2011 Nissan Leaf: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2011 Nissan Leaf
On the 2011 Nissan Leaf, the failure owners report most often is other electrical problem, and the reports cluster around 20,000 miles. The earliest to appear is other brake problem, reported by a median of 5,000 miles. Overall it scores 68 out of 100, high risk for a 2011.
High risk for a 2011 — 210th riskiest of the 283 2011 vehicles we can rate. 117 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model.
What owners report breaking
Owners have reported 16 named failure modes on the 2011 Nissan Leaf, and the three most-reported carry 43% of everything filed.
Other electrical problem leads with 22 reports, about 1.0 per 1,000 vehicles and with the middle half of reports between 10k to 40,000 miles.
Other brake problem follows with 19 reports, usually reported between 3k to 30,000 miles.
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault follows with 9 reports, median 75,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into electrical (23), brakes (21) and airbag (9).
At what mileage it happens
91 of the reports on the 2011 Nissan Leaf came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 30,000 miles.
Cumulatively, 75% by 50,000 miles and 97% by 100,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed.
The busiest stretch is between 0 and 10,000 miles, which alone holds 27% of the dated reports.
56% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles, which is early enough that a fair number of these cars were still under a factory warranty when the owner complained.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
Showing the 12 most-reported failure modes of 16. The full list is in the table below.
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the median reported mileage
How bad it is when it goes
Across the named modes, 7 mention a crash and 4 an injury. Those are the words owners used in their own complaints, and NHTSA does not verify them, but they are the closest thing in this data to a measure of what a failure actually did.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 3.37, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: other electrical problem at $250–$2,000, other brake problem at $300–$1,800, airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault at $300–$1,600 and other body or interior problem at $200–$2,000. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
7% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other electrical problem | electrical | 22 | 22 | 10k | 21k | 38k | 1.0 | $250–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Other brake problem | brakes | 19 | 19 | 3k | 7k | 28k | 0.8 | $300–$1,800 | High |
| Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault | airbag | 9 | 7 | — | 73k | — | 0.4 | $300–$1,600 | High |
| Other body or interior problem | body | 9 | 3 | — | 16k | — | 0.4 | $200–$2,000 | Moderate |
| Software fault or failed update | software | 6 | 4 | — | 45k | — | 0.3 | $0–$600 | Moderate |
| Other fuel system problem | fuel | 4 | 4 | — | 53k | — | 0.2 | $300–$2,200 | High |
| Other speed control problem | adas | 4 | 2 | — | 35k | — | 0.2 | $250–$2,000 | Critical |
| No-start or intermittent start failure | engine | 3 | 3 | — | 5k | — | 0.1 | $200–$1,800 | Moderate |
| Overheating | cooling | 2 | 2 | — | 50k | — | 0.1 | $400–$3,500 | High |
| Infotainment screen failure | infotainment | 2 | 2 | — | 6k | — | 0.1 | $400–$2,600 | Low |
| Audio or connectivity failure | infotainment | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 0.1 | $150–$900 | Low |
| Parking brake failure | brakes | 2 | 2 | — | 8k | — | 0.1 | $250–$1,300 | Moderate |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 2 | 2 | — | 20k | — | 0.1 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Wiring harness or short circuit | electrical | 1 | 1 | — | 108k | — | 0.0 | $400–$3,500 | High |
| Other engine problem | engine | 1 | 1 | — | 22k | — | 0.0 | $300–$4,000 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 1 | — | 100 | — | 0.0 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Unclassified problem | other | 28 | 16 | 39k | 57k | 66k | 1.2 | — | Moderate |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2011 Nissan Leaf draws about 5.1 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 87th percentile of complaint rates among 2011 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 22,791 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2011 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Other electrical problem
My nissan leaf has experienced a 1 capacity bar loss for it's lithium-ion battery, reducing the amount of available miles to drive. I believe that this is premature and that this is in relation to living in a hot weather climate area (summer months). Nissan has been informed by me of this condition. This is not the only instance, if possible, please see attached site: http://mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=real_world_battery_capacity_loss. *tr
The problem is the battery, we where told by nissan that there would be a slow loss of capacity and up to 20% loss at 5 years. This is only in hot climates like arizona, tx and ca. The car should have had a battery cooling system. *tr now after pay $40,000 for the car in the first year my driving range is down so much in my second year the car will be worthless to drive or sell. *tr
Other brake problem
I was accelerating after getting on the freeway heading north and slightly uphill I might have been peaking at 55mph when the truck in front of me suddenly slammed his brakes on. I did the same and I hear my tires screeching , I presumed that they were locking. However I did maintain my direction and didn't seem to loose control. When I realized I would not rear-end the truck I left my foot off the brake. I was alarmed when my tires were still locked and remained locked for what I thought was a very long half second. By that time I think I was under 20 MPH on a freeway and I was darn lucky nobody was rear-ending me! I think this is a defect in the braking response. *tr
When driving at 60 MPH down the freeway, I hit the brakes hard to avoid a collision with the car in front of me. I decelerated to about 30mph while veering to the right to avoid hitting the other car. To inform the rapidly approaching car behind me, I tapped my brakes about 4-5 times a second to flash my taillights. At that point the brakes locked up and my car rapidly decelerated even though I had removed my foot from the brake pedal. After about 1/3-1/2 second, the brakes released and I was able to regain control of the car and continue driving. After checking online forums and my local ev group, it turns out that two other people have experienced similar braking behavior where the car decelerated rapidly even though the brake pedal was not pressed.
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Passenger air bag seat pressure sensor fail. Passenger air bag off light illuminate when front passenger occupied the seat also flashing airbag light on the dash board. Error code b1018. Dealer wants whole seat replacement cost $3000. No nissan warranty or recall on 2011 nissan leaf.
While driving the vehicle straight at around 35 MPH, the airbag light came on. Subsequent diagnosis showed a b1018 code thrown by the leaf, which indicates that the passenger occupancy sensor has failed. The code was reset and stayed off, but again about 5 days later, the same issue occurred. This time, the code would not reset. I was quoted $2700 in parts and $300 labor by the dealership to repair the problem, which was uneconomical and more than half the value of the car. The car only has 53,000 miles and is only 7 years old. I contacted nissan customer affairs and they would not help with the price of the repair at all. I was informed by the dealership that not repairing the sensor would result in all airbags being disabled, since the light was illuminated. It seems like a big safety issue that if the passenger occupancy sensor fails, all airbags are disabled. We will have to continue driving the car and cannot afford a $3000 repair to a $5500 car. This same part is recalled on 2013-2015 leafs as well as millions of other nissan cars. If this is a common failure, maybe it should be recalled on the 2011-2012 leaf as well.
How it ranks in the 2011 field
The score at the top of the page, placed among its peers. The zones are the same thresholds the scorer applies, read out of the scorer itself, so the picture and the band word cannot disagree.
Scores are ranked within the model year, never across years, because an older car has had longer to accumulate reports.
- Left fewer and less serious reports
- Right more, or worse
- Marker this vehicle
How 2011 compares with the other years
High risk for a 2011 — 210th riskiest of the 283 2011 vehicles we can rate. Every score on this site is a rank inside its own model year, which is what makes a 2004 and a 2019 comparable at all.
Across the 13 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 2011 comes out best at 68 and 2018 worst at 78, with 2011 itself at 68.
No other year of this model scores meaningfully better than 2011, so if this generation is what you want, the year is not the lever.
Within the 2010–2017 generation specifically, 2011 is the strongest year at 68 and 2015 the weakest at 72.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2010-2017 generation, 2011 Nissan Leaf scores best at 68 and 2015 Nissan Leaf worst at 72.
What to look at before buying one
The mileages below are where the first quarter of reports for each mode had already been filed, which makes them the point at which a fault is worth looking for rather than the point at which it happens: other brake problem from about 3k and other electrical problem from about 10k.
On a 2011 Nissan Leaf with more miles than that on it, the useful question to put to a seller or a mechanic is whether other brake problem has been dealt with, and if so with what parts and at whose expense. A car that has already had the repair is in a different position from one that has not.
None of this is a diagnosis. It is a list of what other owners of the same model year reported, ordered by when they reported it, which is a good place to point an inspection and a poor place to stop.
What this page cannot tell you
117 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 117 reports, 91 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 78% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2011 Nissan Leaf?
The most-reported failures are other electrical problem (22 reports, median 20,000 miles), other brake problem (19 reports, median 5,000 miles) and airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault (9 reports, median 75,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
At what mileage do 2011 Nissan Leaf problems start?
Other brake problem is the earliest failure mode to show up, with a median reported mileage of 5,000 miles and a quarter of reports before 5,000 miles. Across all failure modes on this year, the median report sits at 30,000 miles.
Is the 2011 Nissan Leaf reliable?
It scores 68 out of 100 on our risk index, which is high — 210th riskiest of the 283 2011 vehicles we can rate. The score is a comparison against other 2011 vehicles, not a prediction about any individual car, and it is built from complaint rates, severity and how early failures appear.
Which year of the Nissan Leaf is best?
Within the 2010–2017 generation, 2011 scores best at 68 out of 100 and 2015 worst at 72. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed