Step 1: Read your owner's manual, as it will describe any peculiarities involved in jump-starting your vehicle. Make sure the car actually needs jump starting. If you have tried multiple times to start the car, checked obvious things such as unblocked exhaust, fan-belt is still on, things that would stop the car from starting even if it didn't need "jumping".
Step 2: Pull a car with a charged battery next to the car with the dead battery, situating the two batteries as close together as you can without allowing the two cars to touch.
Step 3: Turn off both engines, pull out the keys, put both cars in park/neutral, engage the emergency brakes and open the hoods.
Step 4: Attach a red-handled/positive jumper cable clamp to the positive terminal (the one with the plus sign) of the vehicle with the charged battery.
Step 5: Connect the other red-handled clamp to the positive terminal of the vehicle with the dead battery.
Step 6: Attach the neighboring black/negative cable to the negative battery terminal of the car with the dead battery. Ground the other black/negative cable on the charging car by clamping it to the bolt where the cable from the negative terminal of the battery attaches to the vehicle chassis, not to the battery itself. Be careful, as a small spark may be produced.
Step 7: Start the engine of the car with the charged battery.
Step 8: Have someone accelerate the engine of the car with the charged battery to a moderate speed and attempt to start the car that has the dead battery. If there is no response, remove the last connection made and re-adjust each of the clamps, particularly those on the dead car; try re-clamping to the terminal or moving the clamp back and forth for a better connection. Reconnect the last cable as in step six and keep trying to start the dead car.
Step 9: Once the dead car is running, remove the clamps one at a time in reverse order. Allow the jump-started car to run for half an hour in order to charge the battery. It will charge whether driving or idling.
