truck battery exploded

hey guys and gals was hoping to get some help here. Had a battery for my jeep sitting in the back seat of my taco and well the damn thing exploded/leaked all over the seat. the passenger side was all wet. i have NO clue how or why this happend. it was a brand new battery.

anyway i know battery acid is obviously bad. it has yet to eat thru anything other than the pull loop for the seat to flip it up.

any ideas on what i can clean it with ?????


anything would be a great help

 

First thing I would do is pull the entire seat out, and anything else it touched.

Worst-case this will prevent it from eating through anything else.

I don't think there is going to be much you can do as far as "cleaning" it. You will just need to do something to neutralize the acid.

Fink

 

Damn, that sucks... I don't know that you can "clean" it, and being an acid it's gonna start eating stuff up pretty quickly... How much liquid did spill? I guess you could try with some base to try and neutralize the acid and try to stop the damage...

 

well looks like i know what il be doing tomorrow

 

If I were you...I'd do it ASAP. If it has actually eaten through the pull-loop already, it will do MUCH more by tomorrow.

Fink

 

Yep, pour baking soda on everything that's still wet/damp. Don't wait until tomorrow!

 

alright...well im running out now to get some baking soda and gonna pour that over everything...read that it nutralizes it

 

BTW... Probably a better idea next time is to carry the battery in a plastic container in the bed of the truck, instead of on the back seat... Just saying, not trying to lecture you or anything. Battery acid is pretty nasty stuff!

 

^This.

I'd seriously just get a new seat dude. Fuck that one. Unless it's not a whole lot on there, but it sounds like it got nailed good. Hit a wrecker yard and call it a day.

 

You may be able to file a claim with the battery manufacturer for compensation on the new seat since you said it was brand new

 

Wow, I thought the guy that spilt a gallon of milk had it bad, this sucks way worse.

 

^Gross. Take off an nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

 

Hey the baking soda has to be solution. mix it with water soak every thing.

Good luck

OPI

 

yay chemistry!

agreed. pour baking soda on it, or pour the baking soda into a cup with water, and pour it on the seat.

 

yea i really wasnt thinking...i took it out of my bed cause i was going into work for a few hours and came back out and went to hang my jacket in the back up and saw a bunch of wetness....then realized it was the battery cause the battery was all wet on the sides.

I still dont know how a brand new battery can just bust like that.

yea i will see what happens...i can live without the lil loop to pull the seat up ha but if it eats through anything else i will just trash it and get a new one.

I certainly plan to call the company and let them know. I bought it from advanced auto zone. My old roommate works there so I will be going in there too and raising hell.

I bought the battery less than a year ago...and literally has sit on a trickle charge while i have been working on the jeep. I think it has been cranked like 3-4 times other than that sits inside a garage on a battery tender

 

so here is what i did.


Bought 2 boxes of baking soda.

pour one whole box over everything to try to absorb what it could.

use a shop vac to get the good chunks of it off....

then mixed baking soda and water in a squirt bottle and SOAKED everything.

Took the seat off (its the side with the middle seat on it)

Did this till i was out of baking soda...then filled the bottle 4-5 times up and just used water on it to get it to hopefully soak through the whole cushion.

The baking soda DEFINITELY worked. As i put it on you could see it fizzing and bubbling as the chemicals reacted.

Unfortunatlely with 4-6inches of snow coming tomorrow I am not too sure how or when i will be able to check it all out...might have to have to put my moms car out of the garage so i can see what the damage is.

The seat is outside against my trash can drying out. Although it prob it freeze overnight.

I will keep ya all posted


Thanks for all your help guys. Tacoma World to the rescue again.

 

So then it's not BRAND NEW brand new. Hoo boy. The store is probably not going to take responsibility for it. They might say that they don't know how the battery was stored or what was done for the duration between the time you bought it to the time the damage was done. Keep in mind that for them to consider it, they will also have to take responsibility for any other situations such as this in the same time frame. They may not want to risk that kind of liability in order to take yours into consideration.

Kind of like the Toyota pedal/floor mat recall thing. Ended up it wasn't Toyota's fault after all and their reputation got beat up, plus it cost them a lot of money.

No way to put it in the garage? It probably would be best for it to dry out. Don't want it to sit wet/frozen because mold might set in?

 

this ^

unless its the stores battery its not going to be the stores fault.

You may be able to make a claim with the manufacturer if the battery is still under any structural warranty tho

but either way you WILL NEED EVIDENCE, hope you took some pictures or something

 

Bummer... Shame you don't have a sport. I saved all my stock cloth from when I did the Leather conversion.

 

Another thing I just thought about. I know it's a long shot but...

Say if you do put the seat in the garage and it dries out, then maybe sometime later you have someone sit back there -- their weight may press down into the cushion and if the acid isn't all gone or completely dried (being all trapped in the sponge like stuff and all) it might come back up and possibly burn your passenger.