LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwire) -- 01/04/13 -- CTEK, a global battery maintenance brand, is highlighting the importance of checking the health of a vehicle's battery, especially when the journeys being undertaken are never more than a few miles in length.

To fully charge a modern car battery through the alternator when driving, it typically takes 240 miles. Therefore, many stop-start journeys, for example to a nearby workplace, can result in a battery becoming deeply discharged. Not only does this increase the chance of the vehicle unexpectedly not starting, but not caring for the power source over a long period of time can shorten the batteries life by more than half.

Statistically, winter is the most common time of the year for vehicles to break down and battery failure is one of the most frequent causes reported by major recovery services. This is primarily due to the added pressure that a drop in temperature places on the battery. By using a 12V battery charger, such as the CTEK MXS 5.0, it is possible to easily diagnose and treat a range of battery related issues. The MXS 5.0 is a fully automatic 8-step charger, which is capable of charging and maintaining batteries in even the coldest of temperatures. It also has a RECOND feature which repairs and charges deeply discharged batteries.

Jan-Ulf Soderberg, head of brand and marketing at CTEK, says "During winter a vehicle's battery is put under a lot of extra stress due to the cold temperatures and therefore vehicles are more likely to break down as a result. Furthermore, the need for undertaking a battery maintenance routine becomes even more essential if the car is being used for a large number of short drives.

"There is no convenient time for your vehicle to break down and the most common cause, battery failure, is easily avoidable. Ensuring a battery is correctly charged and in good health is even more essential when embarking on lots of short journeys as the alternator doesn't have time to do its job. Therefore, we are reminding all car owners to take the time to care for their batteries this winter."

For more information about CTEK's range of vehicle smart battery chargers and to find a stockist, please visit www.ctek.com. Follow CTEK on www.twitter.com/CTEKChargers and like at www.facebook.com/CTEKBatteryChargers.