In this commercial for their hybrid Sonata, Hyundai shows a series of situations where people’s battery-operated devices stop working due to a dying battery, and then they say that with the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, there’s one less battery to worry about. Well, their claims of rigorous testing notwithstanding, I really feel I must point out something about their claim here: If a battery dies in any of the other items shown in this ad, it’s easy enough to put a new one in, even though it may be a slight pain in the ass. Many people buy an extra rechargeable battery with their important things like cell-phones and cameras just in case this happens. Plus, it’s not that big of a deal if your camera doesn’t take a picture, unless it’s for a job, and the same goes with the other tools we see with the battery dying here. But if the battery dies in your Sonata Hybrid, I’d be willing to bet that you’re not going to have a spare to replace it with, and you’ll be stuck without a car until you can get it towed to the Hyundai dealership for the installation of a new battery, which probably isn’t cheap! And if it dies while you’re driving out in the middle of nowhere… Well, you get the picture. So while this ad is clever and funny and everything, a hybrid-electric car battery dying is a much bigger cause for alarm that’s a hell of a lot harder and more expensive to replace than any of the other batteries we’re considering in the other scenarios here, so it’s really not an honest comparison. (But it’s a cute ad nonetheless.)
Here’s the dying battery collage commercial:
