Buyer Research

2019 Nissan Leaf — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $9,500–$17,000. There are 2 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.

Deciding between model years? Compare the 15 Nissan Leaf years we've written up →

Kestrel Take

Second-generation Leaf, 40 kWh standard and the 62 kWh Plus from mid-year, and a car whose record is dominated by one thing that happened to it in 2024: recall 24V700, a fire risk during DC fast charging that told owners to stop using CHAdeMO chargers and then left them waiting more than a year for a fix. 191 of the 254 complaints filed here arrived in 2025–2026, and they are almost all that recall. Nissan's software remedy began mailing in June 2026, so the buyer's job is simple to state: pull the VIN, see 24V700 closed, and ask the seller whether the car fast-charges normally since. Beyond that, two camera recalls, an unintended-acceleration reprogram, and a battery that (unlike the first generation) mostly holds its bars. A good one, once the recall is genuinely done.

What we checked

Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 254 owner complaints for the 2019 Nissan Leaf, and 5 recall campaigns.

A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. 68% of them are about one thing — electrics and electronics. That much concentration is a genuine pattern rather than background noise, and it is the first thing to check on any example you look at.

5 recall campaigns cover this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2019 Nissan Leaf

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Battery can overheat during DC fast charging — fire-risk recall 24V700, remedy delayed until mid-2026High — wallet impact

The story of this year: 172 electrical and 34 fuel-system complaints, nearly all filed in 2025–2026 about the same campaign. Recall 24V700 covers 2019–2020 Leafs with the Level 3 quick-charge port: excess lithium deposits in some cells can raise resistance and overheat the pack during CHAdeMO fast charging, with a stated fire risk. Nissan told owners to avoid fast charging in September 2024, then missed its own remedy dates for over a year; owner letters for the battery software update went out June 3, 2026, as a phased rollout. One owner reports a 'Service EV System' warning after the update, so check the VIN for the recall closed and then ask the seller to show you a fast-charge session actually starting. A car that cannot be fast-charged is a city car, and should be priced as one.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (172), the fuel system (34); 5 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Unintended acceleration after switching off cruise control (recall 23V494)High — wallet impact

Recall 23V494 covers 2018–2023 Leafs: if the driver changes driving mode — D to B, e-Pedal on, or ECO — after disengaging cruise control, the car can accelerate on its own. Five speed-control complaints sit on this year's record, two of them crashes. The fix is a reprogram of the vehicle control module, free at a Nissan dealer, and it takes under an hour. It is a VIN check, not a test-drive check; do not try to reproduce it.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under throttle and cruise control (5); 5 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Rearview camera goes black or shows a stale image — two recalls, plus wipers and a defroster fanMedium

Recall 19V654 updated the camera software so the display does not freeze on the previous image in Reverse; recall 24V071 (2018–2022 Leafs) inspects the camera harness for damage that distorts or kills the picture, replacing the camera and harness or adding protective tape. Ten back-over and thirteen visibility complaints on this year: a screen that is black half the time, one near-miss with a child. The visibility cluster also holds wipers that quit in the rain and a defroster fan that failed, and recall 23V048 is a mailed manual correction on defroster use. Put the car in Reverse three or four times during the viewing and confirm a live picture each time; run the wipers and the defroster on full.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed; $150–$500 for a wiper motor or blower motor

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under glass, wipers and mirrors (13), back over prevention (10); 5 NHTSA recall campaigns on this model year.

Electric brake booster — ten complaints and two crashes, same design as the first generationMedium

Ten brake complaints, two of them crashes. The second-generation Leaf kept an electrically driven brake booster, and the first-generation pattern — a soft or sinking pedal with ABS and brake lamps lighting together, sometimes right after power-on or with a weak 12-volt battery — is what we would expect these to be. This cluster is outside the top three so the brief holds no samples, and we have scored it on that basis rather than on the earlier cars. Do a dozen slow stops on the test drive and one after a ten-minute shutdown.

Repair cost (estimate): $1,800–$4,000 for a replacement brake booster unit; $100–$250 for a 12-volt battery — about 30% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the brakes (10).

Rear hatch glass shattering on closingLow

One report in the visibility cluster of the hatch window exploding when the tailgate was closed with normal force and nothing in the way, and it is a complaint that recurs on this body across years. It is an insurance-glass claim rather than a defect a buyer can predict, but look at the hatch glass edges for chips and at the seal for signs of a previous replacement, and ask.

Repair cost (estimate): $300–$700 for hatch glass, installed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under glass, wipers and mirrors (13).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Recall 24V700 still open on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✗Seller says the car has not been fast-charged since 2024 and cannot show it doing so
✗'Service EV System' or any battery warning on the dash
✗Backup camera screen black or frozen on an old image in Reverse
✗Brake pedal that sinks or chatters right after power-on

Good Signs

✓Recall 24V700 shown closed and a CHAdeMO session started during the viewing
✓All five recalls closed on the NHTSA VIN lookup, printout in hand
✓A LeafSpy state-of-health above 85% that you watched taken
✓Rearview camera showing a live picture every time Reverse is selected
✓12-volt battery replaced within the last two years, with a receipt
✓62 kWh Plus trim, which has the range to make fast-charging a rarity