2016 Buick Regal - Anti theft

I attempted to start my 2016 Buick Regal one morning and it would not start. The message on the dash had something about the “anti-theft” system. I tried several different things to start the car. I tried the key fob in the “special spot” the dealer showed me, I tried to remote start the car, but nothing worked. When the tow truck came, they said it was probably a dead battery, but all of the lights on the dash and the headlights came on brightly when I tried to start the car. Once the battery was replaced, the car has started up just fine (or at least so far). First, how can a battery only 3 years old be dead already? Second, with all of the fancy messages and features that this car has, why can’t it tell you that the battery needs replaced soon, or at least before the car won’t start at all? Every other car I have ever owned, you could tell when the battery needed replaced, because the car cranked a little harder and longer, but the car would still start. Very frustrating that a car can be fine in the evening, but not start in the morning. Your thoughts? Thanks.

Welcome the world of obnoxious batteries . It is not unusual for a battery to work just fine and then fail to start the vehicle . And yes sometimes the lights will work but there is not enough power to start the vehicle. Also they can fail in a short time and some seem to last a long time.

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Do you live in the South? One of the surprises my son got when he moved to Florida was the much shorter battery life than in Western NY… Less than half. We have both seen Japanese cars with original batteries go 14 or 15 years. My current Toyota is 8 and my daughters is 10.

A battery is a big dumb lump of lead and acid that has been around for 150 years with little change. They fail in the most ridiculous ways and times. I have had cars that “told” me the battery was dying weeks before it did. If I paid attention, I would not be stranded.

I have had other cars that started fine in the morning and would not even light the dash lights by lunch.

Cars today are far loaded with far more electronics than in the past and they kill batteries like crazy.