2011 Nissan Leaf
This year drew an ordinary 95 complaints for a Nissan Leaf — the model's median is 52. What they were about is the unusual part: 30.5% of them mention seat, against 2.8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 95 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 52 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 99 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- seat — 30.5% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the model's other years (11×).
- bag — 29.5% of this year's complaints, against 7.2% across the model's other years (4.1×). Owners wrote it as: bag, air bag, code, replace.
- models — 16.8% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the model's other years (5.4×). Owners wrote it as: models, wanted, unless, neither.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
Air bag occupant sensor in front passenger seat failure causing air bag system shut off. DTC Code: B 1018 Description: Air Bag Occupant Sensor (Unit Fail). Well documented common failure of this critical safety component on the Nissan Leaf Forum. Sensor is not…
AIRBAG LIGHT FLASHING. PASSENGER AIR BAGS ARE DISABLED. DEALER FIX IS A NEED A NEW PASSENGER SEAT AT A COST OF $3,000+. CURRENT FAULT CODE IS B1018. OCCUPANT SENSOR UNIT FAIL. NO DAMAGE TO SEAT OR CUSHION. IT JUST STOPPED WORKING. SAFETY ISSUE. SAFETY RECALL S…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Nissan Leaf was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2011 Nissan Leaf? What happened to yours?
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