A car/driving question - what is my car doing and why? Is it my driving?

[LivingInaBuildingSite]

Happy to accept it’s my poor driving!

I drive an electric Nissan Leaf.
where I live there are lots of grid pattern roads, so lots of stop-starting.

Recently I’ve noticed the car seems to ‘stick’ when I go to pull away. Some lights flash on the dashboard, sorry don’t know which ones as it’s very brief.

sometimes it happens pulling away at corners, not just at straight ons.

why is it doing this? Is it my heavy foot? Although it wasn’t doing this before, can’t say exactly when this started but we’ve had the car for a few years now and it’s a recent thing, last few months maybe?

Have also noticed the car squeaks when I’m reversing, wonder if it’s just getting old, it’s a 2017 reg.

Is it not your auto break, its like half handbreak half not 😂 but it stops the car creeping if at a stop?

Could be I guess?
It doesn’t happen every time I pull away, I need to take note of which lights flash I suppose it might give me a clue.

A flashing light as you pull away immediately makes me think of traction control. Is it worse in the cold and damp? Have you checked the condition of your front tyres recently?

Yes worse in the cold, did think it might have been ice the first couple of times, probably only started in the winter.

I haven’t checked tyres recently, not sure when they were last checked. So that’s something to look at thanks.

If it is yellow/orange I would guess traction control too. Caused by too much throttle and not enough grip. The car will automatically reduce the throttle until grip is regained.

Well, maybe check what the light that flashes up means in the book for it?

We have an automatic plug in hybrid and if you’re not in “sport” mode it is super sluggish when pulling away. It was the same with our old auto diesel Mercedes, but my mums auto petrol fiesta is quick off the mark, so I have no idea if it is the automatic engine or the electric mode that is doing it!

Does your EV have a sport mode that you could try?

It does have a sport mode, I haven’t used it.

I haven’t seen the light for long enough to say what it is.

Jeees aloo takes 2 mins to check your tires aren’t bald. Imagine having a crash you’ll be screwed

Thanks for that.

So, various mums taxi drives later, I can’t make it do it when I want to, to try and see which lights flash, over thinking it now.

also checked, last MOT was August, so halfway between so worth getting things checked out again I think.

When was the last time it was serviced?

I've had this too and also have never seen the light for long enough to actually see what it is. I've never considered tyres so I'll get mine checked.

Mine has happened when pulling away on a hill.

Car is now in the garage.

Went to start it after a run and all the warning lights stayed on, the car moved before I wanted it to, and braking was very dodgy. Quite scary really. Tried turning off and on, etc. kept having same problems, managed to pull over in a safe space.

Have found a similar story online and it needed a new 12v battery (I confess to not knowing much about car engines, esp electric ones, so don’t know what batteries it has in there).

Got DH to come and get me, of course the car started fine then, why do things do that??
So he drove it straight to the garage, told them what I’d seen, they’re going to have a look. Also mentioned the pulling away issue.

poss a battery issue, brakes issue, traction control issue. Will let you know when I know!

That garage has admitted defeat, but says something wrong with the brakes.

need to take it back to Nissan who can’t see it until Friday so will sit on the drive until then - DH happy to drive it home from the garage, I’m not.

Nissan say bad news.

It is not safe to drive.

The brake master cylinder has failed and needs replacing, the part is £3k on its own. The work was quoted at £4,800.

We buy any car offers approx £6k for it.

Stuck now with what to do, we can’t afford the work and it’s a waste of money on the car anyway. Possibility of tracking down a second hard part…

But, main thing is, there WAS something wrong with it, and it wasn’t me!

Realised I never followed up.

DH found a local independent garage who knew what they were talking about and fixed it for £120.

Very unimpressed with Nissan who would’ve happily taken nearly £5K off us to replace something that didn’t need replacing. With no mention of the 12V battery that was actually the issue.

car is fine now.