Nuisances

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

useopenid

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Messages
20
Location
Corvallis, OR
I love driving the Leaf, but it does have its share of annoyances:

1. The sun visor is nearly useless for blocking the sun on the side --- it doesn't come anywhere near reaching back far enough. Surely any patent on a simple sliding extender has run out by now...

2. The glove box is tiny and designed to crush things when you close it. A simple, smallish, ice scraper barely fits, and then only at an odd angle. Rather that a door that smashes things, the style that is a tilting bucket is much more usable.

3. Get rid of the idiotic lawyers who think you have to agree to carwings *every* *bloody* *time* you start the thing up!

4. You can disable auto-unlock, but you can't disable the stupid auto-lock in the first place?!? That's the first thing I do in every car that has that nonsense.

I do kinda like the backup guide, even if it's not really needed. It's fun at least, and probably is actually useful once in a blue moon. What would be more useful is having split view with a nose camera so you only have to look in one place to see both areas where you have to watch out for hitting something when turning while backing up.

It's nice you can download your address book, it would be nice if you could also download other things, like a trip log (one reason why I won't deliberately pay the 10x price of builtin nav systems, when the portable ones give me more functionality). I'd also like to be able to download whatever other info is available, like energy usage, diagnostics etc. If the car is going to be a computer, just as well make use of it.
 
useopenid said:
I love driving the Leaf, but it does have its share of annoyances:

1. The sun visor is nearly useless for blocking the sun on the side --- it doesn't come anywhere near reaching back far enough. Surely any patent on a simple sliding extender has run out by now...

2. The glove box is tiny and designed to crush things when you close it. A simple, smallish, ice scraper barely fits, and then only at an odd angle. Rather that a door that smashes things, the style that is a tilting bucket is much more usable.

3. Get rid of the idiotic lawyers who think you have to agree to carwings *every* *bloody* *time* you start the thing up!

4. You can disable auto-unlock, but you can't disable the stupid auto-lock in the first place?!? That's the first thing I do in every car that has that nonsense.

I really agree with your list. Sun visors are pretty useless and the glove box is a joke. Some people said it was a good size.. and maybe that's true but it such an un-useful space. All the items want to fall out as soon as I open the door. It's almost like it's slanted so the items will slide right out once you open the door. And like you said.. it will smash things when you try to close it. Don't even try to open it from the drivers seat. Impossible to get everything back in. Poor design in my opinion.

But luckily the issues are minor and I still love the car overall!

-Peter
 
I have an endless list of nuisances, including some of the items you mention, but lets face it, this is a first affordable electric car, so I am willing to accept of the shortfalls or find workaround...
 
I'm still stuck at being astonished it's an electric car!

Probably get to being annoyed with little things later.
 
I can live with the visor and the glove box, but the auto-lock and the Carwings acknowledgment are eventually going to drive me nuts.

I am intrigued by the range calculation. I am not sure that I have ever driven a mile and had the range go down by a mile. Mostly the range goes down a lot more than a mile/mile, or climbs unexpectedly. The range behaviour seems independent of the little social engineering tree(s) which almost always show up regardless of what the range is showing.

I love the car, but the stupid things will lead me to buy something else when I can - and, yes, whatever that something else is will have other stupid things.
 
useopenid said:
4. You can disable auto-unlock, but you can't disable the stupid auto-lock in the first place?!? That's the first thing I do in every car that has that nonsense.
According to this you can http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2273&start=26 I have not tried it myself yet but it seems the instructions were left out of the user manual but are present in the service manual.
 
My ghetto fabulous solution to the very annoying visor problem.

IMG_0076.JPG
 
useopenid said:
I love driving the Leaf, but it does have its share of annoyances:

1. The sun visor is nearly useless for blocking the sun on the side --- it doesn't come anywhere near reaching back far enough. Surely any patent on a simple sliding extender has run out by now...

must be nice. i live far enough north that extenders that cover the Sun will also obstruct my driving view.
2. The glove box is tiny and designed to crush things when you close it. A simple, smallish, ice scraper barely fits, and then only at an odd angle. Rather that a door that smashes things, the style that is a tilting bucket is much more usable.

stupid safety rule that gloveboxes be designed to not eject their contents in an accident. like i would be concerned about that in a collision that violent??

3. Get rid of the idiotic lawyers who think you have to agree to carwings *every* *bloody* *time* you start the thing up!

make enough noise, hopefully this will be an option to accept once in next flash update

4. You can disable auto-unlock, but you can't disable the stupid auto-lock in the first place?!? That's the first thing I do in every car that has that nonsense.

the fact that you cannot simply open the drivers door to unlock is beyond me.

I do kinda like the backup guide, even if it's not really needed. It's fun at least, and probably is actually useful once in a blue moon. What would be more useful is having split view with a nose camera so you only have to look in one place to see both areas where you have to watch out for hitting something when turning while backing up.

ya, like that would work. probably the reason why so many get dents on the front fenders when backing out. nose cameras only shows you what you missed, not what you are about to hit
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
useopenid said:
I do kinda like the backup guide, even if it's not really needed. It's fun at least, and probably is actually useful once in a blue moon. What would be more useful is having split view with a nose camera so you only have to look in one place to see both areas where you have to watch out for hitting something when turning while backing up.
ya, like that would work. probably the reason why so many get dents on the front fenders when backing out. nose cameras only shows you what you missed, not what you are about to hit
I didn't say that very well: what I want is side-view cameras up front, so the screen shows left-front, rear, right-front for exactly that reason: to avoid running into something with the nose while you're watching your rear...
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
useopenid said:
1. The sun visor is nearly useless for blocking the sun on the side --- it doesn't come anywhere near reaching back far enough. Surely any patent on a simple sliding extender has run out by now...
must be nice. i live far enough north that extenders that cover the Sun will also obstruct my driving view.
On the side, Dave. We're talking about when you swing the visor around to the side window, it is way too far to the front of the window. We don't actually even need a longer visor. An extender rod so you could slide it back further would work just fine.

Are you so far north, Dave, that you would only have this problem when driving west in the middle of a winter day or east on a summer night? :lol:

Ray
 
I have an easier solution to the 'side' visor problem: just slide your seat forward a little to block the sun with the visor. :mrgreen:
 
For me, the major ones are:

Visors too short
Horn wimpy
Carwings nag screen
Non-lighted door and window controls

Oh, and it also kind of bugs me that the majority of the energy penalty from using the climate control actually comes from simply running the fan. Oh, and I'm still not crazy about the steering, though I'm learning to live with it.
 
You must be running the FAN at high speeds?

I usually have the fan on one of the two lowest settings, with no negligable penalty ... but ONLY IF I have the temp setting low enough (61º) to keep the HEATER from coming ON.

Much of the time I also have the A/C on, and the "hit" is usually also very small.

I have not found any way to just keep the heater OFF.
Has anybody else?
 
planet4ever said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
useopenid said:
1. The sun visor is nearly useless for blocking the sun on the side --- it doesn't come anywhere near reaching back far enough. Surely any patent on a simple sliding extender has run out by now...
must be nice. i live far enough north that extenders that cover the Sun will also obstruct my driving view.
On the side, Dave. We're talking about when you swing the visor around to the side window, it is way too far to the front of the window. We don't actually even need a longer visor. An extender rod so you could slide it back further would work just fine.

Are you so far north, Dave, that you would only have this problem when driving west in the middle of a winter day or east on a summer night? :lol:

Ray

Ah Ray were it so simple. unfortunately living at the southern tip of Puget Sound means I-5 meanders around the corner of the Sound then up to Seattle which means our "north-south" freeway runs east-west here. so Sun issues happen MANY times a year and is worst in Spring after brief rain shower. the glare of the water on the freeway can make driving treacherous.

as far as the visor goes, its definitely too short but alas, here in the Pacific NW, the home of SAD (seasonal affective Disorder) the Sun in our eyes is something we dare not complain about because the Sun may get PO'd and NEVER COME BACK!!
 
garygid said:
You must be running the FAN at high speeds?

I usually have the fan on one of the two lowest settings, with no negligable penalty ... but ONLY IF I have the temp setting low enough (61º) to keep the HEATER from coming ON.

Much of the time I also have the A/C on, and the "hit" is usually also very small.

I have not found any way to just keep the heater OFF.
Has anybody else?


hey ya!! i am relatively fairly certainly sure that i did this once and that was blow fan only with no A/C and that indicated no climate control power being used. now that we are getting into Spring-like weather here (a few weeks before Summer...) i want that cool air blowing in but do not want to use A/C. but can not get it to blow forward w/o the A/C automatically coming on??

so how did i do it before? any thoughts?
 
I have a list of my annoyances that haven't already been mentioned in this thread at least, although maybe in some others:

1. Homelink - button not lighted at night - easy to press the wrong button or knock the mirror out of alignment.

2. Homelink - set too far forward on mirror so I have to lean forward- should be on the headliner like in my Acura.

3. Miles left indicator inaccurate (I know this topic has been beaten to death already in other threads)

4. It takes most road bumps and potholes OK at normal/full speed but it really crashes the rear bumper down hard on speed bumps in parking lots even some on streets with 25 MPH speed limit. I have to slow down to about 5 - 8 MPH that I could take at 15 or 20 in my last car.

5. Much too long to get GPS routing started.

6. The GPS tells you of your turn after you've made it or passed it - not when you need it (but this seems to be endemic to other GPS systems, too, at times).

7. No ability to enter destinations/waypoints as lat/lon only. As a geocacher this failure is a major pain.

8. No ability to enter lat/lon waypoints from the USB port or transmit same via computer/Carwings

9. GPS seems to recognize only major intersections. Cannot enter intersections that exist because keyboard greys out the necessary letters.

10. Key fob is too big

11. Panic button too prominent. Should be recessed. I've had one accidental pocket alarm already.

12. Turn signals are too loud and too fast

13. Static electricity on exit. (mentioned in other threads).

14. No pull knob on door locks at window sill - this is a significant safety issue for unlocking in an emergency. Also, it makes it harder to tell if the car is locked or unlocked. When approaching in a parking lot I generally do not take the fob out of my pocket, especially if my hands are full, and sometimes when I press on the handle button I lock the door, thinking I'm unlocking it, but I can't see the usual button go up or down. Then when I pull on the handle with my one free finger, it doesn't yield and I fumble what I'm holding due to the unexpected resistance.

These are minor . I am really happy with the car, though, and I have a list at least this long of things about it that are much better than my previous/other car.
 
Rat said:
I have a list of my annoyances that haven't already been mentioned in this thread at least, although maybe in some others:
11. Panic button too prominent. Should be recessed. I've had one accidental pocket alarm already.
13. Static electricity on exit. (mentioned in other threads).

11. You can buy yourself a 'jacket' (www.thejacketstore.com) that will prevent that and will also protect it.

12. I've never had any static electricity problem probably due to never driving it without seat covers ($40 @ K-Mart). I had them put on at the dealer before I drove it home.
 
Rat said:
11. Panic button too prominent. Should be recessed. I've had one accidental pocket alarm already.
Yup, I've done it three times in the last month.
Rat said:
12. Turn signals are too loud and too fast
Hadn't thought about the too fast part, but I sure second the too loud sentiment.
Rat said:
When approaching in a parking lot I generally do not take the fob out of my pocket, especially if my hands are full, and sometimes when I press on the handle button I lock the door, thinking I'm unlocking it, but I can't see the usual button go up or down. Then when I pull on the handle with my one free finger, it doesn't yield and I fumble what I'm holding due to the unexpected resistance.
I have never taken the fob out of my pocket, not once. Well, except when I change pants. The button thing should be no problem -- one beep = unlock, two beeps = lock.

Here's a nuisance item that has been bugging me: Occasionally when I shut the car down my finger jiggles a bit on the button. (73 year old hands are not as steady as they used to be.) The car takes that as a reboot. I stare blankly at the display for a few seconds then realize the shutdown didn't work. I hit the button again. Still doesn't shut down. One more time and it finally behaves. I understand what's happening; it's all spelled out on p. 5-8 of the owner's manual. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

Ray
 
Back
Top