2014 Nissan LEAF - Ratings, Complaints and Recalls

The 2014 Nissan Leaf has an overall safety rating of 4 out of 5, which indicates above-average safety features. It scored well in front and side crash ratings, with the driver's side receiving a 5 and the passenger side a 3. The car also excelled in the combined side barrier and pole crash tests.

In terms of safety features, the Nissan Leaf comes equipped with standard electronic stability control, which enhances the vehicle's stability on the road. However, it does not have forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems.

It is worth noting that there have been 33 complaints reported for this model, along with 6 recalls. While the overall safety rating is good, potential buyers may want to keep these numbers in mind and stay informed about any potential issues that may arise.

Top stats at a glance

Complaint Count

33

Recall Count

6

Investigation Count

3

Safety Rating

4/5

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Safety Features

2014 Nissan Leaf 5 HB FWD Safety Features

Here are the safety features that come as standard on the 2014 Nissan Leaf 5 HB FWD

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC is an advanced safety feature in vehicles designed to help drivers maintain control during challenging driving conditions. By continuously monitoring various factors such as steering angle, vehicle speed, and individual wheel speeds, ESC can detect and reduce the risk of skidding or loss of control. It achieves this by automatically applying brakes to specific wheels to stabilize the vehicle.

Standard
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) is a safety feature in vehicles that helps prevent frontal collisions by alerting the driver of an imminent collision with a vehicle or obstacle ahead. Using sensors such as radar or cameras, FCW monitors the distance and speed of vehicles in front, and if it detects a potential collision, it provides visual and/or auditory warnings to prompt the driver to take evasive action.

No
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)

Lane Departure Warning (LDW) is a safety feature in vehicles that alerts drivers when their vehicle unintentionally drifts out of its lane without signaling. Utilizing cameras or sensors to monitor lane markings on the road, LDW detects when the vehicle crosses these lines and triggers visual, auditory, or haptic alerts to notify the driver of potential lane departure.

No

2014 Nissan Leaf 5 HB FWD Safety Ratings

Here we have the crash and rollover ratings for the 2014 Nissan Leaf 5 HB FWD Where possible we've included the ratings for the oldest and latest models of this car so you can compare how the safety ratings have changed over time.

Frontal Crash Ratings

Combines Driver and Passenger star ratings into a single frontal rating. The frontal barrier test simulates a head-on collision between two similar vehicles, each moving at 35 mph.

Test 2011 Score 2014 Score 2021 Score
Overall Front Crash Rating 4 4 4
Front Crash Driver Side Rating 4 5 5
Front Crash Passenger Side Rating 4 3 4

Side Crash Ratings

Combines Side Barrier and Side Pole Star Ratings into a single side rating.

Test 2011 Score 2014 Score 2021 Score
Overall Side Crash Rating 5 4 5
Side Crash Drivers Side Rating 5 5 5
Side Crash Passenger Side Rating 5 3 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Front 5 5 5
Combined Side Barrier Pole Rating - Rear 5 3 5
Overall Side Barrier Rating 5 4 5

Rollover Ratings

The Rollover Resistance test measures the risk of rollover in a single-vehicle, loss-of-control scenario.

Test 2011 Score 2014 Score 2021 Score
Rollover Rating 4 4 4
Rollover Possibility % 0% 0% 0%
Dynamic Tip Result No Tip No Tip No Tip
Side Pole Crash Rating 4 5 5

Complaints for the 2014 Nissan LEAF

This chart show the number of complaints for each car component. A Higher number of complaints could indicate that this car might have a common fault. Something to look out for when purchasing one.

Component Complaints

Choose a component to see what complaints people have made about them.

Complaint:
"the contact owns a 2014 nissan leaf. the contact stated that while his wife was reversing from the garage, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop immediately. additionally, several unknown warning lights were illuminated. the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was approximately 15,000. the contact noted that the failure mileage was approximately 50,100 and speed was approximately 5 mph."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2025-05-03

Complaint:
"complete braking system failure. after putting the car into reverse, only the emergency brake and parking system were functional. once taken out of park, the vehicle was effectively free-rolling and nearly hit a structure. while in-gear, the brake sensation was that of having abs actively working, and the brake needed to be smashed to the floor to get any functional braking. the fearful part was the car was still applying powertrain effort, without any accelerator input. yellow brake warning light, red brake light, vdc warning light, red/yellow master warning light were all illuminated. this had not been brought up with the dealer, but a terrifying failure mode of electronic braking systems."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2023-07-09

Complaint:
"brake failure - abs noise, there is zero brake action. pedal goes all the way to the floor and nothing happens. car makes an abs noise but there is zero brake action. i reported this to nissan dealer twice at first, they couldn't find a problem now their saying it maybe the abs control unit. they want to replace the abs control unit at $2,200 but does not guarantee that's the problems. the nissan dealer states that the car is not safe to drive. even if i pay them $2,200 to replace the abs control unit."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2023-06-11

Complaint:
"i was driving my 2014 nissan leaf sl at a low speed (5-10 mph) when the brakes had a sudden and unanticipated total brake failure. while pulling up to a stoplight to make a right turn, i was unable to stop the car for approximately 10 feet beyond where i had intended. fortunately, there were no other vehicles or pedestrians in my path. this event happened in downtown salt lake city. from the point of failure, i was able to predictably stop the car with some exertion. but clearly, a fundamental major component of the vehicle failed. it was not part of the brakes themselves, or the rotors, or wear. i drove the vehicle directly to ken garff nissan, which was approximately 5 blocks away. they diagnosed the problem and reported that it was a failure of a major electrical component that provides braking to the brake system. i contacted nissan about the issue, and reported to them that after searching the internet i had seen other reports from individuals about similar problems with their nissan leaf between the model years 2013-2015. there were reports of this problem affecting more than 40 vehicles. nissan usa explained that they didn't have any recalls for that issue, and that i would simply have to pay for the repair. however, i felt that this experience, because it was so dangerous, and so sudden, and wasn't a result of poor maintenance or an error of any sort, it should be escalated and evaluated for recall. nissan usa showed no interest or intention of making further inquiry into the problem, so i felt i should push for a recall. my case number with nissan usa was originally assigned as #436-319-65, and a new case number was assigned as #436-368-82. the individuals assisting in the cases were named pamela and nancy, respectively."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2021-02-04

Complaint:
"the braking system is not working. few times while driving on the road, the brakes stopped working and i had to use the emergency brakes. the brakes malfunction while the car is in motion. on a city streets.*dt*jb*dt*jb*dt consumer was told by the dealer brake cylinder system needed to be replaced for $3000.00.*jb"
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2022-03-01

Complaint:
"after coming from work (54 mile back and forth) on 11/4/2020, parked 2014 leaf sv at the driveway for 40 minutes. then went back in, powered the car and shifted to reverse. the car backed-up fast because the brake seemed not working. so i have to stepped on the pedal harder. i know some thing is wrong because when you step on the brakes a noise a can be heard at the front. i checked and it seemed like its actuating something but nothing is happening. the pedal is deep. the dashboard brake light is on and yellow warning light. i turned it off and after 1 hour i rechecked and it got back to normal operation. but this was repeated several times during cold weather. this time 11/18/20, it happened again. the e-driven intelligent braking comm is the dtc code that came up"
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2020-04-11

Complaint:
"upon starting the car in the parking lot, the brake pressure did not release as usual when starting the car. when driven in the parking lot at low speeds, the brake does not function as it should. there is so much pressure that i can only press the pedal down a limited amount to make the car stop. after a few days of driving the car less than 10 miles total, the problem has worsened and there is less room to press the pedal down while braking. i took the car to get the brakes inspected and was told that everything is functioning as it should. i am worried the issue will worsen to the point that the brakes will not be able to be pressed down at all."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-11-10

Complaint:
"drove vehicle from home to destination 15 miles away with no issues. stopped and turned off vehicle. audible tone came on with everything off. started vehicle. multiple warning lights appeared. turned off vehicle. turned back on, brake warning appeared, car idled forward and could not brake it to stop without hard braking. turned off vehicle."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-12-09

Complaint:
"as i was driving my car the breaks started to make some noises when activated . i change my route to take it to the dealership for a revision and as i was getting there the brakes started to fail to a point that, by the time i got to the dealership 9a couple of miles away) , it was almost not breaking at all. may this have happened in different conditions the result could have been a serious accident"
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2019-02-12

Complaint:
"backing out of the driveway, the brakes failed and i was unable to stop the vehicle as it rolled into the street. brake pedal went to the floor and loud noises were heard from inside the engine compartment. towed to dealership, paid ~$300 to "reinitialize and reconfigure" the brake system."
Components Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2017-07-07

Recalls for the 2014 Nissan LEAF

Component Recalls

Choose a component to see what recalls people have made about them.

Recall:
"nissan north america, inc. (nissan) is recalling certain model year 2013-2015 leaf vehicles manufactured november 19, 2012, to july 31, 2015. during very cold temperatures, the relay inside the electronic brake booster may freeze, requiring the driver to exert more effort to slow the vehicle down."
Consequence:
If the brake relay fails, longer distances or additional brake effort would be required to stop the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy:

Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the Intelligent Brake Control Unit software, free of charge. The recall began on March 28, 2016. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.

Component(s) Involved: SERVICE BRAKES
Date of incident: 2016-02-29

NISSAN Overall Complaint Ranking

This table shows the ranking of car manufacturers when it comes to most complaints and recalls. The manufacturer with the most complaints is at the top. However this doesn't necassarily mean they should be avoided. Some manufacturers might just have more popular or affordable cars which a lot of people have bought. Which means there's more scope for a complaint to be made. Use the ranking table below as a part your wider research into buying a car.

NISSAN ranks 5 out of 44 in the complaints ranking table.

Manufacturer Complaint Count Recall Count Ranking
FORD 208,358 3,259 1
CHEVROLET 111,306 2,082 2
TOYOTA 81,019 1,852 3
HONDA 61,937 1,268 4
NISSAN 56,226 930 5
DODGE 45,756 827 6
HYUNDAI 44,150 649 7
GMC 34,441 1,410 8
KIA 29,832 501 9
CHRYSLER 27,698 254 10
TESLA 26,230 730 11
BMW 24,890 1,877 12
VOLKSWAGEN 23,125 829 13
MERCEDES-BENZ 19,066 2,925 14
SUBARU 18,513 703 15
MAZDA 10,599 364 16
PONTIAC 10,430 138 17
CADILLAC 9,434 444 18
AUDI 7,865 1,093 19
BUICK 7,851 279 20
SATURN 7,672 84 21
MERCURY 7,374 135 22
LEXUS 6,373 408 23
LINCOLN 5,897 423 24
ACURA 5,722 382 25
MINI 5,585 366 26
INFINITI 4,000 187 27
MITSUBISHI 3,912 397 28
VOLVO 3,875 727 29
PORSCHE 2,646 1,231 30
SUZUKI 2,272 123 31
FIAT 2,205 80 32
SAAB 1,536 76 33
JAGUAR 1,195 198 34
SMART 528 17 35
GENESIS 436 42 36
ISUZU 249 37 37
ALFA ROMEO 161 37 38
MASERATI 76 46 39
BENTLEY 46 159 40
POLESTAR 42 2 41
LUCID 14 6 42
CODA 4 2 43
MAYBACH 0 0 44

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