Annual battery check

Just had an interesting experience regarding the annual battery check for my 2013 Leaf. Before my one year anniversary I received emails from Nissan reminding me that I needed to bring the Leaf in for the battery check. I knew this already but it was nice to get the reminder anyway.

So last week I took it in to the same dealer where I leased the car last year. When the service guy listed the things they would do (including rotating the tires and installing the passenger air bag software update) he did not mention the battery check. I reminded him about it, and he claimed it was not necessary yet because I only had 9,000 miles on the car so there was no point. He said it should be done at 15,000 miles. I said are you sure, I really think it is supposed to be done annually, and he said yes.

Then yesterday I got another email from Nissan that basically said hey, we noticed that you still haven't done your annual battery check. I replied to that email saying that I took the car in but the dealer said the check wasn't necessary. Since it was an automated email I didn't really expect a response but I figured it was worth a shot.

Then to my surprise Nissan called me directly this morning and said "What dealer was this?" and the next thing I know they are on the phone with the dealer telling them what's what and making another appointment for me to bring the car back in.

Annoyed that I have to bring the car in twice, but surprised anyone read my email and impressed that Nissan responded so quickly. I guess this is just another data point about dealerships.

I do believe the battery check is 1 year or 15,000 miles.
Similarly, in an ICE oil is changed every 3 months or 3,000 miles. But, that's a whole can of worms right there.

Interesting. As I type, my 2013 SV is sitting at the dealership 30 miles away in Winchester, VA having it's first annual battery check as well as the passenger air bag software update performed. Mileage-wise, I'm at 10,920 and actually a month overdue on the check (got the car in June 2013, but the dealership in Bowie, MD where we leased screwed-up our initial paperwork resulting in Nissan giving us a lease "start" date of August 2013, so I'm splitting the difference between June and August and having it done in July!). Service guys at the Winchester, VA dealership saw the mileage when we dropped it off last night and didn't say a word.

Never got any correspondence (e-mail or otherwise) from Nissan about the battery check. Heck, I rarely get anything from them LOL!

Gee... I can't imagine why Tesla doesn't want to work with a dealer system! I can't imagine how much **** like this Nissan needs to put up with on a regular basis.

According to the 2011 Owner's Manual:
The battery check is to be done every year regardless of mileage.

mctom987 said:

I do believe the battery check is 1 year or 15,000 miles.
Similarly, in an ICE oil is changed every 3 months or 3,000 miles. But, that's a whole can of worms right there.

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Yep, that is true for all MY Leafs... You have a plus or minus 3 month window in which to have to done...

Rule number 1 : Never (NEVER!) believe anything a dealer tells you without independently verifying it!

91040 said:

According to the 2011 Owner's Manual:
The battery check is to be done every year regardless of mileage.

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^ And to point out that it's annually based on the original "in service" date of the vehicle when new (for those who may have bought pre-owned).

TomT said:

Yep, that is true for all MY Leafs... You have a plus or minus 3 month window in which to have to done...

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I'm pretty sure you're actually supposed to wait until AFTER your anniversary date for the battery check. There had been posts here where Nissan refused to reimburse the dealers for the yearly battery reports that were run too early (just days ahead of time as I remember). I'm a few days away from my anniversary date (10,500 miles including parking it for six weeks due to the shoulder injury from tripping on my Leaf power cord), so mine is about to go in for the the first time since I purchased it.

swaltner said:

I'm pretty sure you're actually supposed to wait until AFTER your anniversary date for the battery check. There had been posts here where Nissan refused to reimburse the dealers for the yearly battery reports that were run too early (just days ahead of time as I remember). I'm a few days away from my anniversary date (10,500 miles including parking it for six weeks due to the shoulder injury from tripping on my Leaf power cord), so mine is about to go in for the the first time since I purchased it.

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You can definitely do it either side of your anniversary date. If you call the 877-NO GAS EV hotline, they'll tell you so. I'm not sure it's as early as 3-months out though.

I'm going by what I was told in Phoenix by those that, theoretically at least, should know... However, they DID say it might be an issue if you were three month late the first time and then tried it three months early the next time... Six months between them would not work. They want at least 9 months.

mwalsh said:

You can definitely do it either side of your anniversary date. If you call the 877-NO GAS EV hotline, they'll tell you so. I'm not sure it's as early as 3-months out though.

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I had mine done 2 weeks before the 1 year date. No problems.

mwalsh said:

You can definitely do it either side of your anniversary date. If you call the 877-NO GAS EV hotline, they'll tell you so. I'm not sure it's as early as 3-months out though.

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Turns out the window is 3 months either side of your in-service date. I posted that myself back in October of last year in another thread, after I checked for my own car:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13793&p=333565" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hmm, I took my leased 2013 Leaf to Stevens Creek Nissan on Saturday for the Annual Battery Check / One Year Maintenance (it was 1 day short of being exactly one year since I leased it) and it looks like they didn't do the Annual Battery Check, because I don't see anything about it on the service report. :-(

Dealers. Gotta' loathe 'em. :lol:

Sorry if this is off topic (and hijacking), but what does the battery check cost? Is it the same from dealer to dealer? and how long does it take?

what else is there to do on the 1 year check apart from the battery check? no oil, no moving engine parts. probably tire rotation and wash fluid?

Plus or minus three months from the in service date is OK for meeting the test requirement and maintaining the battery warranties.
But Nissan will not reimburse the dealer if it is done early.
Has to be > 1 year after the in service date.
Learned this from the service department manager who also drives a LEAF.
He knows what he is talking about.
Don't schedule the first two early. That will just cause them to not be reimbursed.

Think my local dealer may have been stiffed by Nissan in this fashion. When I tried to schedule my 24 month check today, they told me only the first one is free and it would cost me $150. Of course, they're also known to be high on the dishonesty and dim scales, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Just kidding, they're hopeless liars. Anyway, showed them the text in the service manual, and hey, it is free. Typical.

I decided I'm not going to bother with it. Dealers suck, and I would have to trailer the car to a dealer. Screw that. No way I'm going to lose 3 bars by 2017 anyway.

jkline said:

I decided I'm not going to bother with it. Dealers suck, and I would have to trailer the car to a dealer. Screw that. No way I'm going to lose 3 bars by 2017 anyway.

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Its not just the capacity warranty that requires the annual "test".
Also needed for the 8 year 100,000 mile warranty.