Yes they were made to charge a dead battery.
No vehicle has a charging system that was meant to recover dead batteries, they are only meant to power the vehicle systems and MAINTAIN a battery charge.
You cannot reliably gain a full charge from a vehicles charging system due to several variables which could alter the charging process. Issues such as how much power from the charging system is diverted to the battery, how long the power is available, the size and depth of discharge of a battery and the air temperature can all work against restoring a battery to an acceptable level of charge.
Do I need to add the fact that surface charging or continuous undercharging a battery will lower its capacity over time? Deep discharging can damage batteries and will shorten their lifespan. When a dead or discharged battery needs to be recharged, the only way to reliably restore it is to use an appropriate multi-stage battery charger. The voltage needs to be high enough to mix the battery acid evenly in the electrolyte to prevent ‘stratification’. Using the charger not only ensures that you charge the battery thoroughly, but you also save wear and tear on the engine and fuel by using the charger over running the engine in an attempt to build up a charge.
