NHTSA Complaint #10152045 — 2002 SATURN LS

2002 SATURN LW300 WITH APPROXIMATELY 40K MILES (BOUGHT NEW). POSITIVE TERMINAL OF AC DELCO BATTERY FOUND LEAKING. I REPLACED IT WITH A SEARS DIEHARD. AFTERWARDS CAR WOULD NOT START AND WAS LOCKED IN PARK GEAR. DISCONNECTING THE BATTERY ACTIVATED THE ANTI-THIEF SYSTEM WHICH I COULD NOT RESET PER OWNERS MANUAL. DEALER SAID IT MUST COME IN FOR REPROGRAMMING. AT DEALER I WAS TOLD THAT THE BCM UNIT WAS BAD AND WOULD COST $600 TO REPLACE. I DID NOTHING WRONG WHEN CHANGING THE BATTERY, AND THE CAR WAS FINE BEFORE. AC DELCO 78-6YR (FALSE LABELING) IS OWNED BY GM AND THEIR LEAKY SIDE-TERMINAL BATTERIES ARE A WELL KNOWN PROBLEM. I BELIEVE THESE BATTERIES AND SATURN'S BCM UNITS ARE DESIGNED TO FAIL AND GENERATE PROFIT. AS AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW CHANGING A BATTERY CAN KILL A MODULE LIKE THIS. I AM 56 AND HAVE REPLACED MANY BATTERIES, ALL CORRECTLY. I HAVE FOUND MANY CASES LIKE THIS ON THE INTERNET. IN SOME CASES THE CARS STOP DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS DUE TO AC DELCO SIDE-TERMINAL BATTERIES. I AM AMAZED AT HOW MANY DEALER TRY TO IMMEDIATELY BLAME THE CUSTOMER FOR DOING SOMETHING WRONG (AS I WAS BY SATURN). *NM