Selling a Nissan Leaf with a tired or dead battery

Two checks come first: whether Nissan's battery capacity warranty still covers your car, and, on a 2019-2022, whether a quick-charging recall is still open.

What Nissan's battery warranty covers

Nissan's 2017 and 2021 Leaf warranty booklets both cover the battery against capacity loss as read on the car's battery capacity level gauge. The 2017 booklet draws the line at nine bars, the 2021 booklet at nine segments. We did not read the booklets for other years. How long the cover lasts depends on the battery:

Read the fine print in the 2021 booklet before counting on it. The warranty pays for repairs that bring capacity back to nine remaining segments, which is not the same as a new pack. And capacity loss is a small share of what owners report to NHTSA: only 30 Leaf complaints mention capacity or bars, most of them on 2011 cars.

So a 24 kWh car is past its five years, and a 2017 with the 30 kWh pack is past eight. If yours is newer, the gauge shows fewer than nine segments and the miles are under the limit, ask a Nissan dealer what your own booklet covers before you sell.

Three generations of Leaf

The first US Leafs came from Oppama, with batteries from Zama, Japan. Smyrna started making batteries on December 12, 2012 and building Leafs on January 9, 2013.

Known problems by generation

2011-2017: brakes, mostly

Brakes are the component named most on every first-generation year from 2012 to 2016. The 2015 is the extreme case, with 80 of its 110 complaints about the service brakes. Recall 16V119 (February 2016) covers 46,859 Leafs from 2013-2015 built between November 19, 2012 and July 31, 2015. In very cold weather the relay inside the electronic brake booster can freeze, and the driver needs more effort to slow the car down.

Recall 14V263 (May 2014) is a small one: 196 Leafs built April 15-24, 2014, whose motor control circuit board can make the inverter fail and shut the car down.

2018-2025: quick charging and heat

No Leaf year draws more complaints than the 2019, with 259; the 2020 follows with 167. Across those two years the electrical system accounts for 272 of 426 complaints, and 231 of those 272 mention quick or fast charging or the recall number itself.

Recall 24V700 (September 2024) covers 25,704 Leafs from 2019-2020 that have a Level 3 quick-charging port: the lithium-ion battery may overheat while quick charging, which increases the risk of a fire. Recall 25V655 (September 2025) covers 19,077 Leafs from 2021-2022 with the same port and the same fault.

One more recall reaches across most of the generation. Recall 23V494 (July 2023) covers 66,159 Leafs from 2018-2023 that may accelerate unintentionally if the drive mode is changed (D to B, e-Pedal on, or ECO) after the cruise control is switched off.

2026: the new Leaf

The third Leaf is built at Tochigi with a 75 kWh liquid-cooled battery. Recall 26V188 (March 2026) covers 51 cars from 2026 whose high-voltage battery may have internal damage that can short a module. It is the only Leaf recall that tells owners to park outside.

Leaf complaints and recalls by model year

Leaf numbers come from NHTSA's bulk data, downloaded October 10, 2026. A recall that covers several years is counted in each year it covers. One more complaint is filed under 2010, before the Leaf went on sale, and is left out of the table.

Owners reported 65 crashes, 13 fires and 33 injuries in Leaf complaints, and no deaths. The component column skips NHTSA's "unknown or other" category.

Fix it or sell it?

We have no sourced price for a Leaf battery or any other Leaf repair, so here is the order to work in.

1. Note the segments and the miles, then hold them against your warranty booklet.
2. On a 2019-2022 with quick charging, run the VIN at NHTSA's recall lookup for 24V700 or 25V655 and find out whether the repair was done.
3. Get the diagnosis in writing. If it says battery or inverter, compare the quote with what the same Leaf sells for in working order. A big gap points to selling. The non-running car guide covers the in-between cases.

Curious what moves the offer on a dead car? See what a junk car is worth.

Selling your Leaf whole

• Know the basics: model year, battery size if you know it (24, 30, 40, 62 or 75 kWh), mileage, and how many capacity segments show.
• Say if it powers up at all, whether it can roll, and where it's parked.
• Leave the traction battery in, along with the charging cable if you still have it. A Leaf without its pack is a very different car to buy.
• Get your offer online or call (877) 421-6008.
• At pickup, hand over the title, show your ID and leave the keys or key fobs. Plates follow your state's rules, set out in after you sell.

Comparing other Nissans? See the Ariya, the Versa or every Nissan model.