AutoUtility currently tracks 66 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2018 Nissan Leaf. Driver Assistance & Safety Tech issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 23 complaints (34.8% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 9 filings cite a crash, 1 cites a fire, 3 report one or more injuries.
- • Total NHTSA Complaints: 66 reports
- • #1 Reported Problem Area: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (23 reports • 34.8% of submitted complaints)
- • Secondary Problem Areas: Brakes & Traction Control (20), Electrical System (18)
- • Crash-Citing Complaints: 9 filings
- • Fire-Citing Complaints: 1 filings
- • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 3 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Most Reported Problems for 2018 Nissan Leaf
Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech
NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:
- Campaign #23V494000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
- Campaign #19V654000 BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
- Campaign #24V071000 BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
Brakes & Traction Control
Electrical System
Fuel & Propulsion System
Air Bags & Restraints
Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2018 Nissan Leaf
Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
"vehicle brakes went out on the driver during normal operation."
"vehicle was being driven like normal with no warning lights or icons. vehicle was bring driven at 35 miles an hour when suddenly the ABS fault message appeared on the dash, the dash started beeping and brakes became very hard to press."
"This is the second high-voltage traction battery failure on this vehicle. The original HV battery failed and was replaced by Nissan under warranty at an authorized dealer on XXX, at approximately 59,000 miles. The Nissan-manufactured replacement pack has now failed after approximately 16 months in..."
"Car was fast charged on July 9th. 2026. After fast charging from 13% to 80%, and driving for a few miles, the overheating warning came on and car was forced to stop on the side of a busy highway until the engine cooled off. While there is an active recall for a similar problem (24V700), my car is..."
"Fail component: mechanical linkage (transmission rod) between the motor and the wiper arms. The ball pops out of the socket resulting in the wipers not working despite motor running. This happened with full speed wipers running. I repaired it, and two weeks later it disconnected again while running..."
Complaint History for Nissan Leaf
Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2015–2026)
| Model Year | NHTSA Complaints | Crash Reports | Safety Recalls | Detailed Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Nissan Leaf | 109 | 8 | 4 | View 2015 Problems → |
| 2016 Nissan Leaf | 36 | 1 | 4 | View 2016 Problems → |
| 2017 Nissan Leaf | 0 | 0 | 2 | View 2017 Problems → |
| 2018 Nissan Leaf Current Page | 66 | 9 | 4 | Current |
| 2019 Nissan Leaf | 253 | 4 | 5 | View 2019 Problems → |
| 2020 Nissan Leaf | 162 | 1 | 6 | View 2020 Problems → |
| 2021 Nissan Leaf | 53 | 2 | 4 | View 2021 Problems → |
| 2022 Nissan Leaf | 90 | 7 | 4 | View 2022 Problems → |
| 2023 Nissan Leaf | 19 | 6 | 3 | View 2023 Problems → |
| 2024 Nissan Leaf | 5 | 0 | 0 | View 2024 Problems → |
| 2025 Nissan Leaf | 7 | 0 | 0 | View 2025 Problems → |
| 2026 Nissan Leaf | 0 | 0 | 2 | View 2026 Problems → |
Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2018 Nissan Leaf
Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 36 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications
| Vehicle Component / System | Total Complaints | Crash Reports | Fire Reports | Reported Injury Entries | Reported Fatality Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel & Propulsion System NHTSA category: FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering NHTSA category: STEERING | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Equipment & Accessories NHTSA category: EQUIPMENT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,AIR BAGS,WHEELS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tires NHTSA category: TIRES | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ENGINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (1)
Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)
Pedestrian alert sounds
NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight ra...
The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.
Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.