 120V convenience EVSE. OP now owns L2.
OP still holds on to some unrealistic expectations.
Like expecting range to be consistent, no matter the weather.
That isn't supported by the physics.
Study Tony Williams range chart to understand what the LEAF can do.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293#p101293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But keep in mind it does not include use of heat. The LEAF S has a very inefficient heat system, similar to the 2011 and 2012 that in my opinion is only appropriate for maybe 10% of the area of the US. That does NOT include Atlanta if you need to do 50 mile round trip commute.

The biggest error many people make with the LEAF is not understanding it's realistic range.
My 43 month perception with a 2011 is that it is a 40 to 60 mile range vehicle.
But in winter and if you like heat and you have lost some battery capacity it can easily be only a 30 to 35 mile range.
And as someone in Helena, Montana pointed out in another thread; in snow with studded snow tires and if all you are using is status of charge bars and don't want to push the limits it can be less than 15 miles.

I do not have legal expertise to comment on OP's legal options. But changing behaviors to attempt to do 50 mile round trip even in winter for the lease duration is probably more cost effective.

Some of those will be annoying.
I am lucky that mostly my round trips are less than 36 miles.
But to do that I preheat, charge at DCQC downtown especially in winter, and on some occasions I have to curtail heat use to assure range.

 

[Deleted member 14724]

...
when I go back to the dealer and talk to the same sales man about this issue and this guy told me this car is design for not to drive hwy or to intense commute. just for grocery or pleasure drive.
that is totally BS!!!! right? ...

The OP should revise the title of this thread.
Started as a question / complaint about braking.
But OP has mostly turned it into complaint about 2015 LEAF S not being adequate for 50 mile round trip Atlanta commute.

I think the salesman post-sale characterization of the LEAF is a bit unfairly negative, but I don't think it is a good choice for 50 mile round trip commuting in Atlanta.

The OP went in with unrealistic expectations.
Some have died like using 120V convenience EVSE. OP now owns L2.
OP still holds on to some unrealistic expectations.
Like expecting range to be consistent, no matter the weather.
That isn't supported by the physics.
Study Tony Williams range chart to understand what the LEAF can do.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=101293#p101293" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But keep in mind it does not include use of heat. The LEAF S has a very inefficient heat system, similar to the 2011 and 2012 that in my opinion is only appropriate for maybe 10% of the area of the US. That does NOT include Atlanta if you need to do 50 mile round trip commute.

The biggest error many people make with the LEAF is not understanding it's realistic range.
My 43 month perception with a 2011 is that it is a 40 to 60 mile range vehicle.
But in winter and if you like heat and you have lost some battery capacity it can easily be only a 30 to 35 mile range.
And as someone in Helena, Montana pointed out in another thread; in snow with studded snow tires and if all you are using is status of charge bars and don't want to push the limits it can be less than 15 miles.

I do not have legal expertise to comment on OP's legal options. But changing behaviors to attempt to do 50 mile round trip even in winter for the lease duration is probably more cost effective.

Some of those will be annoying.
I am lucky that mostly my round trips are less than 36 miles.
But to do that I preheat, charge at DCQC downtown especially in winter, and on some occasions I have to curtail heat use to assure range.

I do a 55 mile round trip in Atlanta with no problem at all. Interesting. It's not on the Interstate, though. Glad I only leased it for two years, though.

 

[minispeed]

the

Thank you for all that info!
yeah my driving style is normal...I know that from 20 years fuel saving drive experience. yes I really get 39-41mpg from civic automatic. Nissan told me 5 times that it is my driving style and it is all my fault how I drive. they are evil.
anyway, nobody seem to know how to get out of this car so I did some experimental on my leaf. first I did put some air on tire. second I drive with ECO off. it give me more mileage because it coast better and no huge deduction on spend. I don't know if this is better solution or make it worse?? I don't know but it seems work better.
still can not use heater on the way back home though..i was freeze my hands off last time...it did not gives me turtle but it blinks almost every time and again I only drive 50miles with no heat or AC on. with full charge.

I have a thought based on what you said above in bold underline....

Eco actually makes it easier to coast. If you turned if off and noticed a difference when you though you were "coasting" you were probably actually in regen braking. Switching from ECO to normal changes how the pedal sensors work. If you think of the accelerator pedal going from 0% (foot off) to 100% (floored full power) coasting will be somewhere in between. When you are at 0% foot off driving you are using regen to put energy back in the battery. When you use ECO mode at 0% foot off you will get more regen than in normal mode at 0%. To hold a true coast in normal mode (I'll make up the numbers for comparison purpose as I have no idea what they are) you'd hold the pedal at 5% and if you moved it less than 1% either way it would either give power or get regen. In ECO mode it is more steady, you hold a coast at 10% and have to move the pedal more than 1% each way to give power or get regen.

I would strongly suggest doing some runs with neutral coasting to see if your range improves, you take the risk knowing it's not legal in your state. You could also do this off the roads in a large parking lot to get a feel for how the car should be in a coast then try to use very light pressure with your right foot to reproduce that coast on the road.

 

[Deleted member 15173]

I am a new Leaf owner. I notice when I am at a red light and put my foot on the pedal it must be ALL the way down or the car will move forward. This has happened to me many times and have noticed as I take my eyes off what is in front of me. I have come close to hitting the car in front of me but been lucky so far.
Anyone else experience this?

 

[TimLee]

I am a new Leaf owner. I notice when I am at a red light and put my foot on the pedal it must be ALL the way down or the car will move forward. This has happened to me many times and have noticed as I take my eyes off what is in front of me. I have come close to hitting the car in front of me but been lucky so far.
Anyone else experience this?

Yes, it is Nissan ill advised built in creep that many of us dislike and that driver should have the ability to turn off.
Several threads on it.
Link to my comments on it in a five page thread:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17521&hilit=creep&start=30#p381177" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tesla gives you the choice to turn it off and most Tesla drivers have chosen to leave it off.
BMW also does not have creep.

Some believe NHTSA rules require it in reverse.

If you don't like it and consider it unsafe the best thing to do is file safety complaint with NHTSA.

One complaint may not accomplish much.
But if several thousand of us complain, it might.