BATTERIES & YOUR CHARGING SYSTEM
Here's an interesting statistic for our friends in San Diego: Only thirty percent of car batteries make it to forty-eight months. And the life expectancy varies by where you live. It ranges from fifty-one months in extremely cold areas to just thirty months in extremely hot climates.

Why is that? It turns out that it's our modern cars with all their electric accessories that are to blame. Things like, GPS, DVDs, and entertainment computers are keeping car batteries from maintaining a full charge. The longer a battery goes with a low charge, the sooner it'll die.

Keeping the battery charged is the job of the alternator. The problem comes when the car's demand for electricity is high and we are driving in stop and go conditions like Highway 15 or short trips around El Cajon or Kearny Mesa. The alternator just can't keep up.  The result is shortened battery life.