Q: I have a 2005 Hyundai Tucson with 90,000 miles on it. I’ve never had a problem since I purchased the vehicle, but I’m worried the battery will fail sometime soon because of its age. I’m planning to change the battery myself but I’m concerned about the computer and electronics due to the temporary loss of power during the replacement process. What should I do before and after changing the battery?

A: Just drive the car. Replacing the battery, which of course requires disconnecting the vehicle’s electrical system from the original battery, will do no harm to the vehicle’s electronics. You’ll likely have to reset the radio station pre-sets, and the engine management system will take a few miles of driving to “re-learn” your driving characteristics, but you probably will not notice anything.

Perhaps the more relevant question at this point is: Should you replace the battery now or wait until it fails? Being a founding member of the “Snug America” club and not wanting to part with any more of my hard-earned dollars than absolutely necessary, I lean toward the latter. Most batteries will develop symptoms of impending failure such as slow engine cranking speeds, giving you a heads-up that it’s time for a new one. But batteries can and do fail suddenly and completely without warning.

So when I suspect a battery might be on its last legs, I carry a portable battery booster in the vehicle. Then if the battery does fail — at any time and for any reason — I can jump-start the vehicle to complete my trip.

This, by definition, is the Murphy’s Law of automobiles — if you have a spare part with you, you’ll probably never need to use it.

And finally, to put your mind at ease, have the original battery tested at a local parts store. A load test or electronic test will give you an idea of how much life your battery still has.