guppeeh said:
Hi Leaf owner, just wondering how your wait is coming.
[...]
What's some of the thoughts on this? Take a chance, make a bit of effort to drop the bar to 8, or just look elsewhere and avoid the hassle? Many thanks.
Welp, it looks like we’re being slow-rolled... or at best, ignored while waiting for miracles.
For those who are keeping score, it’s been over eight months since we filed our warranty claim, and our 2017 Leaf is now down to seven bars at 28.8K miles. (It dropped another bar sometime during June.) It still charges up to a range of 83 miles (two retirees on a 30x40-mile island) instead of its original 115 miles when we bought it in 2019. At this point I’m wondering if Nissan will honor this warranty before 2024.
The service managers at our local dealership (Tony Nissan) have stopped responding to texts, e-mails, and calls. Last month during my visit, the manager who filed our claim promised to call Nissan’s Mainland headquarters for an update. He never got back to us.
This month during my visit, a different manager shared more info. He’s either had plenty of practice at empathy or he’s just as frustrated by this situation as we owners are.
In 2022, Nissan had trickled out 3-6 replacement batteries per month to Tony Nissan with warnings about supply-chain issues. During January-March 2023 the rate rose “a little bit” but then completely stopped in March. This time there’s reports of a worldwide lithium shortage. The manager had no updates from Nissan’s HQ on when warranty service would resume.
(Yeah, I understand logistics. However the lithium shortage seems to apply to Nissan Leafs claiming warranty replacement, not to new-model Nissan EVs being sold at full retail value.)
He suggested filing a consumer complaint at 1-800-NISSAN1 with our VIN and our claim number (a code beginning with the letter J). He’s skeptical that Nissan will snapshot a battery pack out to us, but they might offer a discount on a rental car or try to cash us out of the warranty.
We have time (and the financial flexibility) to wait this out. In the past the service managers have shared stories of other sad Leaf owners with four bars and not even being able to commute to work.
If I was in your shoes, Kevin, I’d shop elsewhere.
Has anyone else tried the consumer complaint route?
Any other suggestions?