The warranty on the battery will not be voided if the owner follows the advice specific to their vehicle which is available in their handbook.
If a customer does not have a handbook and the opportunity to buy one is restricted (Covid lockdown), then the Audi Customer Service Centre should be able to help with guidance for their specific car.
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If the instructions are followed in the handbooks with regards to jump-starting, no damage will occur. Trickle charging is safe to carry out, as long as the instructions are followed for the unit being used.
If the user does not follow the guidance and damages the vehicle, this will not be covered.
If the instructions are followed in the handbooks with regards to jump-starting, no damage will occur. Trickle charging is safe to carry out as long as the instructions are followed for the unit being used.
If the user does not follow the guidance and damages the vehicle, this will not be covered.
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Honda
Customers can trickle charge the 12v batteries in their cars. Though they have to completely remove the connection to the car before doing so.
They cannot trickle charge the main battery in a Honda hybrid – that is powered by the car and will never go below 20% charge anyway.
We are awaiting response in regards to jump-starting.
Where relevant, jump-start instructions are given in the owners handbook. Some of our hybrid and electric vehicles have a 12v reset function, so don’t need to be jump-started.
As for trickle charging, there is nothing in the warranty to prevent this and provided the relevant instructions on the charger are followed, I’m not sure how any damage could be caused. The only real danger is the customer connecting the positive and negative terminals incorrectly or an incorrect voltage being used which could cause damage to the electrical system, however a good quality trickle charger should have its own protection systems to prevent this.
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Mitsubishi has a specific section of the website dedicated to Caring for a hybrid or electric car during coronavirus. You can find that here.
Cars under warranty are covered by breakdown assistance (provided by the RAC) including the event of flat battery.
For NHS & Key Workers we have extended this roadside assistance programme to cars in or out of warranty during this ‘lockdown’ period and are providing this service to them free of charge. This cover will include homestart, roadside repair and recovery to home or the nearest Nissan dealership still able to stay open for aftersales service. In addition, Nissan will also prioritise free-of-charge courtesy cars for key workers should their vehicle need to be repaired at a dealership.
As for jump-starting a battery, the procedure to carry out a jump start correctly is highlighted in the Nissan owner’s manual. Battery Care Guidance if vehicle is not to be used/stored (30+ days) is listed in section 8 Owners Handbook.
If the user does not follow the guidance and damages the vehicle, this will not be covered.
“Our advice regarding trickle charging and jump starting is always to consult the manual in the first instance – it has vehicle-specific guidance on both – and failing that to contact their Porsche Centre by email or our Customer Assistance team by phone or email for guidance.
Our advice for owners who don’t have access to a suitable trickle charger is to start the car once a week and leave it running for 15 minutes. For our plug-in hybrids, the recommendation is to leave them plugged into the charger, which will also condition the 12v battery. All our hybrid chargers have a 3-pin connector for domestic plugs.
Our more recent cars also have a protective mode which shuts down non-essential functions to safeguard the battery when it senses the voltage getting low, so this in itself should give peace of mind to those owners of cars still under the new car warranty.”
While we’d generally advise customers not to trickle charge their vehicles, however, these are certainly unusual times. Our customer helplines remain open, as well as the live chat feature on www.seat.co.uk, so in the first instance we’d suggest a customer contact SEAT customer services, or their local retailer, for guidance on their individual case.
A vehicle can be trickle charged but it’s important to note that our vehicles use lithium-ion batteries so if a customer wishes to utilise a smart charger then it must be compatible for this battery type, and it must not be rated more than 32A with a capacity of 250Ah.
A customer trickle charging their vehicle will not invalidate their warranty.
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The Suzuki website advises that if your car isn’t being used: Once a month, we recommend that you run the engine for 30 mins with the headlights on. This will help to ensure that your battery (and hybrid battery if fitted) stays topped up.
The official guidance would be referring to the vehicle handbook for safe operation.
Toyota tells us that more specific advice regarding hybrids will be up on the website in the form of a blog post soon.
Toyota’s website also says: Toyota GB would like to reassure you that for the foreseeable future we intend to take a flexible and sympathetic approach to any service schedule or warranty issues.
Our simple advice to owners would be to refer to their owner’s manuals. If these recommendations are observed, any warranty in place would be honoured.
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