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2016 Nissan LEAF recalls, complaints and safety ratings

There are 4 US recalls for the 2016 Nissan LEAF, and 5 in Canada. Owners filed 36 complaints with NHTSA, most often about service brakes. Its best NHTSA overall crash rating is 4 stars.

4US recalls
0urgent recalls
36owner complaints
4★overall crash rating

Is your car affected?

Check by VIN to confirm the exact model and see every recall for it.

Recalls are issued for a make, model and model year. Whether the repair has already been done on one specific car is known only to its manufacturer and dealers. Check your vehicle's official status at nhtsa.gov/recalls or with a dealer.

US recalls (4)

Equipment: other, owners/service/other manual

2023-04-26 · campaign 23V296000 · 94,343 vehicles

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2013-2017 LEAF vehicles. The Owner's Manual instructions for defroster operation are incorrect and may result in reduced defroster performance under specific conditions. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 103, "Windshield Defrosting and Defogging Systems."

Risk and remedy

Risk: Reduced defroster performance can limit visibility out of the windshield, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Nissan will mail an addendum with updated instructions on how to operate the defroster, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed May 26, 2023. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is R23A1.

Air bags

2017-04-13 · campaign 17V253000 · 30,038 vehicles

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2015-2017 LEAF and 2014, 2016 and 2017 Sentra vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error within the air bag inflators, the passenger frontal air bag may not properly deploy in the event of a crash.

Risk and remedy

Risk: In the event of a crash, if the front passenger air bag doesn't deploy properly, it can increase the risk of injury to passengers.

Remedy: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began June 7, 2017. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

Air bags: frontal, passenger side

2016-06-15 · campaign 16V436000 · 4,355 vehicles

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016 LEAF vehicles manufactured February 24, 2016, to March 23, 2016, and Sentra vehicles manufactured February 9, 2016, to March 4, 2016. The wiring harness connector may disconnect from the dual-stage passenger air bag.

Risk and remedy

Risk: If the wiring harness disconnects, the passenger air bag may not to deploy during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.

Remedy: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the wiring harness connector for proper engagement and, if necessary, replace the passenger air bag module and main body harness, free of charge. The recall began on August 9, 2016. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

Air bags: sensor, occupant classification

2016-04-26 · campaign 16V244000 · 3,296,947 vehicles

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima, 2013-2016 Nissan Altima, NV200, LEAF, Sentra, and Pathfinder, 2014-2016 Nissan NV200 Taxi, Infiniti QX60, QX60 Hybrid, and Q50 Hybrid, 2014-2017 Nissan Rogue and Infiniti Q50, 2015-2016 Nissan Murano, Murano Hybrid, and Chevrolet City Express, 2014-2015 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles. In these vehicles, the front seat passenger Occupant Classification System (OCS) may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied. As a result, the passenger frontal air bag may be turned off and not deploy in the event of a crash.

Risk and remedy

Risk: If the passenger frontal air bag does not deploy as intended in the event of a crash, the passenger is at an increased risk of injury.

Remedy: Nissan will notify their owners. Chevrolet City Express owners will be notified by General Motors. Dealers will reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, and Sentra vehicles, and replace the OCS ECU in LEAF, NV200, NV200 Taxi, Pathfinder, Infiniti Q50, JX35, and QX60 and Chevrolet City Express vehicles, free of charge. Interim notices were sent to owners on May 31, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy parts become available. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-867-7669, Infiniti customer service at 1-888-833-3216 or Chevrolet customer service at 1-800-222-1020.

Canadian recalls (5)

Show 5 Canadian recalls

Heater and defroster

2023-04-03 · campaign 2023-225

Issue: When the temperature is below -10° C, the defroster may not work properly if you follow the instructions in the owner's manual and use the maximum fan speed. As a result, you may not be able to defrost the windshield. Note: This is an expansion of Transport Canada recall 2023-045. Safety Risk: A windshield that cannot be defogged or defrosted can reduce visibility and increase the risk of a crash. Corrective Actions: Nissan will notify owners by mail and supply an addendum to the owner's manual that provides the correct settings for using the defroster when the temperature is below -10° C.

Brakes

2019-02-01 · campaign 2019-044

Issue: When the car is parked in very cold temperatures for a long time, a relay in the brake system may freeze. If this happens, multiple brake warnings will stay on in the instrument cluster after the car is started. The driver may also notice a hard brake pedal. If the car is driven, this could cause an increase in stopping distance. Safety Risk: An increase in stopping distance could create the risk of a crash. Corrective Actions: The company will mail owners a letter explaining this problem. The letter will describe how the brake warnings work. Drivers should not drive the car if the warnings stay on. Nissan will provide a 4 year/80,000 km warranty extension to repair the problem with relay freezing.

Airbag

2017-04-18 · campaign 2017-215

On certain vehicles, the passenger's frontal airbag may not deploy correctly due to an issue in manufacturing. As a result of long-term storage, there could be insufficient compression strength of the coolant within the inflator housing of the passenger's frontal airbag, which may cause the airbag to fail to deploy properly in the event of a crash (where deployment is warranted), which could increase the risk of injury to the front passenger occupant. Correction: Dealers will replace the passenger's frontal airbag inflator.

Airbag

2016-06-14 · campaign 2016-302 · 165 vehicles

On certain vehicles, the wiring harness connector for the dual stage passenger airbag may not have been manufactured to specification, allowing the connector to become partially disconnected from the airbag. In the event of a crash, this could result in a non-deployment of the second stage of the airbag which could increase the risk of injury to the passenger. Correction: Dealers will inspect for proper connection and replace the passenger airbag module and wiring harness as necessary.

Seats and restraints

2016-04-25 · campaign 2016-179

On certain vehicles, a defect in the occupant classification system could allow an adult sitting in the front passenger seat to be classified as a child or an “empty seat”. This would suppress the airbag, which could increase the risk of injury in a crash. Correction: For affected Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue and Sentra vehicles, dealers will reprogram the airbag control unit and the occupant classification system control unit. For affected Leaf, NV200, Pathfinder, Q50 and JX35/QX60 vehicles, dealers will replace the occupant classification system electronic control unit.

Owner complaints (36)

Owners filed 36 complaints with NHTSA about the 2016 Nissan LEAF (1 crashes, 1 fires reported). Among 17 model years of this model, it ranks #10 for the most complaints (median 57).

Most-reported problemComplaints
Service brakes16
Electrical system13
Fuel/propulsion system8
Air bags3
Engine3
Power train3
Steering2
Unknown or other1

Crash test ratings

NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings for the 2016 Nissan LEAF.

VersionOverallFrontalSideRollover
2016 Nissan Leaf 5 HB FWD4★4★4★4★

Fuel economy

EPA ratings for each 2016 Nissan LEAF version.

VersionCity MPGHighway MPGCombinedYearly fuel cost
Leaf (24 kW-hr battery pack) Automatic (A1)126101114$650
Leaf (30 kW-hr battery pack) Automatic (A1)124101112$650
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Sources: NHTSA recalls, complaints and 5-Star Safety Ratings, US EPA fuel economy and Transport Canada's Vehicle Recalls Database (contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada). Recalls updated 2026-10-30.