Heat stops working until I restart my Leaf?

2012 Leaf SV

So here's a fun one. I'll be driving down the road with the heat on and all of the sudden I realize it's getting cold in my car. I look at the energy usage screen and notice that the climate control system is using no energy. I've tried turning the system off and back on. Off...waiting a while...back on. Nothing. The only way I've been able to get it to turn back on again is to stop...turn off the car...wait about 10-15 seconds (or however long I have at a stop signal/sign)...and start it up again.

It doesn't seem to matter if it's really cold out or just "chilly". There isn't a timeframe where it does this but typically shortly after the start of my trip. I thought it might have been because I would switch to eco mode but that doesn't seem to matter.

I know it doesn't have the best heating system, but I doubt it should be pumping in cold, outside air and not using any energy when it typically pulls between 3.5 and 5KWh. Ideas?

Not offhand. There is what sounds like a similar glitch (but isn't) in the A/C mode of the heatpump-equipped cars. That has to do with the car trying to prevent the A/C from icing, or overheating, or some such thing, at low speeds. (I just got up.) You seem to have either a failing thermostat or some component in the heater controls that is shutting down when it should be staying on. Hopefully someone more familiar with the 'water heated' Leafs will recognize this...

I've had this issue in my 12sv leaf.
After extensive monitoring using leaf spy..I've discovered a couple this that produce this anomalous behaviour.
If you are sitting in your car in the run state of ignition with your heat on while plugged into the charger..then forget to turn your car off before disconnecting the charge plug.
The heater quits. And requires a couple mins time with the car turned off to reset everything.
Another one is that if you're running below about 20 per cent charge on your travels and decide to turn off your heat to save energy ..it won't come back on until the car sees the charge level up to a minimum level again.
Now I don't know exactly what that number is but it seems to be around 20 per cent.
And anytime you get this no heat condition you need to stop the car,turn it off for a few mins then you can restart your car.Everything should then function properly.
It's kind of like restarting your home computer when you have a glitch.

It's easy not to notice when your heater quits until you start feeling cold. Because the fan is still running..which is misleading.

Now I always check my energy screen to monitor heat status while driving.