Nissan ends annual battery check/report requirement?

Hi all, first post. Purchased 2022 SV Plus in Sept. 2021. Visited the dealership last week for my first annual battery report which is supposed to be free for the first two years. They said it's no longer free and in fact it is no longer required to maintain the battery warranty. They stated the requirement changed in Dec. 2021. I opened a case with corporate and they verified these details but would not send me anything in writing. I'm surprised Nissan has not notified owners about this since we sign some papers during the purchase process which details the possible battery degradation over time and that these annual checks are required to maintain the 8 yr/100K mile battery warranty. I thought everyone would be interested in this information. Please share if anyone has additional information.

To clarify, they stated this applies starting with model year 2022 vehicles.

I'd have to check, but I think the dealership "forgot" my first annual check on the '21. Maybe it's just being abandoned...

"and that these annual checks are required to maintain the 8 yr/100K mile battery warranty."

I've never read that. The wording I've seen is a lot more ambiguous and is meant to convince people it is required.

Here is the exact language from the 2019 Service and Maintenance Guide on page 9:

EV Battery Usage Report
To maximize the life of your Li-ion battery, have the EV Battery Usage Report generated and reviewed with you. Review of
the EV Battery Usage Report is required as a condition of EV battery warranty. Refer to your 2019 LEAF warranty information
booklet for details. Both the 12 month and 24 month inspections will be performed by your Nissan LEAF certified dealer
at no cost to the vehicle owner.

I have the third annual battery test scheduled for Friday for my 2019 SL Plus. The service advisor did not say anything about the requirement being eliminated, but I will ask when I check in. It is a small cost to eliminate any possible excuse for Nissan to void the battery warranty.

^^ Fair enough.
One report has to be reviewed

There are also disclaimers in the Warranty Information Booklet which I did not copy and paste. I am following the service and maintenance guide requirements to make sure warranty coverage is not jeopardized. Others need to decide for themselves whether or not to have the annual tests performed. FWIW Nissan Customer Service called me to start the battery replacement process on my 2011 shortly after the second annual battery test and long before I received any information regarding the class action lawsuit from the plaintiff attorneys. I intended to wait until ambient temperatures cooled off in the fall before contacting Nissan to request battery replacement, but Customer Service called me.

I posted this in a different place yesterday, but I "finally" got around to having a battery check done after almost 3 years and a bit over 36Kmiles, the dealer service manager assured me that Nissan does not consider this essential to keeping the longer warranty in place (of course he did...). He says that Nissan will stand behind the battery anyway. And BTW their battery check is about as elemental as the readout on the dashboard- 12 bars with no details whatsoever. So, hoping not to have battery issues and hoping that, if I do, Nissan honors the warranty.

That report was never really meant for the driver. Nissan gets a much more detailed report.

I hope so..... but why not include the driver? suppose I could get it? it would be interesting to see if it is more comprehensive than LeafSpy......

LeftieBiker said:

That report was never really meant for the driver. Nissan gets a much more detailed report.

Click to expand...

I always wonder why Nissan would not automate this process on the always connected models of the car. It would be a simple software tweak for their BMS to report monthly stats etc back to mothership via wifi etc.

I took cars in for their 2 free ones but have since stopped as they told it was going to be $100 per battery check going forward.

Thanks for all the feedback. For what it's worth, the dealer documented this on the service receipt so I think I'm covered: "Customer states needs annual battery report - as per Nissan no longer required for warranty and test not covered."

The dealers in my area told me only a certified Leaf tech can do that check...the problem is there are not many of those techs in my area....I had to call several Nissan dealers before I found one certified tech at a Nissan dealer in the Baton Rouge area.

My money is on... they don't have the personnel to do the proper check throughout the Nissan dealer network.

DougWantsALeaf said:

I took cars in for their 2 free ones but have since stopped as they told it was going to be $100 per battery check going forward.

Click to expand...

That is outrageous--I never paid anywhere near that amount for the 2011 or 2015. I will find out Friday how much it is now at my dealer. I am getting them done unless I get some documentation regarding warranty coverage because I live in a hot climate and want to be sure Nissan cannot claim that I did not follow all of their requirements (just in case some weak cells show up before 8 years or 100,000 miles).

No charge for my recent battery check at the local dealer....

Boulder Nissan also told me the battery check is no longer required, and they're generally pretty Leaf-savvy. However, out of an abundance of caution, I asked for one anyway. Would have been $45, but they forgot to do it, so they did it free of charge this year.

We have decided to keep the car a while longer, and add solar to the house. We'll see how things work out the next couple of years.

GerryAZ said:

DougWantsALeaf said:

I took cars in for their 2 free ones but have since stopped as they told it was going to be $100 per battery check going forward.

Click to expand...

That is outrageous--I never paid anywhere near that amount for the 2011 or 2015. I will find out Friday how much it is now at my dealer. I am getting them done unless I get some documentation regarding warranty coverage because I live in a hot climate and want to be sure Nissan cannot claim that I did not follow all of their requirements (just in case some weak cells show up before 8 years or 100,000 miles).

Click to expand...

I may forgo the annual battery test and brake fluid replacement every 2 years after today. The battery test and brake fluid replacement were over twice what I paid the last time for the 2015. The dealer recommended reduction gear oil change and coolant change at 3 years--I respectfully declined after seeing the price for the battery test and brake fluid replacement. I will be doing the reduction gear oil change soon, but don't see a need to change the coolant for a while. The Matic S fluid was $14 per quart so I purchased 2 quarts in preparation for the oil change.

Any idea if the doc at https://www.reddit.com/r/leaf/comments/10481pd/ev_battery_usage_report_no_longer_needed/ is authentic?

Earlier, I briefly checked at https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2022/NISSAN/LEAF%252520(40%252520KWH%252520BATTERY)/5%252520HB/FWD#manufacturerCommunications and didn't see it under there.

cwerdna said:

Any idea if the doc at is authentic?

Earlier, I briefly checked at 2022 NISSAN LEAF (40 KWH BATTERY) 5 HB FWD | NHTSA and didn't see it under there.

Click to expand...

• The first 2 battery Usage Reports are still free, for 2022 or earlier models.
• A dealership service dept. might at first try to get you to pay $80-$120 for one of those nearly-useless usage reports. Be persistent and tell them it's free for the first 2 (2022 and older models only).
• Any mention of Battery Usage Reports, free or not, are missing from '23 & newer owner's manuals.
• Looks to me & Nissan too like you don't need it going forward to keep the important warranty.

I downloaded that document on Reddit just in case I need to produce it during the long 8-year battery warranty period! Might help my potential claim.(?) They might deny a warranty claim like so many car makers try --- and succeed --- doing, daring you to go out and get a lawyer, tie up months, and go up against their argument-lawyer-machine. Stories about that pop up from time to time.

That said, yesterday, Dec. 28, 2023, I had my 2nd annual Battery Usage Report done for free. ('22 SV+)
The dealership service advisor at first told me it will be $80 or so. I mentioned the 2-free-ones thing in the Owner's Manual (OM), and she met with her manager and told me later I was right, it is free. (A dealership will try to charge you directly because they usually get far more money than billing Nissan for warranty work.)

I think Nissan might be just honoring their wording in the OM, although the Battery Usage Report mention is now missing from any Leaf OM newer than '22 models.

I don't want to pay for these in the future, won't do them any more, so I will lean on Nissan deciding they aren't completely necessary from now on.
I'll simply let the "Check Engine" light or some malfunction "thrown OBD code", so to speak, on the dashboard alert me to a future possible problem, as Nissan has designed it, if and when it happens.
And LeafSpy checks of course, maybe documented once a year.