After 5 years, I proactively replaced the Sears Diehard Gold battery (100 month) on my 2000 Taurus today. The manager told me it was a new battery (5/09) and it didn't need to be charged. When I got home, I placed it on a charger, anyway. I am glad I did. It took 3 hours for my battery charger to fully charge it. Initially, the battery drew a whopping 5 amps, which would've been very hard on the alternator. The lesson here is to not assume anything.

My mom got a battery at Pep Boys and in a week it was dead.One cell had no water when I looked at it.