You can test a battery if you go under the hood and connect up the right meter to measure the battery integrity but why can’t a modern car employ the technology easily? (Or maybe it does and I need a new car)
In: Engineering
The technical people answering are technically correct, that a voltmeter would indicate the voltage of a battery, but they’re missing what OP is after: when won’t a battery work anymore? In other words, they are wondering “why can’t I know the health of my battery?”
With car batteries (the 12V lead acid type) the voltage isn’t really a good indicator of health. An old dead battery can read ~12V just fine. It would likely power most lights and equipment, too. The real test of health comes when trying to start the engine; the “load” test. An old battery can read 12V until asked to turn the starter, then immediately drops to an unusable voltage.
The simple answer is that traditional 12V car batteries do not have the sophisticated tech to indicate their health like, say, laptop batteries. Nor is there a good way to test the health except for hooking the battery to a load, which isn’t an easy thing to build into a car’s circuitry. Basically, starting the engine IS the load test.
Edit: To all those asking why a load tester couldn’t be added into the hardware or software of a car: it could. Nearly anything is possible with time and money. But I agree with the comments from those in the industry; it comes down to three basic things:
1) Added cost (automotive margins are very thin)
2) Added complexity and engineering effort for nearly no return (exactly who would truly want this?)
3) Service side (auto companies do not wish customers to have to think about maintenance beyond knowing to take the vehicle in when the light turns on)
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