2008 Zap Xebra problems & reliability
44 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2008 Zap Xebra, alongside 4 safety recall campaigns. Last verified Aug 8, 2026. Complaints are unverified reports submitted by owners to the federal Office of Defects Investigation.
Each complaint is counted once (by NHTSA case number), even when it names several vehicles.
1 complaint report injuries (1 injured).
Most reported problems
| Component | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Service Brakes → | 33 | 75% |
| Service Brakes, Hydraulic | 7 | 16% |
| Unknown OR Other | 4 | 9% |
| Electrical System | 2 | 5% |
| Structure | 2 | 5% |
| Fuel System, Gasoline | 1 | 2% |
| Power Train | 1 | 2% |
Component groups as classified by NHTSA. A complaint can name more than one component, so shares may sum to more than 100%.
Complaints by incident year
What owners report
“Hello, I'm writing about the court decree on 7/16/13 signed my judge rosemary collyer. Zap is supposed to report to nhtsa regularly about the status of the refund and disposition of each recalled vehicle for three years. Somebody form zap world contacted me about a year ago. I still have the vehicle......how can you…”
Service Brakes · filed Feb 21, 2016
“This vehicle is already recalled, my vehicle suffered a complete loss or brake systems and fortunately was able to be steered to an uphill area before hitting a small retaining wall. Zap provided dot recall notice for brake failures to stop, and rules for recall. I have followed these rules which were drawn out from…”
Service Brakes · filed Apr 11, 2014
“As with others that have filed complaints, I was notified by zap that my vehicle was eligible for a recall due to incurable faults in the braking system. I filed all the necessary paperwork and received a letter that I qualified for the buy back program. They were supposed to pick up the vehicle and make payment by…”
Service Brakes · filed Mar 17, 2014
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.
Safety recalls
The 2008 Zap Xebra has 4 NHTSA recall campaigns — recall repairs are free at franchised dealers regardless of the vehicle’s age.
Check whether your specific vehicle is affected
Recall campaigns often cover only certain VIN ranges. Enter your VIN on the official NHTSA site to confirm whether your vehicle is included and whether the repair is still open.
Check VIN on NHTSA →Buying a used 2008 Zap Xebra?
- · Decode the seller’s VIN with our free VIN decoder to confirm the exact year, engine and trim.
- · Check for unrepaired recalls by VIN on NHTSA’s official lookup — recall repairs are free.