Odyssey Battery has gone the way of Optima crap

Took a dive into reading battery warranties. Odyssey has a lot of exclusions.

Odyssey Warranty Exclusions (selected, not all)
1. The warranty does not cover a Battery reaching its normal end of life, which may occur prior to the warranty periods stated above. Depending on the application, a Battery can reach its normal end of life before the end of the Applicable Warranty Period. A Battery can deliver only a fixed number of usable amp-hours over its lifetime and is considered to have reached its normal end of life if the application uses up all of these amp-hours, regardless of the time the Battery has been in service. Therefore, Manufacturer reserves the right to deny a warranty claim if it determines the Battery to be at its normal end of life, even if the claim is filed within the Applicable Warranty Period.

2. Prolonged storage (>14 days) of vehicles with fuel injection computers, alarms, GPS and other electrical devices that require continuous battery power to support active memories; this power drain must be offset with a maintenance-float charger, periodic charging or disconnecting the Battery to prevent irreversible damage to the Battery plates.

There are a lot of other less relevant exclusions from Odyssey. Compare this to Dekka's warranty:

Dekka's Warranty
This warranty does not apply to discharged batteries that can be recharged and returned to service...; batteries that fail as a result of a faulty electrical system or other components; ...

Glad I went with a Dekka. Basically, if the battery cannot be recharged, they will replace it. Seems very reasonable to me.
 
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explorerlyon said:
Took a dive into reading battery warranties. Odyssey has a lot of exclusions.

Odyssey Warranty Exclusions (selected, not all)
1. The warranty does not cover a Battery reaching its normal end of life, which may occur prior to the warranty periods stated above. Depending on the application, a Battery can reach its normal end of life before the end of the Applicable Warranty Period. A Battery can deliver only a fixed number of usable amp-hours over its lifetime and is considered to have reached its normal end of life if the application uses up all of these amp-hours, regardless of the time the Battery has been in service. Therefore, Manufacturer reserves the right to deny a warranty claim if it determines the Battery to be at its normal end of life, even if the claim is filed within the Applicable Warranty Period.

2. Prolonged storage (>14 days) of vehicles with fuel injection computers, alarms, GPS and other electrical devices that require continuous battery power to support active memories; this power drain must be offset with a maintenance-float charger, periodic charging or disconnecting the Battery to prevent irreversible damage to the Battery plates.

There are a lot of other less relevant exclusions from Odyssey. Compare this to Dekka's warranty:

Dekka's Warranty
This warranty does not apply to discharged batteries that can be recharged and returned to service...; batteries that fail as a result of a faulty electrical system or other components; ...

Glad I went with a Dekka. Basically, if the battery cannot be recharged, they will replace it. Seems very reasonable to me.
Click to expand...

Just PMed you a contact at Odyssey that may be able to help.
 
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I just buy lead acid batteries from Costco. The same battery in ND costs way less than here in Ca. Go figure. Never had a battery go bad before the warranty expired. I have battery disconnects on everything but daily drivers. When I leave my vehicles in ND for the winter I pull them and hook them up in parallel according to size. I charge my deep cells with them also.

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I’m curious as to how this plays out… I’ve got a super start platinum which is made by the same company. 3 year warranty that is handled by the dealer in my case Oreillys. I’d gone through 2 yellow tops prior both lasting just over a year. I’m pretty sure duralast and super start are still made by the same company and autozone still stocks duralast platinum batteries… I’m a bit confused as to why you’re having so much trouble.
 
JAYNE said:
I’m curious as to how this plays out… I’ve got a super start platinum which is made by the same company. 3 year warranty that is handled by the dealer in my case Oreillys. I’d gone through 2 yellow tops prior both lasting just over a year. I’m pretty sure duralast and super start are still made by the same company and autozone still stocks duralast platinum batteries… I’m a bit confused as to why you’re having so much trouble.
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Odyssey (made by EnerSys) is no longer carried by Auto Zone so they cannot do an exchange for another Odyssey battery.
Your Super Start Platinum is the house brand of O'Rileys (made by East Penn). You can walk into an O'Rileys with a bad Super Start and walk out with a new battery as they still carry that same battery. No hassle. Duralast is Auto Zone's house battery (made by Clarios, formerly Johnson Controls). Odyssey, Super Start and Duralast are all made by different companies.

Odyssey battery costs double the price of Super Start or Duralast and has a 4-year warranty. I just wanted a replacement Odyssey battery. I simply came to find out that there is no reason to pay a premium for Odyssesy when they will not honor their 4-year warranty. Auto Zone was great in offering me either a Duralast AGM or money for the replacement of my bad Odyssesy
 
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Wildman said:
I can pickup an Odyssey battery at a store in WA or OR....
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That battery you posted is not available at all in my region. I have the Odyssey Extreme with 850 cca. I checked Oregon/Washington just now and the 3478PC1500DT model I have is not available in your region either. Must be some limited stock left though in your area of other models.
 
I received the response below from Odyssey and they are willing to make an exception. I have already replaced the battery for something else through AutoZone so will not need to exchange mine directly with Odyssey. I do not want another Odyssey anyway after this hassle.

1. The battery test results I sent to Odyssey showed my battery tested at 11.4v. Well above their 10.5v requirement. My warranty request was denied because of low voltage even though it was above their requirement.

Screenshot 2023-09-22 085301.jpg


2. Two different AutoZone locations told me the same thing, "WE DO NOT CARRY ODYSSEY ANYMORE AND CANNOT MAKE AN EXCHANGE FOR ANOTHER ODYSSEY." Odyssey can claim all they want that a store can order from them, but two different stores claim they cannot. That is why they offered me a refund of my original purchase instead, which I thought was overly generous. Good service.

Thank you for the additional information about your situation with the battery. Our warranty policy excludes batteries that are less than 10.5 volts as they are considered over-discharged and not eligible for warranty coverage. Your claim was adjudicated based on our standard warranty guidelines. However, we are glad to have a conversation about the specific situation and see if an exception can be made. Based on the details provided below about the charger you are using, the fact that all was well with the battery until a few days ago and confirmation that there was no parasitic draw on the battery, we can cover this battery for you.

We will update your warranty case in our system and you’ll get an email from there saying it was approved.

Regarding AutoZone, we have a nationwide program with them selling our batteries. Some locations do not stock Odyssey batteries but they can order them for you either from their Distribution Center or from our factory. AutoZone generally provides warranty support for batteries that are purchased through them. Maybe your store didn’t handle the warranty because they didn’t have stock or because the battery was over-discharged? In any case, that is why we have a warranty process that allows you to work directly with us when the Dealer can’t help.
 
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The NAPA AGM is made by East Penn.

Trojan AGMs also are made by East Penn.

Trojan 31 AGM's last 3-5 years but Napa 34 has not lasted 14 months before it was warrantied and replaced.

The replacement is now showing low voltage at 14 month again. Voltage of 12,58 a good AGM should read 12,84
 
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explorerlyon said:
Odyssey (made by EnerSys) is no longer carried by Auto Zone so they cannot do an exchange for another Odyssey battery.
Your Super Start Platinum is the house brand of O'Rileys (made by East Penn). You can walk into an O'Rileys with a bad Super Start and walk out with a new battery as they still carry that same battery. No hassle. Duralast is Auto Zone's house battery (made by Clarios, formerly Johnson Controls). Odyssey, Super Start and Duralast are all made by different companies.

Odyssey battery costs double the price of Super Start or Duralast and has a 4-year warranty. I just wanted a replacement Odyssey battery. I simply came to find out that there is no reason to pay a premium for Odyssesy when they will not honor their 4-year warranty. Auto Zone was great in offering me either a Duralast AGM or money for the replacement of my bad Odyssesy
Click to expand...

Ah I see! Was under the impression all these batteries were made by the same manufacturer.
 
explorerlyon said:
I received the response below from Odyssey and they are willing to make an exception. I have already replaced the battery for something else through AutoZone so will not need to exchange mine directly with Odyssey. I do not want another Odyssey anyway after this hassle.

1. The battery test results I sent to Odyssey showed my battery tested at 11.4v. Well above their 10.5v requirement. My warranty request was denied because of low voltage even though it was above their requirement.

View attachment 459645

2. Two different AutoZone locations told me the same thing, "WE DO NOT CARRY ODYSSEY ANYMORE AND CANNOT MAKE AN EXCHANGE FOR ANOTHER ODYSSEY." Odyssey can claim all they want that a store can order from them, but two different stores claim they cannot. That is why they offered me a refund of my original purchase instead, which I thought was overly generous. Good service.

Thank you for the additional information about your situation with the battery. Our warranty policy excludes batteries that are less than 10.5 volts as they are considered over-discharged and not eligible for warranty coverage. Your claim was adjudicated based on our standard warranty guidelines. However, we are glad to have a conversation about the specific situation and see if an exception can be made. Based on the details provided below about the charger you are using, the fact that all was well with the battery until a few days ago and confirmation that there was no parasitic draw on the battery, we can cover this battery for you.

We will update your warranty case in our system and you’ll get an email from there saying it was approved.

Regarding AutoZone, we have a nationwide program with them selling our batteries. Some locations do not stock Odyssey batteries but they can order them for you either from their Distribution Center or from our factory. AutoZone generally provides warranty support for batteries that are purchased through them. Maybe your store didn’t handle the warranty because they didn’t have stock or because the battery was over-discharged? In any case, that is why we have a warranty process that allows you to work directly with us when the Dealer can’t help.
Click to expand...

Might as well take them up on their offer and you could easily sell it on this forum, or trade it for something.

Seems like the company is going to work with you so they are honoring the warranty, but such a PITA I do agree.
 
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So after reading all this my takeaway is that they just don't build em like they used to. Seems like there would be a market for a "better" battery but I'm not hearing of any out there, regardless of the price. BTW my DieHard Platinum that was purchased at Sears in 2010 is still going strong 🤞.
 
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explorerlyon said:
Duralast is Auto Zone's house battery (made by Clarios, formerly Johnson Controls).
Click to expand...

"AutoZone’s Duralast batteries are made by three companies: Clarios, a successor to the well-known Johnson Controls, East Penn Manufacturing, and Exide."

Rumor has it that the bulk of standard car batteries (not the EV shit) sold in the US are made by three manufacturers, Exide and Clarios would appear to be two of the three.
 
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