Stories wanted: Has your car battery died on a dark and stormy night?

It may not feel like it just yet, but colder weather is coming. And when it does, some drivers will inevitably find out they need a new battery the hard way—when theirs fails to start the car.

We’ve just completed our latest round of battery testing, and we’re working on a story with our latest car battery Ratings and buying advice for the November issue of Consumer Reports. And here’s where we need your help.

Do you have a car battery story to share? Perhaps a sorry tale about being inconvenienced by a battery failure? Part of what we're reporting on is why car batteries often go dead in cold weather, so stories along those lines would be helpful. It doesn't have to be a "dark and stormy night" sort of thing, but that might not hurt, either.

Stories and authors chosen will be mentioned in our report in the November issue of Consumer Reports.

You can submit comments here, or use the Cars forum threads in the Aftermarket discussion and in John’s Tool Box (free to read, subscribers-only post).

See our current car battery ratings and buying advice.

—Jim Travers

Comments

[mikecanada]

I've never had a battery go dead on me. However, I think it's interesting that my long-gone 1989 Dodge Daytona had the original battery in it when it went to the junkyard in 2002.

[Henry Jin]

Last October, my 2001 Nissan Maxima's battery died sometime in after a night of storm after a cold front moved in. I was somewhat surprised because although I have had that battery for a couple of years, but it didn't give me any signs about being low on juice. It simply died suddenly after a night of drastic drop in temperature. After calling work to tell them that I will be late, I was thinking about how to get out of this jam. Thankfully a neighbor was on his way out and ended up taking me to Walmart, where I bought 2 different batteries because apparently some Maximas that year were fitted to use one and some the other. I got it back, installed it no problem, returned the unused battery along with the dead core for refunds.

But 2 weeks later as I was leaving work after a particularly cold rain came through, my battery was dead again. I had to get my car jumped so I can take it to another Walmart to get a free replacement. While I was there, I insisted on getting my alternator and electrical system checked out, and later they decided that for some reason the battery I got simply went dead perhaps being defective. Soon thereafter, I gave that car as a hand-me-down to my younger brother.

Thankfully I didn't have any appointments for either of those days, but I definitely wasted over 4 hours between the two near back-to-back incidents.

[Allyson]

I live in south Louisiana. I have never had battery problems in cold weather-usually my batteries give out in the intense heat of the summer. The battery goes out without prior warning or trouble. Go into a store, come back out and nothing. The worst event was when I had my battery go out while traveling. I had been going along fine, stopped at a highway rest-stop for refreshments, and then got back in the car and nothing. The battery dead as a doornail. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers for jump-starts! Don't know why it happens like that in the south, but it is a common problem.

[Frank Greaney]

En route for personal business, car would not start in morning. Called AAA. They asked if I would be interested in a new battery from AAA if my battery was terminally dead? I said yes.
AAA technician arrived within half hour. Very impressive and professional service. Thorough check of battery and starter and alternator. I was worred that it might be starter. Diagnosis was dead battery. Said I could proceed with my 5-year old, 140,000 mile battery now jump-started or I could replace it. I immediately opted for new battery. Charge was about $105. Installed quickly and quite competently without throwing off the car's electric system and, of course, FM station settings.
One of the most satisfactory interactions I've ever had with any organizations and I'm not the world's easiest customer. AAA in Fairfield CT and their tech "Steve" did a fantastic job. Instant and competent service with long-term peace of mind for me and my family.

[Will Gayther]

I was driving back from a trip when my alternator died. Unfortunately, for me, not only did this cause me to miss an appointment, the highway I was on got closed off because of an accident and we were going about 5 miles per hour. Seriously, we were rerouted and going so slowly people in my lane were having conversations with people going the opposite direction in the other lane. Fortunately, I was able to nurse my car back to an auto parts store (my battery got so low the dashboard clock started flickering), buy a new alternator, they knew a Sears that was still open on Sunday evening that could install it.

After getting the alternator installed, they told me they put my battery in the charger and it took a charge, but the machine said the battery was bad. The battery was less than 2 years old (though had been greatly taxed by the alternator failing) and it had a 3 year replacement policy from Walmart, so I just put it back in my car and drove home. Next day I went to Walmart.

Well, what do you know - the guys at the Walmart who would have had to replace it hooked it up to their machine and told me the battery was "fine". No problem, just a corroded bolt (that I hadn't been able to get off with my tools) that they replaced.

Next day I drove to work, then drove to a bike shop for some bike stuff, came out to my car - and it was dead as a doornail. Normally a car with a dead/weak battery will turn on the lights on the dash when you put the key in, then try to turn over the engine and fail. But not for me - I didn't even get lights on the dash. Nothin'.

I had a battery jump starter in my trunk and hooked it - nothing. I left it hooked up to the battery for about 10 minutes - then the lights would come on when I put the key in, but as soon as I would turn the key to start the engine, the engine wouldn't even turn over - instead the car would lose all power again. No dashboard lights, nuthin. If I took the jump starter off the battery terminals, then put it back on, then waiting another 10 minutes, I would go through the same process again.

Fortunately for me, there was an auto parts store down the street so I was able to buy a new battery from them. With the new battery bolts, I was able to get the old battery out and put the new battery in and everything worked again without having to get a tow, etc etc.

I took the old battery back to the auto parts store (to get the "core" fee back) and asked them test it before recycling it. They put it on their tester on the guy said it was real weird - their tester said the battery was fine and 100% charged. Then the machine said it was charging it (I shouldn't have been charging a "100% full" battery).

I always thought the battery warranties were pretty much useless - what are the odds your battery is going to fail, and then you'll have the luxury of being able to take it back to the store, have them test it, then bring a new battery back to your car? It's pretty much nothing - if your battery fails on the side of the road, you'll likely call a tow truck, and need to buy a replacement battery from whoever they tow you to to get your car running again. Sure, you might be able to take back your old battery after that, but what are you going to do with 2 batteries in your car? Since different cars take different batteries, it's unlikely you'd even be able to use it in a second car. And (according to consumer reports) a batteries life is largely determined by how long it's been since it's been manufactured, so it's not like you could even just hold onto the new battery. By the time the battery in your car fails, the replacement battery won't be reliable either, just from sitting around.

[Aaron Kaufman]

I had a similar experience with AAA. It is so much more convenient to have them do it. Sure, I probably paid $20 more than I would from a store but the hassle factor is worth it. Caution to all car owners, batteries "never" last more than 2-3 years, period. And even charging them at home to make them last longer won't work. Murphy's law says it will happen at the most inconvenient time so having AAA take care of it no matter where you are is worth it.

[Jacquie Hansen]

I had a battery go out from my 93 Miata. It is a difficult battery to acquire. I had to call many places and finally found one.

[Tyler]

I had a Hyundai Accent. Just after I had to pay for a new transmission to be installed at only about 83,000 KMS, my battery failed. The car wouldn't start. I had left it parked in a 15 minute loading zone at -20 ! Had to tow it to an independant dealership since I had so many problems with dishonesty from the Hyundai Dealership here in Edmonton. What a nightmare it was.

[Ken Ware]

Like most wear and tear items on a car, batteries have a finite life span.The reason people have problems with batteries is very simple,
they ignore it and fail to replace it at regular intervals.A new,
fully charged battery has a considerable amount of reserve capacity,
as the battery ages,this reserve diminishes to zero.As any chemistry
101 student knows,tempature has large influence on chemical reactions.
This is the reason so many batteries fail during the first cold snap
of the fall.On an older battery the reserve has diminished to less
than 10% and the cold engine has a higher cranking resistance and
the combination creates a no start condition.
Just like you wouldn't head out on a cross country trip with an
empty gas tank or bald tires,you shouldn't consider your car as
reliable if the battery is old.Rather than letting the battery
decide when it needs to be replaced,YOU should make that decision.A
good rule is to replace the battery ever 3 years with a good quality
properly sized replacement.This should be done in the early fall
before it gets cold;Labor day is a good time of year.

[Janelle Montgomery]

My Dad told me always replace your car battery every 2 years. They never give out on a lovely afternoon when you have no where to be. And every time I've forgotten his advice, I've ended up in the cold or rain, running late, and needing a jump.

[JC]

I've had a Wal-Mart EverStart battery (highly rated by CR) die on a car I had sitting for 6 months through an Illinois winter. To be fair however, the car might have had an abnormal current draw as it's a '97 Mercury Sable with spotty history.

On the other hand, I have a 2001 Hyundai Elantra that's falling apart (literally! like the bolts are coming loose and falling off!) and other than having to take some baking soda to the terminals, the original battery is still good! I had my local auto parts store run a load test, and it came back as 70% of the cells still good. And that from a 9 year old car!

Most of my batteries last right around 5-6 years.

[j.d.]

this was so funny i have to share it...one night i was driving home from the casino in south lake tahoe,we had about 2 ft of snow that day and the skiing was great.after dinner and some poker,i called it a night at about 11 pm..it was about 0 degrees outside..on my way back to the house up a winding hill a guy jumps out from behind a snow mound into the middle of the road right in front of me,with his arms flailing and screaming with a middle eastern accent..he was wearing what looked to be black dress slacks and a black flimsy leather jacket and loafers..out of the norm for the weather and the mountains..now me being from new yok,i thought i had seen everything!!i put the window down on the suv and asked what the matter was..he seemed frantic and was screaming over and over"my buddy's dead","my buddy's dead"..i picked up the cell and punched 911..i was alone and not about ready to jump out and help..i stepped on the gas and got out of dodge while i called the police.i drove up the hill and circled back sometime later.it turns out that his battery was dead and he needed a jump.i hav'nt laughed that hard in a long time

[J Vining]

Had the top blow off a battery when starting up the car. Made a loud boom, then smoke came out from under hood. Force of explosion put a dent in the hood (battery terminal). Car kept on running.

[Jake]

I drive a 2003 Subaru Forester. Last year, I turned on my car to pull out of Sonic, and it didn't start. It turned out my battery was dead and I had to get a new one. The battery was a few years old so that's not too bad, but I'm surprised that there was no kind of indicator light or anything to warn me of this before it went out.

[Luke Collins]

Regarding battery failure in cold weather...

I live in Wisconsin, which gets VERY cold (-20 or colder) for a few weeks each year. One weekend, it went down as far as -40, and so I decided to stay indoors and leave the car out by the apartment. When I wanted to start the engine on Monday, I found that the battery had frozen solid. Literally. The battery acid had frozen. Interestingly, when I took the battery inside and let it defrost, it had enough charge left to start the vehicle. For the rest of the very cold week, I found myself removing the battery and hauling it inside every day. Later I bought a portable battery, and in the winter, I must use that to get the car to start at times.

It is, after all, impossible to use a plug-in heater on your car engine when you live in an apartment...

On a related note, when I received the car from my Dad, I had problems with the battery dying at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. When I took it to the mechanic, he pointed out that my father had installed a battery intended for a subcompact car on my Buick LeSabre, and was amazed that the car started at all with such a tiny battery. That's what I get for having a cheapskate, "any battery will do" sort of Dad, I guess.

[monogodo]

Years ago I was heading up to Wisconsin from Texas to visit family for Thanksgiving. Along the way I stopped in Chicago to visit a friend there. I stayed two nights at his place. The first morning, he had to jump my car so we could go to breakfast. I had to call the auto club to come jump me after breakfast. I drove around for a few hours, then went back to my friend's for the day. The next morning, the car wouldn't start again. I called the auto club to get another jump, but they would only send a tow, since it was my second call for the same problem in 2 days. I had the car towed to the closest Sears, where they tried to sell me some heavy-duty 5000 cold-cranking amps battery. I declined it, explaining that the weather they were having at the moment was about as cold as it gets in Texas, so their bottom-of-the-line battery was fine for me. And it was.

[Ian]

I bought a brand new battery from pep boys for my 2002 ford focus in february of 2007. Two weeks after installing it, it exploded while I was in a drive through with my wife. The resulting damage of the battery explosion led me to have to give up on the car and buy a new one, as I was now facing $2500 in repairs due to the battery that exploded. Note to self, never buy an energizer car battery ever again. I think I'll stick with batteries from the auto manufacturer from now on.

[Eric Lorraine]

Despite numerous attempts at diagnosis at the dealer garage, and cumulating "diagnostic" fees, I never did get an answer as far as why my battery kept dying. At one point the head mechanic came out to explain, "I have no idea." They told me my 2000 Ford Mustang had a chargeguard system in place that was supposed to prevent that sort of thing, but empirically I questioned the accuracy of that statement. They were pretty steadfast in saying that the battery itself was just fine though.

If it weren't for a portable battery boost pack, which is a necessity for every vehicle in my opinion, I would've probably just left the car in a parking lot somewhere. It never required a lot of juice, just enough to get it to turn over, until that poor, sad, abused battery had enough.

I was fortunate in that was just a downpour in which it finally kicked the bucket. To say upstate NY March is unpredictable is an understatement. Lucky for me the walk to the nearest DIY parts store was quick and my purchase and installation of a new battery was equally so.

It wasn't long before that new battery developed the same problems as its predecessor, and it wasn't long after that I purchased a different vehicle, from a different dealer.

All told, this was a much easier repair than my alternator repair in -20 degree weather with wind-chill, requiring a 4 foot long 1 inch diameter pipe, a new wiring harness and eventually a toothbrush to get the sand out of my teeth, but that's a story for another (more alternator-y) day.

[al]

Not really weather related, but falls into the "good to know."

I have an '01 Nissan Sentra and for a few years the battery terminals were getting corroded. No big deal, just cleaned them often. I knew the battery would eventually die and finally in a 8 year old car it did. I went to my local auto parts chain and got a new battery installed, asked the person if there was anything else that needed replacing since I knew it was corroding for awhile. They said no and went on my way.

Less than a week later the battery dies again. Obviously I didn't think it was the brand battery so I took it a mechanic. They couldn't test the alternator, which was the next logical problem until the battery was charged, and the battery was so low that it couldn't be charged at all. They replaced the brand new battery and tested the alternator, and that wasn't it.

It turned out the old battery had corroded the battery connectors so the new battery wouldn't properly charge (and probably the old battery as well), once the initial charge of the new battery was gone, it couldn't recharge. Fortunately, I worked with an honest repair shop and the whole repair cost less than $25.

[Jim]

In 2006 I replace an ACDelco battery in my 2002 F150 with an AutoZone Gold Battery with a three year replace warranty.(Vegas summers will kill even the best batteries! I Always get the best available!) Two month later I was taking photos of Lake Mead National Rec Area and it left me stranded (two dead cells), miles from anywhere. I hiked about two miles to the main road, found some help and got a jump start and went directly to the same AutoZone I bought it from. I had no receipt but the warranty is suppose to work with your phone number and name, so I wasn't worried. (oops)

The asst. manager Linda claimed they had new computer software and could not verify my warranty was active because it wasn't in the computer anymore. I said just look at the battery markings and date stamp. She claimed it was common for people to alter the battery markings and said without the receipt I would get no replacement. The store manager was not available to elevate this.

I was angry and left, fuming! I got a jump start and went home, Googled for an AutoZone complaint line and found the district managers name and number on a local blog. I called him and left a detailed message saying if I did not get some help I would contact our local Las Vegas investigative reporters.

Within 24 hrs I recieved a very nice phone call and a request to meet him at the AutoZone in question. I jump started the truck (that was getting old!) and met him there. He personally checked me out and installed the new battery himself. Very nice guy, very helpful.

Later that week I was at that AutoZone for a part for my wifes Toyota noticed that Linda was not working there anymore and I asked the cashier where she was. She told me Linda no longer worked for AutoZone.

Last week that same battery had to be replaced. It was month out of warranty and the pro-rated replacement was only $29.

I am very happy.

[Steve]

I have a 2006 Honda Civic, and the battery died last summer. I went from work to the supermarket--everything was fine. Then I drove to the kennel to pick up my dog. The car would not start at the kennel. I got a jump start, and got home. The battery would not keep a charge. The car was still under warranty, so Honda replaced it for free. The service guy said that they'd seen more than a few dead Honda batteries for that model year.

[Mark]

My 2006 Honda Pilot's original equipment battery died this summer, after three years and 38,000 miles, stranding my family at a gas station (no, unfortunately not a service station). I've always gotten at least twice that use out of a battery in the past. The dealership quoted me almost $200 to replace a battery, but bought a CR recommended battery for $55 (25% more powerful than the OE battery) and replaced it myself.

[Steven]

I had a 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix that gave me fits with it's battery. Turns out it was my own fault.

I had installed a new after market stereo with subwoofer and power amplifier. It was a nice system but by no means a monster bass machine you have probably heard in a parking lot.

Soon after the battery died. I bought a new one at Autozone. That one lasted 5 months the next (underwarranty of course lasted 6 months. Each time I had the alternator checked and it always passed.

Turns out the alternator, while functioning properly simply was not big enough to handle the peak power hits from the stereo. I was counseled to buy a Power capacitor for the stereo (@ $100) and the problem went away and never came back.

I'll know better next time.

[John]

I was driving a still under warranty Toyota Camry up and out of a steep river canyon when the vehicle lost all electrical power and stalled.

Since it was an automatic I put the shifter in Park and attempted to restart the car. Nothing, no lights, horn, idiot lights, emergency flashers, nothing electrical would work. I called 911.

I was in the middle of a 2 lane highway (CA-49 near Auburn) with a steep wall to the right, and drop off to the left with no break down lane. There was just enough room for 2 vehicles to pass and I was at at a sharp corner. The cars backing up behind could not see around my vehicle to safely go around.

Some nice folks stopped and help me direct traffic around my stalled vehicle. The local fire department arrived and continued traffic control.

When I attempted to put the vehicle in Neutral so I could coast backward into a pullout, the electronic lock that requires you to step on the breaks to shift the vehicle was dead. The vehicle was stuck in Park. This safety system made the situation less safe.

The Highway Patrol arrived and wanted to push my car to safety. I explained the situation, that the shifter would not move and the car was stuck in park. The patrolman pried off a small cover near the shifter and pushed a release button. I was now able to put the car and Neutral and he pushed it to a safe spot where I waited for the tow truck.

Towed to the dealer the problem was diagnosed as an internal short in the battery. The battery was replace under warranty and the problem never reappeared.

Lessons learned - find that little cover and the shifter release button. When you have an electrical problem put the vehicle in Neutral, not Park in order to attempt to restart.

[Adeel]

A strange phenomena took place yesterday, my car battery died while it was parked in a parking lot, this morning 3 people in my office told me they had a similar experience, my auto mechanic also got atleast 8-9 customers with the same issue. Some of th...em were driving when their car suddenly stopped, what could this be? solar flares, aliens, the govt conducting secret experiments?