2016 Nissan Leaf
Electric Midsize car
The 2016 Nissan Leaf is sold in the U.S. as a electric midsize car with 2 EPA-rated configurations. Its longest-range version, the Leaf (30 kW-hr battery pack), is EPA-rated at 107 miles with 112 MPGe combined efficiency. NHTSA lists 4 recall campaigns for this model year, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of D. Owners have filed 36 complaints, most often about service brakes. NHTSA crash-tested it at 4 stars overall.
Specs & fuel economy (EPA)
| Configuration | Powertrain | Drive | Engine / motor | City | Hwy | Comb | Range | kWh/100mi | Charge (240V) | Annual fuel* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaf (24 kW-hr battery pack) | Electric | FWD | 80 kW DCPM | 126 | 101 | 114 MPGe | 84 mi | 29.6 | 8 h | $650 |
| Leaf (30 kW-hr battery pack) | Electric | FWD | 80 kW DCPM | 124 | 101 | 112 MPGe | 107 mi | 30.0 | 6 h | $650 |
*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year and EPA reference fuel/electricity prices. Source: fueleconomy.gov vehicle records.
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Recalls (4)
Visibility
highProblem: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2013-2017 LEAF vehicles. The Owner's Manual instructions for defroster operation are incorrect and may result in reduced defroster performance under specific conditions. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 103, "Windshield Defrosting and Defogging Systems."
Risk: Reduced defroster performance can limit visibility out of the windshield, increasing the risk of a crash.
Fix: Nissan will mail an addendum with updated instructions on how to operate the defroster, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed May 26, 2023. Owners may contact Nissan's customer service at 1-800-867-7669. Nissan's number for this recall is R23A1.
Air Bags
highProblem: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain 2015-2017 LEAF and 2014, 2016 and 2017 Sentra vehicles. Due to a manufacturing error within the air bag inflators, the passenger frontal air bag may not properly deploy in the event of a crash.
Risk: In the event of a crash, if the front passenger air bag doesn't deploy properly, it can increase the risk of injury to passengers.
Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator, free of charge. The recall began June 7, 2017. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.
Electrical System
highProblem: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016 LEAF vehicles manufactured February 24, 2016, to March 23, 2016, and Sentra vehicles manufactured February 9, 2016, to March 4, 2016. The wiring harness connector may disconnect from the dual-stage passenger air bag.
Risk: If the wiring harness disconnects, the passenger air bag may not to deploy during a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
Fix: Nissan will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the wiring harness connector for proper engagement and, if necessary, replace the passenger air bag module and main body harness, free of charge. The recall began on August 9, 2016. Owners may contact Nissan customer service at 1-800-647-7261.
Air Bags
highProblem: Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) is recalling certain model year 2016-2017 Nissan Maxima, 2013-2016 Nissan Altima, NV200, LEAF, Sentra, and Pathfinder, 2014-2016 Nissan NV200 Taxi, Infiniti QX60, QX60 Hybrid, and Q50 Hybrid, 2014-2017 Nissan Rogue and Infiniti Q50, 2015-2016 Nissan Murano, Murano Hybrid, and Chevrolet City Express, 2014-2015 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, and 2013 Infiniti JX35 vehicles. In these vehicles, the front seat passenger Occupant Classification System (OCS) may incorrectly classify an adult passenger as a child or classify the seat as empty despite it being occupied. As a result, the passenger frontal air bag may be turned off and not deploy in the event of a crash
Risk: If the passenger frontal air bag does not deploy as intended in the event of a crash, the passenger is at an increased risk of injury.
Fix: Nissan will notify their owners. Chevrolet City Express owners will be notified by General Motors. Dealers will reprogram the Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) and OCS Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Altima, Maxima, Murano, Rogue, and Sentra vehicles, and replace the OCS ECU in LEAF, NV200, NV200 Taxi, Pathfinder, Infiniti Q50, JX35, and QX60 and Chevrolet City Express vehicles, free of charge. Interim notices were sent to owners on May 31, 2016. Owners will receive a second notice when remedy par
NHTSA investigations
Electrical System:Propulsion System — Pedestrian alert sounds (closed)
NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matt
Opened Jan 27, 2023 · closed Aug 7, 2023 · action DP22005
Owner complaints
36 complaints filed
1 involved a crash, 1 a fire, 0 injuries, 0 deaths reported by owners.
Filed by year — 2016: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2026: 1
Most-cited components
- Service Brakes — 16
- Electrical System — 13
- Fuel/Propulsion System — 8
- Air Bags — 3
- Engine — 3
Complaint counts are raw owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects, and scale with how many were sold. Use them to spot patterns, not to rank.
Crash ratings
| Configuration | Overall | Frontal | Side | Rollover | Rollover risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 HB FWD | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | ★★★★☆ | 11% |
NHTSA New Car Assessment Program.
Other Leaf model years
2026 Leaf
2 recalls · 2 complaints
A2025 Leaf
0 recalls · 7 complaints
A2024 Leaf
0 recalls · 5 complaints
C2023 Leaf
3 recalls · 20 complaints
D2022 Leaf
4 recalls · 92 complaints
D2021 Leaf
4 recalls · 54 complaints
F2020 Leaf
6 recalls · 164 complaints
F2019 Leaf
5 recalls · 253 complaints
C2018 Leaf
4 recalls · 66 complaints
B2017 Leaf
2 recalls · 17 complaints
Sources & method
Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). Floor 35. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Complaint counts and NHTSA crash ratings are shown separately and are not blended into the grade.
EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records (ids 37066, 37067). Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed weekly.