2011 Leaf defaulting to neutral when charging

Has anyone else had this situation with their 2011 Leaf SL nav?

The car is on a hill and left in drive. The car is not turned off or put into Park. Person gets out of the car, and plugs in the charger.
Instead of the car defaults to Park it defaults to neutral causing the car to roll down the hill.

My question is why wouldn't this car have a safety feature where at anytime the electricity is plugged into it, the car defaults to Park.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Jim

Ok I have to ask why on earth would you leave the car in drive (not in park) and get out of it? That seems REALLY dangerous. I can say when it was cold out I have shut the car off in park, then plugged it in, then turned the car back on so I could turn the heat on, at that point it won't let you switch to forward or reverse, never thought to try neutral.

My guess is the car can't be trying to drive while charging, but I would assume it would go into park as well rather than neutral. Otherwise you could use a genset and plug it in and charge (or use up the power the genset is generating) while driving along, which would be cool, but doesn't work.

It is one of those situations the programmers didn't properly account for, because you are creating a situation that should never exist. You are getting out of the vehicle with it in Drive, the parking brake is not set (which should always be done when parked on a hill), and you are plugging in with it in Ready mode. In my 2013, the charging door won't open with the vehicle in Ready, it has to be turned off. The default behavior, if you turn it off while in Drive, it to put it in Park.

baustin said:

It is one of those situations the programmers didn't properly account for, because you are creating a situation that should never exist. You are getting out of the vehicle with it in Drive, the parking brake is not set (which should always be done when parked on a hill), and you are plugging in with it in Ready mode. In my 2013, the charging door won't open with the vehicle in Ready, it has to be turned off. The default behavior, if you turn it off while in Drive, it to put it in Park.

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The bolded part is the big no-no.

On the '13+ Leaf, they went to a push button electrical charging door release that prevents what you mention. On the '11 and '12, it was mechanical (kinda like the hood release) and there's no interlock to prevent you from opening the charge door while the car's in READY mode.

Is it possible the OP is staying in the car but the passenger is the one getting out and plugging the car in? That would make far more sense as I'd think the driver getting out of the car while still in gear(or drive) will have the effect of the car creeping forward :shock:
On my Prius opening the drivers door while in gear results in a very nasty message on the display, big triangle I believe with a big ! in the middle of it and some strong languate, I think it also makes a constant beep sound as well.
The occasional time I do this on my Prius is when driving it up my car ramps. I have to open the drivers door far enough to see the tire driving up the ramp and so I know when to stop. It doesn't work to simply try and look out the window, can't see the front tire doing that.

I had a somewhat similar problem that was fixed by the P3227 update, so my question is whether the update has been done.

My 2013 won't open the charge door unless the car is off. When I turn the car off, it goes into park. Is the 2011 different, or are you leaving the charge door open when you start the car to create this condition?

Staque said:

My 2013 won't open the charge door unless the car is off. When I turn the car off, it goes into park. Is the 2011 different, or are you leaving the charge door open when you start the car to create this condition?

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The '11 and '12 do NOT have a button driven electrical release for the charging door that Nissan changed to for '13+. They have a lever/handle that you pull next to the hood release and I'm pretty sure there's no interlock (unlike '13+) to prevent it from being opened when the car's in certain states (e.g. READY).

Also, from the '11 manual (page CH-10):

To start normal charge:
1. When charging the Li-ion battery, place the
power switch in the OFF position. When the
power switch is in the ON position, the Li-
on battery will not start charging.

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Can the '13 and later models be put in D with the charge port already open? While more difficult to recreate a similar condition may then exist for them as in the OP if so.

Valdemar said:

Can the '13 and later models be put in D with the charge port already open?

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I'm pretty sure they can. I've accidentally backed up and possibly gone forward w/the charging door open. My clue was the the front view in the Around View Monitor was messed up.

I'm quite sure I've seen (2013+) Leaf S drive w/the charging door wide open. There are some Leaf S used as security cars at the location where I go for free public L2 charging sometimes. Their cars definitely have no front camera and I recall a guard backing out of a space and driving to another w/the charging door open.

cwerdna said:

I'm quite sure I've seen (2013+) Leaf S drive w/the charging door wide open.

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My wife has done it once, but on my 2015, it's possible. No warning messages or lights. Happened when I came home, popped the charge port door open, forgot to plug it in, and she took the car driving somewhere. So yes, it was really my fault.

While you can leave the charge port open, then turn the car on and you plug it in, it doesn't do anything, on the 2013 anyway.

Just for fun I tried this with the car on and it did nothing on the EVSE side or car side. I then had my wife leave it in drive with the brake on while I plugged the EVSE in and again it didn't do anything, the car stayed in drive and ignored being plugged in, no beeping, nothing on the car side or the EVSE side.

This appears to be normal behavior according to 2012 Service manual Rev 2014 June:

• Li-ion battery charge does not start when the power switch is ON. When it is required to charge with the
power switch ON, start charging before turning ON the power switch.
• VCM group*: except for A: When the charging connector is connected to the charge port, the shift position remains in P position even
when the selector lever knob is operated with the power switch ON.
• VCM group*: except for A: When the charging connector is connected to the charge port in the READY state, READY is turned OFF,
the power switch is turned ON, and the shift position is changed to N position.

The VCM group A are I believe the first version of the controllers, which appear to have lacked this feature. Presumably it was added as an interlock to help prevent driving away while charging. If the driver is depressing the brake while still in drive, while a second person plugs in the charger, and then the driver releases the brake I suppose that would be a problem. Alternatively this condition could be interpreted as a possible failure of the electronic shift control system, as that's the other error condition I see that results in shift to neutral.