Public Chargers breaking charge port pins?

[ToddNiesen]

Hi All,

I purchased a used 2019 Leaf about six months ago from a Nissan dealership. Three months ago, two pins in the charge port were broken off. Nissan refused to pay for the repair, stating that a charger broke the pins (basically blaming me for misuse). I’ve got a brand new Chargepoint charger at home, and rarely use public chargers. I raised hell and got them to waive the labor cost, but I had to still pay for the $1,300 part. They claimed they’ve never seen this before.
Well, it happened again last week! The only public charger I used (and allegedly broke my port) was a Chargepoint charger at my doctors office Again they cited “operator error” and a faulty charger. I’m going to have them fix it again and take them to small claims or lemon law court.

I did a search on the internet, and it doesn’t seem to be an issue for anyone else.

Can anyone here shed some light?

Thanks!

 

[henrydehoja]

Welcome!

I've never heard about your unfortunate issue. Have you contacted ChargePoint to see what they can do about it?

 

[GerryAZ]

Can you post any photos showing the broken pins and/or the charger plug that caused the issue? I have over 200,000 miles driving/charging LEAFs and have never damaged a charge port.

 

[ToddNiesen]

As a matter of fact, they took a picture, but I’m having trouble figuring out how to post it here. Says the photo needs to exist on the internet.

 

[cwerdna]

You may be able to upload to https://imgur.com/. https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=2456&start=20 has some other hints if you don't wish to pay for membership.

My work has dozens of https://www.chargepoint.com/businesses/ac-stations/ct4000 pretty much all used on weekdays (at least Mon and Tues + Thu and Fri pre-COVID) for years until COVID. Post-COVID, once folks really started showing up to the office, we get pretty heavy utilization Tues thru Thurs. I charged various EVs on those for years. We also used to have CT2000/2100 series (see bottom of https://web.archive.org/web/20200226150908/https://www.chargepoint.com/products/guides/). I was using those since end of July 2013 for years.

My former Leafs nor any of my other EVs have ever suffered any charging inlet problems from these nor have I ever heard of any employees having inlet problems charging at work.

I charged my former '13 Leafs quite a bit on the above from end of July 2013 to end of Jan 2019. From that point until March 2020, it was sometimes my former '13 Leaf or my former '19 Bolt. I would sometimes switch which car I'd drive to work.

I've also used a fair amount of public CT4000 public L2 charging and some CT2000/2100 in the past and not had any inlet issues.

 

[ToddNiesen]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YYfkRcD0WZAkmuCnQF3me_bkbpueAvWD/view?usp=sharing

 

[GerryAZ]

It is hard to tell from the photo, but looks like the two small control/interlock pins may be broken. If someone stuck something into the recesses in the plug and then you plugged it into the car, it could possibly break the small control/interlock pins in the port on the car. Obviously, foreign objects in a charging station plug would not be Nissan's fault so I can understand their reluctance (refusal) to repair your car under warranty.

I rarely use public L2 charging stations since purchasing the 2019 SL Plus, but never had a problem with the previous cars. Except for my home and workshop garage charging stations (which are behind locked garage doors and not accessible to anyone else), I always look at the plug to make sure everything looks OK before plugging it into the port on the car. I suggest that you make it a habit to check the plug of a public charging station before plugging it into the port on your car.

 

[ToddNiesen]

Update: So it turns out the Chargepoint charging plug was indeed breaking my pins. Both my home Chargepoint, and the last one I used at my doctors office no longer fit into the port of my car, suggesting there is a pin broken off inside the plug, although I cannot visually see anything wrong with the plug. I’m gonna try to get Chargepoint to pick up some of the cost of my repairs.

Knowing that, has anyone heard of this issue before?

 

[dhyatt]

Hi All,

I purchased a used 2019 Leaf about six months ago from a Nissan dealership. Three months ago, two pins in the charge port were broken off. Nissan refused to pay for the repair, stating that a charger broke the pins (basically blaming me for misuse). I’ve got a brand new Chargepoint charger at home, and rarely use public chargers. I raised hell and got them to waive the labor cost, but I had to still pay for the $1,300 part. They claimed they’ve never seen this before.
Well, it happened again last week! The only public charger I used (and allegedly broke my port) was a Chargepoint charger at my doctors office Again they cited “operator error” and a faulty charger. I’m going to have them fix it again and take them to small claims or lemon law court.

I did a search on the internet, and it doesn’t seem to be an issue for anyone else.

Can anyone here shed some light?

Thanks!

Take them to small claims court... for the price they would charge for the repair. Those pins were broken when they sold it to you... unless you forced it and broke them. and its just a bolt in part..so get then assembly from a junkyard (wrecked leaf) and bolt it in yourself.