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paulk

Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
Messages
17
my 2013 leaf has been having a well known 'grabby' brake issue where I cannot ever come to a smooth complete stop.
I took the car to the dealer for checkup and tech claims he was not able to duplicate the problem and when asked if there were any other same case on other leafs and he says it's he's first case. he told me he even searched other dealers for similar case issue but found nothing.

so i called Nissan Leaf consumer affairs, opened the case for investigation and she also claims my case if the first one and recommended I take the car back to the dealer for test drive with the tech to duplicate the issue.

knowing that this is a well known issue for many many leaf drivers, it just seems that Nissan is just trying to ignore this issue because either they cannot fix it or do not want to open the can of worm.

i am anxious to find out what other leaf drivers had experienced when they took their car in to the dealer with the same issue.

thanks in advance.
 
paulk said:
my 2013 leaf has been having a well known 'grabby' brake issue where I cannot ever come to a smooth complete stop.
I took the car to the dealer for checkup and tech claims he was not able to duplicate the problem and when asked if there were any other same case on other leafs and he says it's he's first case. he told me he even searched other dealers for similar case issue but found nothing.

so i called Nissan Leaf consumer affairs, opened the case for investigation and she also claims my case if the first one and recommended I take the car back to the dealer for test drive with the tech to duplicate the issue.

knowing that this is a well known issue for many many leaf drivers, it just seems that Nissan is just trying to ignore this issue because either they cannot fix it or do not want to open the can of worm.

i am anxious to find out what other leaf drivers had experienced when they took their car in to the dealer with the same issue.

thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Interesting. There was a TSB on this for our model year, and I had it done at the 1 year checkup. It was a substantial improvement, and I would now rate it good. I will have to look for my post on this and see if I can find the bulletin number.
 
I have a late 2013 so wondering if any adjustment that needed to be made was made but then again, I avoid the brake pedal as much as possible so maybe I just haven't gotten around to the situation that will cause this issue
 
OK, this is what I found from the grabby brake thread:

SB 2013 LEAF; Brake Pedal Sensitive at Speeds Below 15 MPH
Summary of NTB14017:
If YOU CONFIRM Customer may experience some brake sensitivity at speeds below 15 mph. The customer may experience this issue while in stop-and-go traffic conditions. And No DTCs are present in the Electrically-driven Intelligent Brake Control Unit.* If DTCs are present, refer to the specific section of the applicable Electronic Service Manual (ESM) and diagnose first. ACTION 1. Refer to step 14 in the SERVICE PROCEDURE to confirm this bulletin applies to the vehicle you are working on. 2. If this bulletin applies, reprogram the Electrically-driven Intelligent Brake Control Unit with CONSULT III plus (CIII plus). Please see this bulletin for further details.

I think that is what I had done, and it really made the car seem much more like a normal car. Otherwise it was whiplash for me and my passengers at low speeds!
 
thanks daniel for the insight on TSB and experience.
I will forward your information to nissan service center and see what they say.

i'm just surprised at how the dealer nor corp office cannot locate this tsb on my leaf.
 
Interesting, my 2013 does this, my wife's 2015 doesn't. I'll have to contact the dealer and see if they can smooth the brakes out. Very annoying how the brakes work.
 
This problem is as old as the LEAF. There are TSB's starting in 2012 to address the issue. With varying degrees of success. (In my case, it helped a lot but didn't cure it). I can't understand how they aren't able to figure this one out. If it were my project, I'd have logging devices attached all over the car's innards and find out what is causing the problem. Probably someone left out a closing brace somewhere in the code. Long ago. But the other EV's (and hybrids) don't do this, as far as I know.
 
Here's a procedure posted elsewhere, that has been reported to help the problem (at least temporarily). Some users report an even simpler procedure: Just hold the brake pedal down quite firmly for several seconds when at a stop.

1) Turn on car and turn off the traction control (button on left side of driver)
2) Put in ECO (D might work too but I didn't try)
3) Drive forward a little
4) Press the brake pedal slowly and very firmly
5) Hold pedal down firmly for a good 30 seconds
6) Drive around the block to test
7) Put traction control back on
Click to expand...
 
dndrich said:
SB 2013 LEAF; Brake Pedal Sensitive at Speeds Below 15 MPH
Summary of NTB14017:
If YOU CONFIRM Customer may experience some brake sensitivity at speeds below 15 mph. The customer may experience this issue while in stop-and-go traffic conditions. And No DTCs are present in the Electrically-driven Intelligent Brake Control Unit.* ...

I think that is what I had done, and it really made the car seem much more like a normal car. Otherwise it was whiplash for me and my passengers at low speeds!
Click to expand...
Yes, I had this done on my '13 Leaf. Grabby brake quirk is gone. Prior to the update, it was very unpredictable when the brakes would be grabby at low speeds.
p4ck37p1mp said:
Interesting, my 2013 does this, my wife's 2015 doesn't. I'll have to contact the dealer and see if they can smooth the brakes out. Very annoying how the brakes work.
Click to expand...
It only applies to '13 Leafs:
"APPLIED VEHICLE VIN AND DATE: 2013 LEAF (ZE0) Built before 1N4AZ0CP(*)DC 421981 and NOV 02, 2013"
Any newer Leaf would already have this newer firmware.

One can download TSBs for the Leaf at http://x.nissanhelp.com/forums/Knowledgebase.html?catid=651#.VAt2_qP_LwM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://x.nissanhelp.com/forums/Knowledgebase.html?catid=691#.VAt3HaP_LwN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. You can download 2 files/day with a free account there.
 
finally got through to Nissan Consumer Affairs through FACEBOOK. it seems like social media complaints works best these days.
they called to make an appt at nearby nissan dealer for TSB: NTB-14-017 to update my program.

but I made sure consumer affairs rep known that all dealers should be able to access the TSB so that consumer don't have to search for them.
 

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