Other brake problem on the 2012 Nissan Leaf
5 crashes 2 injuries 7 of the 18 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Nissan Leaf report other brake problem at a median of 20,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 45,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 40,980 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
80% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,820 miles | 8,450 miles | 19,400 miles | 23,945 miles | 46,800 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 5 a crash and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2011, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2022 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2015 carries the most reports, with 42; the 2012 has 18. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I was traveling at highway speed. The car in front of me began a fast reduction in speed. I rapidly applied my brakes to the point of full stopping power. Shortly afterward I released the brake as I was confident I would not hit the car in front of me. The brakes kept their full stopping force for at least another 1/2 to 1 second. I had to steer off the road to prevent the car behind from hitting me. This has happened twice before but I did not record all the details until today. This is twice now that I had to make a medium speed emergency dive off the highway to avoid immediate collision from the rear. In my first incident I was traveling 70 MPH on i25. This is frightful dangerous braking behavior. I love my leaf but in my opinion this automobile is not safe to drive on a freeway. I called the dealer and will take the car in tomorrow but I was told there are no nissan notes on this failure mode. *tr
Driving my 2012 leaf on a secondary road on sunday afternoon, at 45 MPH, I applied my brakes to turn right on to another street. After moderately pressing the brake pedal the brakes locked, bringing the vehicle to a complete stop in the roadway. My foot had not been on the brake pedal for at least a full second while my vehicle continued to abruptly stop. A vehicle behind me rear-ended the leaf. I and my two passengers received neck injuries. This is absolutely a defect in the braking system that needs to be resolved. I consider nissan at fault and not the driver of the vehicle that rear ended us. *tr
Drove car into driveway with slight incline, pressed button to engage car into park, got out of vehicle, plugged in car to charge it. Walked up 2 steps to house, car rolled back nearly striking 9 year old. Rushed to the car to try to stop it. Car stopped when rolled back across street and into neighbors yard / rock. Tore charging station off the exterior of the house. Caused breaker to trip and ruined the unit completely.
Also reported on the 2012 Nissan Leaf
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Other speed control problem
Other visibility problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other brake problem happen on the 2012 Nissan Leaf?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 25,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2012 Nissan Leaf?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
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