Nissan wants to know.......

[TomT]

Yes, but what has not been resolved is disseminating that information to those owners who need it and letting us know exactly which cars are affected and should be re-flashed. I suspect that there are a number of owners out there who are not on this board, who have the problem, and who are driving around blissfully unaware of it at this juncture...

It's interesting what a few days will make in how important various issues seem as well. I'd bet that if you polled for questions the AC issue (HV leak) would drop from the list as it has already been resolved by Nissan in my mind. All that's left is to apply the firmware fix to all the cars affected.

 

[AndyH]

Yes, but what has not been resolved is disseminating that information to those owners who need it and letting us know exactly which cars are affected and should be re-flashed. I suspect that there are a number of owners out there who are not on this board, who have the problem, and who are driving around blissfully unaware of it at this juncture...

Well...if they're blissfully unaware, then they're not having a problem, right? So nothing to worry about.

And those that are aware have been to the dealer, same as us..well, "you". Nothing to worry about here either.

 

[ERG4ALL]

I for one would like some kind of closure from Nissan. My VIN is #404 and I have not had the problem yet, but then my normal practice would not be to pre-cool the vehicle unless it is a very warm day which we have not had yet. The dealer says that because I will be driving the car in a cooler climate, not to worry. Thus, I don't know if my car is affected and it is a little uneasy feeling to think that the right weather just hasn't shown up yet. I'd like closure. Is my car affected or not?

 

[TomT]

No, if they are in cooler climates it could be some time before it shows up. Mine didn't until one particularly hot day here when I forced the issue. And, more importantly, why should they have to wait for a failure to find about it?!

Yes, but what has not been resolved is disseminating that information to those owners who need it and letting us know exactly which cars are affected and should be re-flashed. I suspect that there are a number of owners out there who are not on this board, who have the problem, and who are driving around blissfully unaware of it at this juncture...

Well...if they're blissfully unaware, then they're not having a problem, right? So nothing to worry about.

 

[charlie1300]

Nissan seems to have a major problem figuring out how to approach customer communications related to "bad news". I'm ascribing this to cultural differences, since I can't think of any other reason. When something negative happens, the response seems to be either denial, or total silence. This is the worst possible response to a USA customer base. I won't put it on Mike to bridge this gap, but it appears that the intermediary that he his dealing with is US a based PR firm, so maybe they can take up the banner. For example, is Nissan Corp baffled by the USA response to Toyota's stuck accelerator fiasco?
Maybe that can be portrayed as a learning opportunity.

Be prompt with a response that honest and forthright. Don't wait for everything to be figured out. Don't BS or CYO, Americans can smell that a mile away, and don't forgive it. Tell the lawyers that their job is represent the company in court, not to tell the company how to run their business.

 

[AndyH]

No, if they are in cooler climates it could be some time before it shows up. Mine didn't until one particularly hot day here when I forced the issue. And, more importantly, why should they have to wait for a failure to find about it?!

Yes, but what has not been resolved is disseminating that information to those owners who need it and letting us know exactly which cars are affected and should be re-flashed. I suspect that there are a number of owners out there who are not on this board, who have the problem, and who are driving around blissfully unaware of it at this juncture...

Well...if they're blissfully unaware, then they're not having a problem, right? So nothing to worry about.

I didn't say anyone had to wait for anything. Come on, mogur - keep up here!

All I'm saying is that this is amazingly easy to figure out. Turn on the AC. Not hot enough? Leave the car in the sun and let it get 40 degrees warmer inside and then turn on the AC. Those that have a problem know how to get the fix - those that don't have errors don't need the fix.

It's one part science (test!) and one part Dalai Lama (No need to worry - if it's inside our control we can fix it - no worry there. If it's outside our control, there's nothing we can do about it - no need to worry there either.)

As for all the Nissan-ragging -- if you think Nissan's not doing their job, file a complaint with the NTSB and force a recall. That'll move things along...

Or maybe it'll help Nissan decide to leave those damn complaining Americans alone and divert cars to the UK and Portugal. :?

 

[Rake]

Nissan seems to have a major problem figuring out how to approach customer communications related to "bad news". I'm ascribing this to cultural differences, since I can't think of any other reason. When something negative happens, the response seems to be either denial, or total silence...

I've thought this many times myself. Perhaps it has to do with the idea of "saving face"?
I'm no expert on Asian culture, just what I encountered on my brief visits there.

 

[ERG4ALL]

Here's an interesting scenario. All owners don't get contacted to know if they should come in for the fix. Thus, spring turns to summer and being a good blog member, I'm keeping a 10mm wrench in the car. Then, the dead-in-the-water thing happens. So I get out in some public place put the hood up and try to get it started. I would think that would do wonders for putting the "kiss of death" on the LEAF when it really doesn't deserve it and could be avoided by just good communication.

 

[Adrian]

How about a coordinated effort where all Leaf drivers meeting up for a local meeting pre-cool in the parking lot of a chosen Nissan dealer? Maybe let Nissan know ahead of time? Who knows, they might choose to treat this differently.

 

[Luft]

As a person who has not yet even registered to order my concerns may be different. My biggest worry is that I will never get the chance to purchase a Leaf. I know that the powerful petroleum industry has a vested interest in EVs never being realized. A little reassurance that another round of registrations is coming would be nice.

On a more practical level I'm very interested in a Winter package so that I don't have to suck up a large portion of my range to stay warm and a faster on board charger so I can get a full level 2 charge in about four hours.

 

[tps]

As a person who has not yet even registered to order my concerns may be different. My biggest worry is that I will never get the chance to purchase a Leaf. I know that the powerful petroleum industry has a vested interest in EVs never being realized. A little reassurance that another round of registrations is coming would be nice.

Nissan's building a huge battery plant next door to their car plant in Tennessee to produce lithium-ion batteries. I think this shows a lot more commitment on Nissan's part to EV technology than any other car manufacturer has shown to date. Nissan has to make this work or they lose big.

I'm on the curremt reservation list, but I'm in the "forgotten 36". My dashboard shows "my" 2011 LEAF. Will I be able to buy that LEAF? Who knows? By the time I am allowed to order "my LEAF" may be a 2012 LEAF. If you're in a roll-out state or even a second tier state, you may get a chance to reserve and order your LEAF before I get my chance.

Many here ordered their LEAF having never seen one. Until a couple months ago, I'd never see a LEAF in person. But then, I was able to see one at the Philadelphia International Auto Show. I got my first brief taste of the EV driving experience 3 weeks ago at the drive electric event in DC, and last weekend I got to take the Hertz rental LEAF for a couple hour drive. So things are definitely speeding up.

Nissan is in this for the long run. In a year or 2 all of us will be happily driving our very own LEAFs.

 

[buddf]

My main concerns are as follows:

1. Communication in general. I have owned almost exclusively Nissan most of my life. Except for one Mazda ALL of my cars have been Nissan. That being said I am very discouraged about the communication in general. Since I do not have a car yet, my main concern is the out of sequence for deliveries. I reserved the day allowed, ordered as soon as I could and am delayed again for some unknown reason. If my car was delayed to the earthquake I would have zero issues, but since others get cars ordering this year with no explanations does bother me. Mainly puts a little damper on my exitement over finally getting an EV.
2. I don't really have any other issues. All of my cars from Nissan have always exceeded my expectations. I have never had to deal with a rollout like this where communication is so viral to all aspects, so I will leave communication as all five top concerns.

Other than that - Great job on bringing such an awesome technology to the masses after 100 years of being over due!!!

 

[Herm]

The way it tabulated was the A/C issue did come out to be the top issue, as expected. Closely followed by inquiries about the apparent queue jumping, with the suggestion that Nissan outline the order process as it stands today. Then folks wanting to know what was going to happen with respect to orders outside the roll-out states, and when. Then questions/comments about the lack of charging infrastructure and the glacial pace of the EV Project/issues with the Blink.

I can almost see how they are going to answer all these, hopefully they wont answer the easy ones first and ignore the rest:

1. AC issue: fixed, we are working on the upgrade now
2. Queue Jumping: so sorry!, we build car batches in the sequence that is most efficient for our situation, that way we can afford to give you such a low cost BEV.. we may also prioritize deliveries to famous people for marketing reasons.. again to give you a low cost BEV
3. Ordering outside the Roll Out States: they will give the same answer as before, no idea what it is.
4. Charging Infrastructure: blame the government, and they are probably right since we now how fast public projects move.

 

[mwalsh]

I can almost see how they are going to answer all these, hopefully they wont answer the easy ones first and ignore the rest:

Actually I told them that if the quality of the answers was going to be similar to that of the "official" answer they gave me on the A/C issue, they shouldn't bother at all. I told them we were after a more intimate and honest relationship, and that's clearly something they don't yet get (or want).

 

[tps]

3. Ordering outside the Roll Out States: they will give the same answer as before, no idea what it is.

The answer they gave at the DC Drive Electric event was: "when Syrna comes online".

 

[Herm]

I told them we were after a more intimate and honest relationship, and that's clearly something they don't yet get (or want).

Its a competitive world, every other manufacturer is looking at what Nissan is doing.. its the same thing that happened with the serial/parallel hybrid Volt thing over at GM.. they were laying misinformation down very close to the actual release date.

 

[kmp647]

Michael, I might have posted this before: it would be a good move to contact all reservation holders on or about the 1 year from the original date they reserved and give them some sort of news or update.

anything would be better than letting a year pass a no real news, especially for those who have not been able to order.(tier2, or 36)

 

[lonndoggie]

Another avenue to communicate to Nissan brass has opened. Sort of. Join the tweet-stakes!

From @NissanNews, RT by @NissanLEAF:

"#AsktheChairman: What question do you have for Nissan Chairman Tavares? Ask & we may choose yours for him to respond to via video at #NYIAS!"

 

[EricH]

...it would be a good move to contact all reservation holders on or about the 1 year from the original date they reserved and give them some sort of news or update.

anything would be better than letting a year pass a no real news, especially for those who have not been able to order.(tier2, or 36)

Maybe one of the t-shirts options should have been "I reserved a Leaf 10 months ago and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!"

 

[TomT]

And it wound up biting GM on the ass! Nissan should learn from that...

Its a competitive world, every other manufacturer is looking at what Nissan is doing.. its the same thing that happened with the serial/parallel hybrid Volt thing over at GM.. they were laying misinformation down very close to the actual release date.