With a zero to 60 mph (97 kmh) time of around 6.5 seconds in its speediest form, the Nissan Leaf isn’t the quickest EV, and maybe that’s just as well since some models appear to be at risk of accelerating by themselves.
Nissan has announced a recall of 66,159 examples of the Nissan Leaf built between 2018-23 after the automaker learned of certain EVs experiencing unintended acceleration when the driver disengaged the cruise control. The problem occurs when the car’s driving mode is manually changed, for example from D to B (increasing the regenerative braking effect) or Eco after the cruise has been switched off, and the driver then immediately presses and quickly releases the accelerator.
The defect wasn’t discovered by an owner but by Nissan engineers carrying out internal tests in December 2021. After experiencing it once, the test team tried and failed to replicate the behaviour, but further experiments, including computer simulations and on-track tests finally uncovered the specific sequence of actions that can cause the car to scoot away by itself.
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The automaker says the likelihood of drivers experiencing unintended acceleration in real-world conditions is very low and that it has received no reports of it happening to members of the public. But the fact that it could statistically happen has led Nissan to issue a North American recall. The fix involves reprogramming the car’s vehicle control module, which Nissan dealers will do free of charge. But Nissan has stopped short of telling owners not to drive their EVs until the repair is carried out.
Would you prefer to be worrying that your EV might accelerate by itself causing you to crash or that it might catch fire while parked up and destroy your home? Leave a comment and let us know.