I have a 17 Chevy malibu
The autostop caused my battery to die
Now im being told a regular battery can not be used to get sufficient service. I have to but the battery from the dealer that 400 dollars?. Has anybody gone thru this issue?
Is the auto stop a feature you can turn off? It sounds like too many short trips with lots of stops are killing the battery. I would not have a problem checking with an auto parts store for a battery replacement, and some will install them for free.
No unfortunately i cant turn the feature off.
I was told the regular auto store batteries will not be sufficient
You should be able to compare specifications for the battery and see if it is BS.
Thank you so much Barkydog!!
Im a female that dont know nothing about nothing thats getting GOT.
Are you sure it can’t be turned off ? Pickup the phone and call places and tell them what you have and you should find a battery for less money. It looks like Batteries Plus has one for less then 300.00 .
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Must be a hacker around somewhere that can figure out how to pull the plug, fuse, blow out the transistor, or whatever on one of the worst features they ever came up with. I wonder if they would have a $400 battery in stock in Moosejaw when it’s 20 below out and your car won’t start?
Another item to check off when looking for a new car.
Odd but all the money saved in gas for the off at stop feature will be cancelled out by the long drives added by owners to keep the battery charged!
There are things on the web that disable the start / stop feature . I don’t know what that does to the warranty .
Some vehicles have a button to disable but apparently the Malibu doesn’t.
@Littlebit_Carter ---- A web search seems to show that if the Malibu is driven in manual shift mode the stop / start is inactive.
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Ah ha, so have a former VW programmer write the software to make the car think it is always in manual mode. Seems to me that even if you have a button to shut it off, you need to do it every time you start the car. Its like the fog lights on my Pontiac. You have to turn them on every time for some reason.
Bing, the reason the start/stop is active every time the vehicle is started is that the miles per gallon in testing would not count if the feature could be turned off until someone wanted it back on.
How do you know the start/stop caused the battery to die?
Because the autostop made my radio and lights flick on and off at the stop light and then the next time i stopped the autostop shut the whole car down and i had to get a jumpstart to get back driving
Then you have a malfunction, not just a dead battery. It should be covered by the warranty. Did the dealer diagnose this, or did you just tell them you needed a battery?
They did a diagnostics test and and I had it tested beforehand at batteries plus they said the battery was kinda low
But i did asume it was the battery considering the jump start that was needed
GM is shooting themselves in the foot by not at least putting a switch in to turn it off . I won’t even look at them anymore seeing you can’t shut it off . I currently have a Envoy too and I loved it .
You said your vehicle knowledge is not great, that is true for many people . In your position I might just bite the bullet and have the dealer put in the new battery if you decide to buy one. It will be on their records just in case there is a problem that is causing a short life to the battery. If you were out of warranty I would say let price be your guide.
+1
Additionally, the Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty should cover the battery on a car that is approximately one year old–unless it has accumulated too many miles on the odometer already.
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That just means it needs a charge, not a replacement. How many miles are on it?
I would have thought that the dealer would give you a prorated price, given the short time the battery lasted. Did they not do that?