Start Your Engines!

Imagine this. You have just completed a full day at the office and are ready to go home. You walk your dressed-up self (in my case, heels, hose, nice dress) across the hot street and parking lot to your car, get in, and turn the key in the ignition. The sound coming from the front indicates that the battery is not well, so you get out of the car, walk back across the hot lot into the cool building, and ask for help to jump start your car. No problem, so you walk back to your car to get the jumper cables.  But there are no jumper cables. Turns out that none of the people you asked for help had jumper cables, and it is possible that even if someone with jumper cables had been available, the car would not have started.

Batteries take a beating in this hot weather with the leading cause of battery failure being corrosion caused by heat. Signs that a battery may be failing include headlights and interior lights dimming, slow engine starting, or accessories failing to operate.  Under the stress of normal city driving, the average life of a vehicle battery is about three years, according to a report in the August 13, 2007, Auto News.

If your battery is more than three years old, get it tested. If the battery is more than four years old, replace it or you may find yourself in the same dilemma that I was in. My battery lasted five years, but I was driving on borrowed time and was lucky. I could have been traveling out of town when it died. My good luck was that my husband was in town and reachable. He replaced the dead battery with a new one, and I was back in driving business. Just as he was putting the new battery in place, a colleague with jumper cables showed up.

The moral of this story is that you should test your vehicle’s battery at three years and replace it if it is failing. And, in addition to your first aid supplies, carry an emergency car kit that includes jumper cables.

And then start your engines!

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