yep, yesterday, my '19 Sonic ate its battery... had to replace it to the tune of $139 US... joy joy joy.

2020 continues to impress.

How is that not warranty?

Posted by bandi How is that not warranty?

there is no one in the service department to consult... they are all in quarantine for the covid because one of the techs has it (a relative of mine).

Ohhhh...

Same thing is happening with all of the Chrysler dealers around here- they're all owned by the same guy and he managed to spread it between all of his dealerships.

ACDelco I am assuming? Group 94R/H7?

Those are made by Exide. Exide is interesting; they had issues since 2012 and it shows with they have the highest warranty returns across the board. Right now, they are the bottom in quality of batteries in the big 3 of battery makers. East Penn and Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls Battery Systems) out rank them in quality. Exide used to be a top battery maker, but like I said, they started having issues when a VC firm took them over.

From what I heard, its not so much the workers fault, but rather a materials issue. No QC in materials and it became apparent when Interstate Batteries started to have them make their batteries instead of (then) Johnson Controls, because Interstate was actually paying them to keep an older technology assembly line open here in Canby, Oregon, which Johnson Controls finally wanted to upgrade but Interstate didn't. Interstate now is dealing with some of the highest warranty returns to the point where the delivery trucks you see are full of more core returns than new batteries.

GM historically uses Exide due to history. Long story short, Delco Remy was spun off up by GM in 1994. The battery division got split up in a Gordon Gecko move; the plants got sold to Johnson Controls, while everything else to Exide.

Posted by Agent Skelly ACDelco I am assuming? Group 94R/H7? Those are made by Exide. Exide is interesting; they had issues since 2012 and it shows with they have the highest warranty returns across the board. Right now, they are the bottom in quality of batteries in the big 3 of battery makers. East Penn and Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls Battery Systems) out rank them in quality. Exide used to be a top battery maker, but like I said, they started having issues when a VC firm took them over. From what I heard, its not so much the workers fault, but rather a materials issue. No QC in materials and it became apparent when Interstate Batteries started to have them make their batteries instead of (then) Johnson Controls, because Interstate was actually paying them to keep an older technology assembly line open here in Canby, Oregon, which Johnson Controls finally wanted to upgrade but Interstate didn't. Interstate now is dealing with some of the highest warranty returns to the point where the delivery trucks you see are full of more core returns than new batteries. GM historically uses Exide due to history. Long story short, Delco Remy was spun off up by GM in 1994. The battery division got split up in a Gordon Gecko move; the plants got sold to Johnson Controls, while everything else to Exide.

for a couple of days previous to total failure, the car had been starting hard. So, after having it almost not start after coming out of the market, I stopped at my brothers' and had him take a look. My father brought over his battery/alternator tester and we checked that the alternator was putting out spec, but the battery was marginal. After all that, we did a load test and that was it for the big block of cold cranking amps. It was kaput. We jumped the car off my brothers' Equinox, i called Napa in Elizabethtown NY and they had one left for my car. Installed the battery, no problems thus far.

When I returned the battery for the core, a friend of mine that worked at the Napa tested it and it passed... so the thinking is, based on experience with other batteries in these cars, is that there is an intermittent failure inside the plates of the battery. I never bothered with the warranty, but the replacement battery ended up being a christmas present from my dad.

Yay.

Posted by Samurai When I returned the battery for the core, a friend of mine that worked at the Napa tested it and it passed... so the thinking is, based on experience with other batteries in these cars, is that there is an intermittent failure inside the plates of the battery. I never bothered with the warranty, but the replacement battery ended up being a christmas present from my dad. Yay.

Yeah, the "passing failure" is a common issue with Exide batteries. Someone on one of the forums I am on apparently said he thinks there is an issue with the plate insulation material that is creating contaminates and reducing the CCA.

NAPA uses East Penn as their battery manufacturer, and they #1 in battery quality rankings, so you are in good hands.

And back in the day, Delco batteries were top of the line. Remember Delco Freedom batteries you could buy at Walmart?

Posted by Agent Skelly Yeah, the "passing failure" is a common issue with Exide batteries. Someone on one of the forums I am on apparently said he thinks there is an issue with the plate insulation material that is creating contaminates and reducing the CCA. NAPA uses East Penn as their battery manufacturer, and they #1 in battery quality rankings, so you are in good hands. And back in the day, Delco batteries were top of the line. Remember Delco Freedom batteries you could buy at Walmart?

that 2012 Cruze i had still has the factory battery in it and its over 165,000 miles and 9 years old.

I got 9 years out of a wal mart battery purchased in an emergency once. In a diesel VW, which sat all winter without a battery maintainer being hooked up. It would need a charge every spring, but always came back to life. HOW?!

Posted by Samurai that 2012 Cruze i had still has the factory battery in it and its over 165,000 miles and 9 years old.

Group 94R right? Those are made at Delkor, which was stabled by Delco-Remy in 1985 for when GM started investing in its Asia Pacific partners more. Plant was in South Korea, hence the name Delkor. But in another Gordon Gecko move, the battery was setup to make non-BCI battery sizes used in Asian and European cars starting in the 1980s and was sold to Johnson Controls in 1995, but as apart of the agreement on the non-US assets, they made all non-BCI batteries for both GM OEM and ACDelco aftermarket sales.

Posted by bandi I got 9 years out of a wal mart battery purchased in an emergency once. In a diesel VW, which sat all winter without a battery maintainer being hooked up. It would need a charge every spring, but always came back to life. HOW?!

Look at the label, its either made by East Penn or Clarios/JCI. You will see an EP or JC on the serial.

I was very amused to find out bosch has been rebranded and all the batteries are made in north korea now RIP

Posted by Nismo I was very amused to find out bosch has been rebranded and all the batteries are made in north korea now RIP

north korea? are you serious?

Posted by Samurai north korea? are you serious?

Bosch Korea Ltd is a SOUTH Korean company.

Posted by fr00tCake Bosch Korea Ltd is a SOUTH Korean company.

My supplier dropped them and said north korea hah
Maybe headquarters in south korea and slavery battery making in the north

Bosch Korea as I recall actually doesn't own the plant, they contract with DelKor. DelKor was started as a subsidiary of Delco Remy in the 1980s to provide batteries to Hyundai and Daewoo when GM started to take interest. Their plant is located in Gumi.

However, that doesn't make sense since Bosch in North America has Exide build its batteries in the US...

The best batteries I have ever had were Panasonic. They came OEM in Toyota(s) made in Japan.
I do not believe there is a North American supplier.

Posted by gambino The best batteries I have ever had were Panasonic. They came OEM in Toyota(s) made in Japan. I do not believe there is a North American supplier.

Yes...except for some reason on vehicles sold in Hawaii, they got a black label Johnson Controls battery...

Posted by Agent Skelly Yes...except for some reason on vehicles sold in Hawaii, they got a black label Johnson Controls battery...

Really?
What does that mean?
Is there a relation to Panasonic, and JC?
So far my Panasonic in my FJ is 10 years old.