NHTSA Complaint #11233902 — 2013 NISSAN LEAF

WHILE DRIVING ON A WARM DAY AT ABOUT 25 MILES AN HOUR ABOUT TWO MILES FROM MY HOME, MY BRAKES BECAME UNRESPONSIVE AS I APPROACHED A STOP SIGN BEHIND ANOTHER DRIVER. THE OTHER DRIVER DIDN'T STOP IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING HIT. I TRIED MULTIPLE TIMES TO USE THE BRAKE, AND THE CAR DIDN'T SLOW. BEFORE COMING TO A TURN DOWN A VERY LONG STEEP HILL, I PULLED UP THE PARKING BRAKE TO STOP THE CAR. I CALLED AAA. THE AAA TECHNICIAN CONFIRMED THE BRAKES HAD FAILED, AND TOWED THE CAR TO A MECHANIC. THE MECHANIC WAS NOT ABLE TO LOOK AT THE CAR THE SAME DAY, BUT LOOKED THE NEXT DAY AND SAID THEY COULD FIND NOTHING WRONG WITH THE BRAKES. THEY RECOMMENDED TAKING IT TO AN ACTUAL NISSAN REPAIR SHOP, WHICH I DID. THEY SAID THEY COULD FIND NOTHING WRONG, BUT DID SEE THAT THE BRAKING SYSTEM HAD BEEN REPAIRED PREVIOUSLY. I CALLED NISSANUSA AND THEY SAID OUR VIN SHOWED THAT THE CAR HAD ALREADY BEEN REPAIRED FOR AN INTERMITTENT SERVICE BRAKE PROBLEM (ON RECALL) A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO BEFORE WE BOUGHT IT USED, AND THAT IT CAN'T BE FIXED AGAIN FOR THAT. IT'S SCARY THAT NOBODY CAN IDENTIFY WHAT WENT WRONG THIS TIME, AND NOBODY IS WILLING TO SEE IF IT'S THE RECALL FIX ACTING UP SOMEHOW, MAYBE UNPREPARED.