Nissan Announces Recall For Leaf In The US, Nearly 24,000 Affected Vehicles

Nissan Leaf. (Doc. Nissan Global)

JAKARTA - Nissan announced the recall for the assembled Leaf model of Smyrna, Tennesse, United States (US). The number of models affected is almost 24,000 units.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the cause of the start of the recall is because the high-voltage battery on the EV has the potential to burn while charging through DC devices.

Launching from InsideEVs, Tuesday, October 8, the total number of vehicles affected was 23,887 units assembled between August 29, 2018, to November 3, 2020. The program includes models with a battery of 40 kWh and 62 kWh, but all units are still under guarantee.

It is reported that electric vehicles that are affected have a battery that heats up quickly when connected to a DC level 3 fast charger. However, there are no indicators or warnings heard in this car.

If this is not known to users and the charger continues, then the battery pack can burn so as to increase the risk of accidents or large deaths.

The Japanese manufacturer continues to investigate the issue and preliminary data suggest lithium-ion batteries in affected vehicles may experience excessive lithium deposits in battery cells.

Thus, this can increase electrical barriers during fast charging sessions and have the potential for fluctuations in these batteries.

In addition, Nissan is also working on software repairs designed to prevent a battery fire. It is hoped that this update can be made available in November and done for free.

The owner of the affected vehicle was notified of this on September 20. In this notification, the manufacturer advised owners not to use Level 3 fast chargers until this issue was resolved.

Nissan Leaf has two charging ports, one for Level 1 or Level 2 for AC devices, while the other is the CHAdeMO connector for the DC charging system.