The rear hatch deck lid handle rubber cover that goes over the switch to open the door and lock and unlock is deteriorating and leaving a sticky gooey rubber ooze. Looking in the parts diagram on various Nissan Parts websites I am only coming up with the entire handle / camera assembly. The diagram does seem to show the switch as a separate part however but I have not successfully found a part number and or source for it. just curious if anyone else has experienced this gooey deterioration and found a suitable replacement without spending the hundred plus dollars on a new handle assembly?
Rear hatch handle rubber cover on open switch deteriorated
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powersurge
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This is a common problem on cars that have little rubber buttons on the car exteriors for opening doors...
I had a Mazda Miata that had them.... People have replace the rubber with pencil erasers or cut a piece of silicone (like the baking ware) to fit. I have not looked at the button you are interested in so I have no idea of how to fix it..
I had a Mazda Miata that had them.... People have replace the rubber with pencil erasers or cut a piece of silicone (like the baking ware) to fit. I have not looked at the button you are interested in so I have no idea of how to fix it..
I haven't had it happen to either of my Leafs but did have it happen to our 10 year old Prius. It started as my fingers occasionally getting black and I couldn't figure out from where :? Then when it deteriorated to being sticky I figured out where the black was coming from. For the Prius I couldn't find a source that sold just the rubber part but did find a Dorman replacement switch and rubber off Amazon for the somewhat ridiculous price or $42 
As I didn't want to mess with replacing the switch I just took the rubber off the new switch and slipped it over my original Prius switch and all was good. $42 for a piece of rubber was a hard pill to swallow but as I didn't want to fabricate a replacement rubber it was really my only option.
This was the switch for my Prius, maybe the make one for the Leaf??
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z7NXF66/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
As I didn't want to mess with replacing the switch I just took the rubber off the new switch and slipped it over my original Prius switch and all was good. $42 for a piece of rubber was a hard pill to swallow but as I didn't want to fabricate a replacement rubber it was really my only option.This was the switch for my Prius, maybe the make one for the Leaf??
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z7NXF66/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's not just exterior rubber buttons either. 2000s era VW's with their "soft touch" buttons on the radio and other dash controls are notorious for falling apart. The buttons still work, but the button surfaces wear off so unless you memorized them you don't know what the button specifically does without pushing on it or reading the owners manual.
