Nissan Leaf recall could force replacement of entire car

Nissan is recalling a total of 211 examples of the the Leaf pure-electric car supplied to the U.S., and another 65 Leafs sold in Canada for a problem involving missing spot welds in the motor compartment. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that the front structural member assemblies in these cars could be missing welds in several crucial places, to the left and right of the electric motor. As a result, the affected Leafs might not perform well in a crash. The Leafs in question were manufactured between Feb. 28, 2014, and March 12, 2014.

The NHTSA says that Nissan will start notifying owners of the affected cars soon, and it will direct them to have their vehicles inspected at Nissan dealerships. If a given Leaf is found to lack the six different spot welds on each side of the motornear the sway bar ends, the whole car will be replaced free of charge to the owners.

The need for a replacement of the entire vehicle in this situation might seem drastic, but it reflects the difficulty of replicating factory assembly methods at a dealership level. Nissan has not mentioned what will become of the cars with missing spot welds.

This recall is scheduled to start in mid-June, when Nissan will notify owners of the potentially affected cars. Owners of Nissan Leafs can contact Nissan at 1-800-647-7261 about this issue or contact the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153).

You can also visit the NHTSA recall page here.

By Jay Ramey