When purchasing a battery complete with a car or separately, the buyer has the right to count on a warranty. A complex device is expensive, the energy replenishment processes are specific, and it is difficult to determine why the energy source failed. Therefore, the responsibility for the correct high-quality assembly of the device lies with the manufacturer; he provides a guarantee on the battery. The owner is responsible for violation of the operating conditions. In controversial cases, an examination is required.
Legal standards
The warranty period refers to the seller's obligation to replace the vehicle battery within a specified period.
The procedure for replacing a battery under warranty must be based on the current Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”. So, in Art. 18 of this law indicates the rights of the consumer when a defect is detected in a product.
The buyer has the right to demand replacement of the product with a similar or different model, free elimination of defects or a refund of the amount paid. This can be done regardless of whether the payment receipt has been saved.
According to the law on the protection of consumer rights, the buyer also has the opportunity to refuse the purchased product within 14 days, regardless of the presence of defects, provided that the product is not included in the list of goods of good quality that are not subject to exchange or return, approved by Government Decree of January 19 1998 number 55.
Legal warranty for car batteries
A warranty card is filled out for each battery upon sale. The warranty card contains information about the name and model of the battery, the date of purchase, the warranty period, its expiration date, the name of the seller, and also the seller’s signature.
Manufacturers write a specific warranty period on car batteries. This could be 12, 24 or 36 months.
Many buyers naively believe that they can return a failed battery within the specified time frame and replace it with a new one. The specified manufacturer's warranty applies only to manufacturing defects .
Whereas if the battery simply runs out of life before the warranty period has expired, then it cannot be replaced.
How to change it in the store
Before replacing a problem battery, you must perform a number of mandatory steps. They consist of the following stages:
- The buyer draws up an application and submits it to the point of sale with a request to replace the battery, conduct an independent examination, refund or repair. The document must contain information about the buyer, including methods of communication (telephone, mail, etc.), name of the product, receipt, date and signature.
- Based on the results of consideration of the complaint, an examination is appointed. Its payment will be imposed on the culprit of the incident.
- If defects are confirmed, the buyer is notified of the time frame for eliminating the problem or replacing the product. If you have any complaints, you should go to court.
Sources
- https://DriverTip.ru/pravo/kakaya-garantiya-na-akkumulyator-avtomobilya.html
- https://zakonguru.com/zpp/tovary/akkumulatory-avtomobilnye.html
- https://remam.ru/elektrik/kakaya-garantiya-rasprostranyaetsya-na-akkumulyator-po-zakonu.html
- https://AkkumulyatorAvto.ru/vopros-otvet/garantiya-po-zakonu.html
- https://PoPravu.club/tovar/vozvrat-i-obmen/sdat-avtomobilnyj-akkumulyator.html
- https://akb-moscow.ru/kak-zamenit-akkumulyator-po-garantii/
- https://insulaw.ru/ekspertiza-kachestva-akkumulyatora-avtomobilnogo-poryadok-provedeniya-prava-i-obyazannosti-storon/
What is covered by the warranty
The warranty card for the battery assumes the possible presence of a manufacturing defect. If it was not detected during the production cycle, then when such a defect is discovered during operation, the specialists of the warranty center will have to replace this battery within the prescribed time frame.
The warranty on car batteries covers cases of manufacturing defects, which include:
- Breakdown of the internal connections of the battery due to poor soldering of the contacts (open circuit). For example, breakage of jumpers between plates or connections between banks, breakage of terminals.
- Short circuit of the plates due to the small gap between them , absence of shedding and warping of the plates in the jar.
- Batteries with low starting characteristics , leaking electrolyte, unformed active mass.
Manufacturing defects should be distinguished from operational defects. The warranty applies only to the first ones. Typically, in practice, batteries with manufacturing defects last less than a year, and the buyer finds out about such a defect quite quickly.
If no battery defects occurred during the production process, then such a product, in fact, does not need a warranty card, since it is meaningless (it is not a basis for replacing the battery).
What defects will be eliminated?
It has already been stated above that the list of warranty defects is determined by the manufacturer itself. The list is posted on the official website and indicated in the coupon.
Common defects:
1. Short circuit.
Appears due to the small distance between the plates. Because of this, the power of the battery is significantly reduced and it discharges quickly.
Another reason for a short circuit is damage to the separator due to incorrect placement of the plates. This defect appears almost immediately after starting to use the battery.
A short circuit can be easily identified by the boiling of the electrolyte in the damaged jar when discharged with inrush current.
2. Circuit break.
The blocks in a battery bank are connected to blocks of opposite polarity in another bank using special fasteners. During the production of the product, they may become weakly welded as a result of oxidation. During operation, a starter current passes through them, resulting in high heating and further oxidation. After some time, the connections are lost.
This defect appears in the first six months of using the machine.
The following faults are also included in the category of manufacturing defects, but their origin is not easy to prove:
- breaks of electrodes in blocks;
- unformed active mass;
- leakage of electrolyte through the connections of the battery case.
Lack of sealing of the lid
If there is no visible damage on the cover, but wet dirt is visible on the sides, at the junction with the housings, it is worth checking whether the battery cover is securely fastened. To do this, you need to tilt the battery 45 degrees. Electrolyte is leaking, which means the battery is defective and must be replaced.
Lack of sealing of cans
Each battery consists of 6 two-volt cells, which are separated from each other by sealed plastic plates. If the walls of two separate cans from the factory leak for some reason, they essentially form a single large can. The voltage at the terminals drops to 10 V and the battery “does not pull.”
Short circuit
A battery short-circuit can also occur due to long-term service, when the active mass falls off and the separator is damaged. However, down conductors can be short-circuited during assembly. Then the voltage at the battery terminals will be more than 1.5 V lower than specified. You can find out that one of the cans is closed using a hydrometer. The electrolyte density in it will be less than 1.15. If you put a battery with a short circuit on charge, active gas evolution will begin in the defective bank.
Open circuit
The battery contains six cells. If electrical conductivity between one of the pairs disappears, a “break” occurs - a sharp increase in resistance in the circuit under load. Simply put, a battery with a break, when checked with a voltmeter, will show normal voltage at the terminals. But the load fork will bring the defect to clean water. A load of 0.2 A sharply reduces the voltage in the network (less than 5 V).
As you can see, sellers are not lying at all when they say that a guarantee helps replace defective goods . And, alas, damage to goods due to negligence and/or ignorance does not apply to marriage. So, the short service life of a product, especially one that depends on the serviceability of the vehicle systems and the directness of the driver’s hands, is not always a characteristic of its quality.
Therefore, first of all, you need to honestly and without emotion determine whether your battery really falls under the warranty case. If not, then don’t even try: unscrupulous sellers may begin to “dynamize” a real defective case, but definitely no one will accept a battery that was split due to the negligence of the buyer.
If you are convinced that the battery was faulty from the very moment of purchase, proceed according to this plan:
- If you are still not sure whether the battery was damaged during use or was defective from the factory, it can be diagnosed at a large dealership. It is important that the center has the widest possible range of batteries from different brands, in which case its employees will not be interested in deceiving you and passing it off as a damaged item. It is best to buy a battery at the same dealership in order to achieve fairness under the warranty. Official dealers are willing to accommodate the client halfway, given that dealer agreements most often stipulate that the cost of replacing defective batteries is borne by the manufacturer. However, you should not personally bring a ruined battery to official dealers: representatives of experienced companies will easily reveal the deception and look at you, to put it mildly, with disapproval.
- If you are completely sure of the defect, but the seller continues to “go into ignorance”, it is worth filing a formal claim . The report must indicate the transparency of the electrolyte, its density in each jar, the voltage at the terminals and the date of production of the battery. It is necessary that the expert opinion be issued by a competing organization. It is important that the dealer you entrust to carry out the examination does not work together with your offenders. Often, the same Russian battery brands on the shelves talk about such implicit partnerships.
If the result does not appear within a week, you must file a claim in the magistrate’s court. Representatives of the store that sold you the defective product will try to hush up the matter if the battery is indeed subject to replacement under warranty. After all, if paperwork begins, the negligent dealer will have to pay a state fee and a fine for failure to resolve the dispute out of court.
What is not covered by the warranty
The warranty does not cover such battery characteristics as:
- car mileage resource
- wear rate;
- degree of decline in performance and performance indicators.
This is due to the fact that the manufacturer cannot control in what mode the car was operated and the battery was serviced. After all, its service life largely depends on the brand of the car, the number of kilometers it has traveled during its operation, climatic conditions, the operation of the generator and the driver himself.
The warranty does not cover such cases of defects in the battery as:
- change in electrolyte color;
- low electrolyte level (plates exposed);
- inappropriate electrolyte density;
- presence of mechanical damage;
- electrical malfunction.
Manufacturers do not accept such batteries for free exchange.
But due to high competition in the battery market, manufacturers offer their customers various forms of compensation for a failed battery, including the possibility of replacing it. But by law they are not obliged to do this, so the buyer does not have the right to force the manufacturer to replace the battery or return the money to him even if he goes to court.
The warranty period does not cover mechanical damage that occurred during operation, storage and transportation of the battery, as well as after its improper installation and connection. If the buyer has made any design changes to the battery that were not provided for by the manufacturer, the battery will not be accepted for exchange.
If a failed battery cannot be repaired, it should be disposed of.
Is the battery included in the car's warranty period?
Is the battery included in the car's warranty period?
The dealer is trying in every possible way to pin the blame on you (sometimes he simply delays in answering).
We just write a claim to the dealer in three copies, which states that the warranty is (so many, and you have to change everything), we give one to the dealer’s representative, the other at our place, and we prepare the third for court. You can also submit a complaint to the manufacturer - either on the website or via the hotline.
Usually after such treatment everything changes. BUT this is if you are 100% sure that it is not your fault!
Now we are watching a short useful video.
This is where I end, I think my article was useful to you. Sincerely yours, AUTOBLOGGER
(2 , 5,00 out of 5)
Similar news
- How to check battery charge with a multimeter. Let's find out the evidence...
- Normal car battery voltage.
As a result, after some time the connection is lost.
Typically, such a malfunction manifests itself in the first 6 months of use and is covered by warranty service, since the battery stops working.
KZ: This is another episode that falls under warranty service. When creating a battery, the block with plates may fall unevenly, and the plate at an angle will tear the nearest separator. A short circuit appears at the location where the damage occurred.
This malfunction can also appear under other circumstances. For example, some manufacturers are trying to save on separators and produce two mm instead of a reserve of five mm.
Malfunctions are detected in the warranty workshop specified in the warranty card upon presentation of a cash receipt or sales receipt. The conclusion of specialists that the fault is due to the manufacturer allows you to exchange the battery for a new one.
The same document is prepared for the court, sent to the manufacturer and to the website.
Therefore, if a breakdown is detected, firstly, do not delay contacting the warranty workshop, and secondly, demand personal participation in an independent examination, especially since you have every right to do so.
Battery failures not covered by warranty
If the list of breakdowns covered by the warranty is limited to only four cases, then the list of faults in the presence of which a free battery replacement may be denied is much wider.
Moreover, each manufacturer is free to include almost any breakdown in this list at its discretion.
The law regulates only the fact that this list must be included in the technical documentation of the battery.
- return the defective product for a refund.
If the battery does not meet any parameters, then within 14 days the buyer can return the product to the seller, even if it is in good condition.
It should be remembered that according to the same law, if you have lost the warranty card for the product and cannot provide it to the seller, he must still check its quality.
To summarize, it should be noted once again that replacing a battery under a car warranty is only possible if an examination establishes that it was initially defective.
How long does a car battery warranty last?
As mentioned above, the manufacturer provides a guarantee exclusively for defects resulting from production and undetected by technical control.
In most cases, such problems are identified within six months of work.
The most important data is written in it by hand:
- name and model of the product;
- date of purchase;
- guarantee period;
- expiration date of the warranty period;
- Name of the organization;
- surname and signature of the seller.
Below are all warranty obligations and a list of work related to warranty service for the product. This is the form you should receive the form in the store.
In this article we tried to describe the main aspects of battery warranty service. We hope that the information we provide will help you navigate correctly if a similar situation arises. Describe your experience with battery return.
What cases are not covered by the warranty?
The coupon clearly lists all those faults, if detected, the battery will not be accepted for a complaint:
- the electrolyte contains impurities, its level in all banks is higher or lower than normal;
- mechanical damage received after purchase;
- the serial number is not readable;
- the ventilation holes in unused batteries are clogged - to prevent this from happening, the manufacturer recommends visiting service centers for battery maintenance (topping up, cleaning, charging) once every 6 months;
- There is no warranty card, or it contains corrections.
Some manufacturers also write that the reason for refusing to accept the battery under warranty is the lack of a receipt. However, the federal law “On Consumer Rights” states that a check is not mandatory .
Attention
Only if the battery is “damaged” do you go to the official dealer, and he will decide whether to change it or not.
Moreover, it happens that a failed generator drags the battery along with it - both parts are replaced at once. And this is by law!
How can I find out what the warranty period is for the battery? Everything is simple, usually it is prescribed in the operation manual for the car. For example, in KIA and Hyundai all batteries have a warranty from 6 months to 1 year.
Some manufacturers give from 1 to 3 years (as for the entire car).
Therefore, before you go and demand, you need to look through your instruction manual (or go to the manufacturer’s official website).
If it's not my fault and the dealer refuses
The situation is not new. It happens that you did nothing (no physical intervention on your part), but the battery does not work (factory defect).
If a cause-and-effect relationship is proven, both devices are replaced.
Different companies set the warranty period independently. Korean manufacturers provide a warranty for the battery for 6-12 months, some for years. But here, too, the warranty only applies to manufacturing defects.
What kind of warranty the battery has is not that important. All factory assembly defects will be revealed in a short time; experts attribute hidden defects to a violation of operation.
It is necessary to monitor the level in the serviced batteries
- Generator failure. Deep battery discharge (hereinafter referred to as plate sulfation ) is again not the manufacturer’s fault
- Overcharging the battery (failure of the relay regulator ). Overheating of the plates, a drop in the electrolyte level and, possibly, their shedding. Also no guarantee!
You must understand that it is you who must monitor (it’s commonplace to check the voltage at the terminals, the density of the electrolyte) and if you “mess up” something, the manufacturer will happily refuse the warranty.
New car and battery warranty
It's almost the same picture here.
And, if you ignore the warning about a defect, even if written in the smallest font, you can’t count on replacing the battery under warranty.
It’s worth noting right away that such breakdowns manifest themselves within a maximum of the first three months (in rare cases six) after purchasing the battery.
In other words, the actual warranty period of the battery can be a maximum of a year.
And if you see a battery whose manufacturer or seller very convincingly tells you about a four-year warranty, then you should at least suspect some kind of catch in the “sweet speeches”.
These are not all the legal ways for sellers to evade responsibility for a product that is not of very high quality. For the vast majority of batteries, the warranty begins not from the beginning of operation, but from the moment of purchase.
Only in this case can you hope to replace the unit or get a refund. True, this is preceded by an examination. But if the battery wears out, you shouldn’t even think about a warranty, even if, for example, you “killed” it in a year, and it has a warranty for two. In the vast majority of cases, the seller will simply refer to wear and tear of the battery, and this case is not covered by the warranty.
Does the new car warranty cover the battery?
Car enthusiasts often wonder if the car is new, is there a warranty on the battery? Yes, if the car is new, then the return and repair obligations also apply to its components. At the same time, the terms of service are the same as when purchasing a new battery.
Battery maintenance, as is known, takes place in service centers. However, most people go to the store or salon where they bought the car.
If this manufacturing defect is discovered, you can return the battery or replace it with a new one. As you wish.
Less common defects include:
- unformed active mass;
- breaks of some electrodes in blocks from the bridge;
- leakage of electrolyte through the connections of the battery case (in the absence of mechanical damage).
These defects are also covered by warranty, but you will most likely have to fight with the dealer, who may attribute these malfunctions to breakdowns that arose during operation.
Battery examination under warranty
What to do if the seller refuses to provide warranty service? First of all, you need to make sure that this is a manufacturing defect.
In maintenance-free devices, everything is hidden, only the NRC charge can be measured.
Treat the battery with care, even abrasion of the label, scratches and small dents of the case can lead to a conclusion that the battery has been misused and will void the warranty under the law.
Listen to useful advice from a specialist in the video
Battery warranty according to law, terms, how to return, examination
Today there are a large number of car batteries of various manufacturers and brands on sale.
Important
Is it possible to submit?
When purchasing a new battery, the buyer receives a warranty for a certain period. Depending on the manufacturer, it ranges from 1 year to 5 years. The car enthusiast needs to understand that the warranty, regardless of its duration, only covers factory defects of the battery.
Only in this case is it possible to contact the seller with a request to fix the problem.
Warranty duration
The warranty period for batteries is set by the manufacturer. Most of them indicate a warranty period of 1-2 years . Some manufacturers may specify terms of up to 5 years here.
But by establishing a five-year warranty on the battery, the manufacturer does not guarantee that it will not fail during this time. It only indicates that during the 5-year warranty period, battery failure due to manufacturing defects will not occur. In relation to batteries, a long warranty period is often just a marketing ploy to attract people to purchase the battery.
If the warranty period for the product is not established, then, according to Art. 19 of the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”, it is at least 2 years from the date of transfer of the goods to the consumer.
These rules also apply to those batteries for which the manufacturer has not specified clear warranty periods.
Buying Tips
All batteries are legally covered by a warranty, just like complex equipment. But it is important to initially buy a good battery that will not cause problems. You need to read user reviews and purchase a rating model from well-known manufacturers.
When choosing a battery, pay attention to its release date. If the device is more than a year old, it was stored in unknown conditions, without recharging, it is better to refuse the purchase. In hybrid and low-maintenance batteries, you can check the strength of the electrolyte and its level. In maintenance-free devices, everything is hidden, only the NRC charge can be measured.
Treat the battery with care, even abrasion of the label, scratches and small dents of the case can lead to a conclusion that the battery has been misused and will void the warranty under the law.
Warranty withdrawal
Today, almost every driver has a clear understanding that if you install additional equipment not from an official dealer or carry out scheduled maintenance at a service center other than theirs, the car will simply fall out of warranty. For example, if you installed an alarm or changed the oil at a third-party car service center, and then came under warranty to the dealer with problems with the electrics or motor, respectively, you will receive a refusal on the grounds that your car is out of warranty. But to what extent is this opinion supported by the legislation in force for 2021? Let's find out!
