2019 Nissan Leaf: common problems and reliability

The 2019 Nissan Leaf has 372 owner-filed NHTSA complaints and 5 recalls on record. The most-reported areas are electrical system and fuel/propulsion system. Owners most often flag passive battery thermal management: causes rapid state-of-charge (soc) drop during highway driving in cold weather, battery isolation faults, swollen cells, and long-term health concerns. cited as a fundamental design flaw. frequency: very frequent.

Safety record for the 2019 model year

372
Owner complaints
5
Recalls
8
Crash reports
4
Fire reports

Source: NHTSA complaints and recalls filed for 2019 Nissan Leaf vehicles (US, public record).

Is 2019 a good year for the Leaf?

Across the 6 Leaf model years we track, complaint volume runs from 1 (2010) to 372 (2019). With 372 complaints, the 2019 Leaf sits abovethe model's median of 57.

These are raw NHTSA complaint totals, not adjusted for how many cars sold or how long each model year has been on the road. Older and higher-selling years accumulate more complaints.

Where owners report problems

electrical system
239
fuel/propulsion system
48
visibility/wiper
24
service brakes
19
back over prevention
17

Recalls affecting the 2019 Leaf

back over prevention: sensing system: camera

Campaign 19V654000

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Nissan Altima, Armada, Frontier, Kicks, Leaf, Maxima, Murano, NV, NV200, Pathfinder, Rogue, Rogue Sport, Sentra, Titan, Titan Diesel, Versa Note and Vers

equipment:other:owners/service/other manual

Campaign 23V048000

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2023 LEAF vehicles. The Owner's Manual instructions for defroster operation are incorrect, and may result in reduced defroster performance under specific cond

vehicle speed control

Campaign 23V494000

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2023 LEAF vehicles. The vehicle may accelerate unintentionally if the driving mode is changed ("D" to "B"; e-Pedal "On"; or "ECO" mode) after disengaging the

back over prevention: sensing system: camera

Campaign 24V071000

Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2018-2022 LEAF vehicles. Damage to the camera harness can cause distortion or loss of the rearview camera display image. As such, these vehicles fail to comply wit

What owners say across generations

Sentiment is sharply divided by generation and use case. For the first-generation models (notably 2011-2013), feedback is overwhelmingly negative due to severe battery degradation, loss of remote access services, and poor cold-weather…

  • Severe battery degradation and cold-weather performance loss (Gen1: 2011-2013): Rapid loss of battery capacity, "lizard" battery issues, catastrophic range loss in cold weather, leading to unusable vehicles. Frequency: very frequent.
  • Passive battery thermal management: Causes rapid state-of-charge (SOC) drop during highway driving in cold weather, battery isolation faults, swollen cells, and long-term health concerns. Cited as a fundamental design flaw. Frequency: very frequent.

Owner insights cover all generations of the Leaf. See the full Leaf owner picture and every model year.

Other Leaf model years

Compare every Leaf year side by side to see how 2019 ranks against the rest.

Compare the Leaf against its rivals