Nissan’s sales continue to climb in the US on the wings of its Ariya SUV – its second BEV model after the long-running LEAF – but the Japanese automaker is facing a major recall of over 1 million vehicles across three global markets.
For over a decade the Nissan LEAF has the automaker’s lone BEV offering. While it has long been celebrated as one of the first scaled and popularized EVs, Nissan never really presented an encore – at least not until the Ariya SUV began sales last year.
While we would have thought this transition would have happened five or six years ago, we are now seeing a changing of the guard on Nissan’s BEV spreadsheets, as the Ariya recently outsold the LEAF for a second consecutive quarter.
We know the LEAF’s days are numbered and have already gotten glimpses of its potential replacement someday – especially as Nissan finally seems to be leaning harder in BEVs. However, the LEAF still reemerges each year – virtually the same (including CHAdeMO), just with a couple cosmetic changes.
Of the over 600,000 LEAFs sold since 2010, some may be part of a major recall that includes three additional Nissan models, totaling 1.38 vehicles.
Nissan recall affects two US models, including LEAF
According to Bloomberg, Nissan’s latest issue pertains to five models sold across Japan, Europe, and the US and addresses a number of mechanical issues, including vehicles suddenly accelerating after exiting cruise control.
Nissan is reporting another issue in which a short circuit can cause a vehicle’s motors to suddenly stop working while in motion. Luckily, Nissan says no accidents have been reported regarding these issues in the recall.
Despite these reports, the NHTSA database has no recalls that match these descriptions yet, at least not for the LEAF or the Kicks – the two affected Nissan models currently sold in the US. Nissan USA’s recall website has also yet to update its system to include issues with the LEAF.
Still, a recall of this magnitude has to hurt Nissan, who recently reported double digit sales increases in North American and Europe for the first half of this year.
If you drive a Nissan, you can check to see if your vehicle is affected by the recall here, or you can contact Nissan Consumer Affairs at 1-888-546-1048.