I have a 2013 Nissan Rogue and today I went to go pick a friend up, and a guy told me to help him jumpstart his car so I did. He plugged in the cables correctly and he turned his car on and that was it. I got home told my mom about this and she got mad, she said that this affects the computer from the car and from the dealers. Idk what to do. When I got home the car was working perfectly. Can this really affect the computer of the car ??? Please help suffering
If the jumper cables are connected correctly, it should have no effect on the computer.
Where do people come up with this stuff?
Tester
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So to clarify your car is just running fine now?
I wouldn’t worry about anything-well next time be careful how much info you give mom (unless it is her car) and also be careful with strangers 
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That is the key phrase. If done wrong then damage to expensive components will happen. If it is your mothers car then you go by her rules.
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I believe this is an urban myth. I used to hear this from my mother’s cousin back in the day, but I think she was just humble-bragging about her fancy car and its fancy computer.
The only time I ever damaged a vehicle by using it for a jump start was when I was helping an idiot who had a red battery cable connected to his negative battery terminal and a black cable connected to his positive battery terminal, so now I take the extra time to confirm the positive and negative icons on the battery before I help a stranger.
My mother’s cousin said she heard it from a guy at the Mercedes dealership where she bought and serviced her car.
According to Motorweek, it absolutely can cause problems with the on board computers due to power spikes at start-up. Michelin and others have jumpers designed with diodes to prevent power spikes from flowing back from the car that needs a jump to the one that provides it. Here’s an article that discusses the Michelin product.
I would never allow my car to be used to jump another. Too much risk of damaging some electronics and being out thousands of dollars. Gall AAA.
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And if you call AAA, guess what they’re going to do?
JUMP START IT!
LOL
Tester
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What happens if a power surge whacks your computer(s)? If you have a towing service through your auto insurance or AAA, you might have recourse. Maybe not, though.
If it were wrong put, wouldn’t the car disfunction at that same time? Not later
Here’s an answer. Go down and spend $50 on a jump start pack and put it in the trunk. Then when someone needs a jump, you can use that instead of your car. With $4-5000 or electronics in cars these days, I’d rather blow a $50 jump pack than take a chance.
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I’ve been considering buying one of those, but if you keep it in your trunk, how will you keep it plugged into a 12 volt outlet so it will be charged when you need it?
You charge it up about every 6 months from an AC outlet. No need to keep it plugged in to anything. I used mine on my lawn mower after the pack sat for at least 6 months and never even needed much of a charge to bring it up to full charge again.
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You are correct about that. If the jump start you gave caused problems to your car’s electrics, you’d likely know it by now. I wouldn’t worry about this further.
However, it is possible to damage your car when you give a jump start to somebody. I damaged an alternator diode in my Corolla jumping a neighbor’s car one time. In an ideal world it wouldn’t damage the jumping car. But we don’t live in an ideal world and there’s lots of variables to consider. The state of the other car’s battery for example. And the state of the jumping car’s battery. Whether the cables are connected to the correct places, in the correct order, whether the jumping car is running or not, and for how long. How many attempts are made before giving up. Etc etc. The wrong set of events can definitely damage the jumping car.
My advice is to offer the driver in need of a jump that you have a cell phone & will phone up a tow company who’ll send a truck out to give the other car a jump start. Store several of those company telephone numbers in your cell phone memory, then you’ll have them when you need it. That’s what I do now. The other driver sometimes takes me up on the offer, but usually says thanks for the offer, but instead of using my cell phone asks somebody else to give him a jump start. Doesn’t want to pay the jump-starting tow truck fee I presume.
It doesn’t work that way George.
Example: You come out of a shopping mall just as it’s closing down.
It’s winter and the wind chill is at -30 degrees.
You come across a mother with two children who comes out to a vehicle with a dead battery.
Do you tell her to get on her cell phone (if she has one?) and call a tow company to jump her car?
Or? Do you pull out your jumper cables and jump start the car so both her and the kids are safe?
Where you live dictates how you act.
Tester
Sometimes circumstances dictate you have to take the chance. People’s lives are more important than alternator diodes. no question about that. But there are usually alternatives that don’t involve jump starting the other car yourself available.
What I’m not getting is?
When did jump starting a vehicle become rocket science when done correctly?
Did something change i didn’t hear about?
Tester
My own experience, I never had any problems jump starting other cars with my 60’s carb’d Ford Galaxy, 70’s carb’d Ford truck, or 70’s mechanical fuel injected VW Rabbit. 90’s electronic fuel injected Corolla, yes had a problem jump starting w/that.
Tester - What has changed is fearmongering on the internet.