A few notes of correction from the Genesis post from earlier. The battery is in fact located in the trunk, not under the shock tower somewhere.
Also, a negative lead is not necessary to boost another car. Any piece of exposed metal will do the trick, as several commenters have already pointed out. I've boosted cars using my personal car many times, and it has a rear-mounted battery and a front-mounted positive battery terminal. I attach the negative to a fatter-than-usual bolt conveniently placed nearby.
The Genesis' set-up actually makes getting or giving a boost easier since it doesn't matter which way the car is pointing when it dies.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor
hybris says:
10:51 AM, 09/29/09
How easy is it to get to the battery if one needed to do a boost from behind.
the_big_al says:
11:47 AM, 09/29/09
just yesterday I performed a boost on my old van. To do so I ended up disconnecting the battery, connecting the positive cable directly to the jumper cable and the negative jumper cable to the a radiator mount. The van fired right up...
hybris says:
11:49 AM, 09/29/09
^How old is said van?
sherief says:
12:58 PM, 09/29/09
You should never attach negative to the dead battery, it should always be grounded on a piece of metal on the chassis.
When you ground the negative terminal to the dead car on the last step, you're completing a circuit and the terminal will spark. Car batteries give off small amounts of Hydrogen when being charged...so creating a spark right on top of the battery is highly dangerous.
athakur999 says:
02:32 PM, 09/29/09
Automaker should standardize on plug design and have a socket situated in the engine bay away from the battery. Then when you need to jump the car, just plug a cable into the socket in both cars. Battery chargers could also use a plug. This seems like it'd be both safer and more foolproof than the current method of having 4 alligator clamps.
For older cars, have an adapter that plugs in at the end of the cable that provides the two alligator clamps.
Anyone with me?
ptcdawg says:
06:45 PM, 09/29/09
Not with you, give me THICK jumper cables anyday. Even better, give me a push/slight hill and a car with a manual transmission for an even easier start, no jumper car needed.
yellowmiata says:
03:18 PM, 11/ 3/09
I'm a big fan of the clutch-start with a manual tranny over jumping the car. Doing this on a motorcycle is scary / thrilling, but works every time.
I really like how Hyundai organized this battery terminal in the front of the car - bravo for good engineering!