I think bwar has mostly made the point that it's not intentional, but rather a result of manufacturers producing cheaper and cheaper crap because that's all that the market will tolerate. I'd tend to agree with that. They don't need to plan for shorter product lifetimes and earlier product failures, when the customers are already insisting upon it through their buying choices.
Exactly.
I can price-shop batteries from my couch. Price and warranty are not the ONLY determinant of what battery I buy, but it's a pretty big consideration.
They have some really nice looking AGM batteries on the Autozone web site that are $300+. I think it's a superior technology and they'd probably last longer than the $120 wet cell battery from Costco. But that's pointless for a vehicle that probably gets driven less than 2000 miles/year.
They also have wet cell batteries that have 3-year free replacement warranty for $210, compared to the $120 from Costco with a prorated warranty. Which means if the battery lasts 3+ years, I save $90. If the battery lasts between 2.25 and 3 years, I end up spending SLIGHTLY over $210, a max of $240, to have it replaced. If the battery fails in <2.25 years, the replacement battery cost will be less than $90 and I'll have spent less than $210. The only downside of replacing early is that the early replacement is likely on a prorated warranty, so it can start adding up if I have multiple batteries all failing in less than 3 years.
And ultimately, we're talking about $120. I shouldn't overthink it--as I've obviously done already by typing all of that...
So in this case the economics of paying for potentially higher quality may not make the most sense, ESPECIALLY as I have no guarantee of higher quality as a lay consumer.
Of course, it's moot because I just went out there to look at it and find out how old the battery was, and remove it for testing, and I noticed that one of the connections was loose. After tightening that down, it started right up lol...
