What follows is a very long thread, so I have summarised it here:
My Parking Brake failed
In August 2014 my electronic parking brake failed. Symptoms were the message "Visit Dealer" on the dashboard display, a flashing red light on the parking brake switch, the flashing red warning that the parking brake is applied on the dashboard, and the red and orange warning lights permanently lit on the dashboard - along with the fact the parking no longer worked, it was stuck in the "off" position. Connecting a Leafspy returned error code C10E4. I couldn't reset this code.
I visited a Nissan dealer for diagnosis
The dealer determined that the parking brake module would need to be replaced, at a cost of £2,172:
I asked Nissan to contribute to the repair
The car was about two weeks out of warranty, they said absolutely no.
I bought a much much cheaper parking brake module from the USA:
The price for the module 360323NA0A was the bulk of the cost, so I ordered a 360323NA0B (The A has been replaced) from the USA where it is only about £300.
The module lives in the hump in the boot, the small brown box here:
This is the module itself, it's easy to remove and replace:
I fitted the new module and took it back to the dealer to activate it:
I tried activating it myself with leafspy and it didn't work. When the dealer tried, it didn't work.
After much arguing with Nissan they put the price of the module in the UK down to only £693, so I had it replaced by the dealer for about £950:
It didn't work
Nissan quoted the replacement of the parking brake actuator at ~£3k. The actuator lives under the boot floor and looks like this:
I asked Nissan to contribute to the cost of this new repair:
They said yes, and agreed to cover the cost of the part but not the labour, so as of Monday (July 13th) my parking brake is fixed and my car passed it's second MOT and celebrated it's fourth birthday. Yes it took almost a year to resolve, for a number of reasons. The cost for the labour and the dealer supplied module were met by the garage that sold me the Leaf, as the parking brake failed just a couple of months after I bought it - they have been very fair and supportive throughout.
Original message below
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Sad times with my leaf yesterday. The display in the instrument cluster was warning that the parking brake was on (it wasn't) the red parking brake symbol was flashing, the red and yellow triangles were illuminated and the light on the parking brake switch was flashing. After a restart the message on the display says "Visit dealer" and all the lights are still on/flashing.
The car is now over three years old so I'm worried this will be very expensive. Also wishing the car had the simple mechanical parking brake from the gen 2...
Well first stop I think is checking the warranty I got from the supplying garage, I only bought in March so if it was six months I might be covered...
If it's not I hope nissan will make a "contribution". There's obviously some disadvantage to the electric brake or they wouldn't have canned it. The really annoying thing is I rarely use the parking brake, I only bother if I'm on a slope.
The (fiat) garage I bought the Leaf from supplied a 12 month warranty, although I'm not sure it's worth the paper it's printed on. It's booked in for Tuesday, we'll see what they say.
May be irrelevant, but I had a Golf that flashed a similar message of doom, and it was only that the brake light switch needed replacing- a simple and cheap enough DIY on that car. Do your brake lights work when the footbrake is applied?
Well, Nissan connected their computer and decided that the "control unit" needs replacing, to the tune of two thousand pounds. Two thousand pounds, to fix the hand brake. Can you say lolololololol?! The Fiat garage are going to get into discussions with Nissan for a good will gesture, but I suspect it's still going to be expensive
What would happen if it wasn't in warranty and you was faced with this astronomical bill to fix a handbrake.
If I was in that situation I think I would have a quiet word to see if some compromise could be arranged with the price. Otherwise I would be straight on Twitter.
That £400 for the extended 5 year warranty doesn't look too bad now. Think I would take that up if I was to keep my LEAF past the 3 year date.
On a unrelated side note... you said you rarely use the park brake. That means that any slope at all would put a load onto the locking pin in the gearbox. I know the Leaf doesn't have a gearbox in the traditional sense but the principle of the pin remains and when in park the pin engages and locks the drive train. Not using the park brake adds additional load to that pin and can do even on very modest slopes. Probably nothing to do with this problem but IMO it is always a good habit to use the park brake regardless.
What would happen if it wasn't in warranty and you was faced with this astronomical bill to fix a handbrake.
If I was in that situation I think I would have a quiet word to see if some compromise could be arranged with the price. Otherwise I would be straight on Twitter.
That £400 for the extended 5 year warranty doesn't look too bad now. Think I would take that up if I was to keep my LEAF past the 3 year date.
My car is over three years old, so is out of warranty from Nissan...
I'd probably skip having this done if that's the price, but I'm pretty sure this will be an mot failure As for an extended warranty, I've not been offered one, is it for the first purchaser only?
On a unrelated side note... you said you rarely use the park brake. That means that any slope at all would put a load onto the locking pin in the gearbox. I know the Leaf doesn't have a gearbox in the traditional sense but the principle of the pin remains and when in park the pin engages and locks the drive train. Not using the park brake adds additional load to that pin and can do even on very modest slopes. Probably nothing to do with this problem but IMO it is always a good habit to use the park brake regardless.
Doubly sad I only bought the car in March. Literally two weeks later my friend and co-worker (after seeing mine) got a younger, lower mileage, cheaper Leaf - gutted I didn't wait two weeks and get his...! As for not using the parking brake, when I'm on a hill I do use it, but there aren't many hills round my way!
As I've said many times, it isn't a worn out traction battery that will take most Leafs off the road. At least not in the UK, where the batteries are going to last more than five years. At £1,000 to £2,000 each, it is the sensors and other pricey parts that will do it.
My guess would be it wouldn't matter if you wasnt the first owner. Once your car is near 3 years old buy the extended 2 year warranty? A few people on leaftalk have done just that.
If you do have to pay, make absolutely sure you get the failed part back.
I suspect it will be repairable by someone with the right knowledge and if nothing else it will make one of these parts available for someone to pick apart. It will definitely have some value even broken.
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