Home · 2021 Nissan Leaf Plus · Complaints

What 51 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Nissan Leaf Plus

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (51)Crash / fire / injury (5)Electrical system (31)Fuel system (8)Visibility & wipers (6)Engine (5)Driver assistance (3)Transmission & drivetrain (3)Airbags (2)Backup camera & sensors (2)Lights (2)Brakes (1)

6 of 51 complaints match · Visibility & wipers · clear filters

Dec 10, 2025Electrical systemLightsVisibility & wipers

Vehicle battery drains significantly after being charged, passenger wiper will not work impairing visibility, back up camera blurs and fails, bright lights would not turn on, I was in a huge rain storm unable to see. Inability to use level 3 charger is disallowing me to be able to use vehicle due to amount of time to charge and battery drain has caused me to be broken down requiring a tow twice due to inaccurate mileage readings, leaving me stranded at night without access to phone service, placing me in an unsafe area/situation.

NHTSA ODI 11704216

Nov 15, 2025Visibility & wipers

The dealership without our knowledge or approval did an update on our car last November that makes the heater and more importantly defroster not work when it's colder than about 17F degrees outside. This causes the vehicle to fog up all over including the windshield making it dangerous to drive. After about 10 minutes it finally starts working. We've told them about it numerous times and even saw other Leafs at the dealership for the exact same thing on the first cold day last winter after the update. They haven't yet gotten a fix for it and said it's on purpose. As far as us owners can tell they aren't looking into any sort of fix. They say we should just start the car for 10 minutes without driving but that doesn't work. You can leave it run for 30 minutes and the heat doesn't turn on. It only works after 10 minutes of dangerous driving. Besides we shouldn't have to run a vehicle for 10 minutes before driving. There are numerous examples of emergencies that require immediate driving. Please look into this as every Leaf owner is dealing with the same dangerous conditions in the northern states and I assume Canada.

NHTSA ODI 11699598

Oct 15, 2025Visibility & wipers

After the dealership has checked the rear view camera after manufacturer recall R23D7, the camera image is sometimes not displayed. Sometimes it helps to open and close the rear tailgate to reactivate the display of the rear view camera. The issue also seems to be dependent on ambient temperature. The manufacturer has failed or is unable to remedy this safety recall permanently. Before the recall was checked by the dealership, the vehicle never had an issue with the rear view mirror image not being displayed. When asking the dealership to fix it they told me that I need to pay for the repair of the wiring harness and it is not covered anymore by the recall.

NHTSA ODI 11693725

Feb 9, 2025Visibility & wipers

The rear view camera picture on the display is grey and does not display any video signal at temperatures below about 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Backing up without the rear view camera picture causes a safety hazard.

NHTSA ODI 11641602

Nov 28, 2023Electrical systemVisibility & wipers

When placing the vehicle in reverse, the display screen shows either a distorted view or no view at all, or a solid pink color across the screen. This result in zero visibility out the rear of the vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11557148

Apr 3, 2023Visibility & wipers

The resolution for recall 22V-048 provided by Nissan is unacceptable. In order how to properly run the defroster for conditions you have refer to manual or supplement manual. I would expect just turn on defrost and not worry if it going to work in the weather condition I am driving in.

NHTSA ODI 11515167

Working with the data? Download all 51 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 19, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2021 Nissan Leaf Plus verdict →