[OP]
Contributor
I bought a new car about a month ago. I had a question so I had to look at the owners manual for the first time. Included are 6 different manuals! The owners manual is 575 pages. The “quick start” manual is 175 pages. The “ driver assist” manual is 174 pages. There are more but I won’t bore anymore with the details.
Dennis
Contributor
Yes, technology has certainly simplified and streamlined so many tasks.Originally Posted by dennis thompson
I bought a new car about a month ago. I had a question so I had to look at the owners manual for the first time. Included are 6 different manuals! The owners manual is 575 pages. The “quick start” manual is 175 pages. The “ driver assist” manual is 174 pages. There are more but I won’t bore anymore with the details.
Digital manuals allow for unlimited info...no need to consider size, weight etc.; just a blank slate that can be filled ad inifinitum.
Question: Why do manufacturers make such bloated instruction manuals?
Answer: Because they can.
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
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I would suggest that the complexity of the technical advances in cars requires that the manuals be more complex. I'd also suggest that the trend in this country sue manufacturers for every possible accident has forced lawyers to get involved not only in the safety design of cars but in writing the manuals. BTW, my wife has a 2 year old crossover SUV and the manuals are many, complex but do explain most of the situations we have run into with it.
Ken
So much to learn, so little time.....
Contributor
Spot on Ken, especially the part i applied bold-italic to. Fortunately, we've not had to do much--but i'm sure we're only scratching the surface of the available features, and i'm okay with that.
Contributor
2016 Honda Accord manual runs about 560 pages, but much of the bloat is the result of covering every option/trim variation. There are two different flavors of HVAC controls, two different driver info displays, and two different center console display configurations supporting three different software configurations depending on whether nav is installed. It's only available as a PDF file, so there's really no reason Honda couldn't supply different docs for different variants. Of course I could edit the file down myself, but there hasn't been any pressing need to go to that much trouble.
I went through most of it once when I got the car, just a few random lookups since then. One of those involved the first DST changeover after I bought it: the clock was set by the dealer, so I needed to look up how to set it. When I got out to the car with the appropriate page pulled up on the laptop, it turned out the car had already set itself to the correct time overnight.
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"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
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The answer to all of your questions is money.
The stakes are very high for multi-multi-billion dollar corporations, and every idiot or unfortunate has quick access to a contingency lawyer.
The bit that intrigues me - the lawyers require them to continue to supply hard-copy versions.
When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.
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I have one for the Sirius radio. Tossed that, I have no interest. One was for there NAV system. Most of it not useful to me, as I don't need a Nav System and never have. Any company NAV computer is woefully inadequate compared to google maps, and an iPhone.
Owners manual is about 600 pages 75 of those pages are dedicated to how to install baby/infant car seats?????
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Dennis, you can download the manuals in PDF format from the Subaru website and put them on your phone, tablet and computer...and that means you have a search feature. I don't even leave the manuals in my vehicle because they take up valuable space. Electronic versions do the job nicely. I upgraded to the MY23 Ascent last week, so I removed the MY19 manuals from my devices and put the MY23 version in place of them.I bought a new car about a month ago. I had a question so I had to look at the owners manual for the first time. Included are 6 different manuals! The owners manual is 575 pages. The “quick start” manual is 175 pages. The “ driver assist” manual is 174 pages. There are more but I won’t bore anymore with the details.
--
The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
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The more fancy doo dads there are in a vehicle, the more pages of how to use ‘ems they have to write.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
The manual for my Tesla is on the computer screen. There is a paper manual that covers a lot of lawyer safety talk, but little else. I don't even keep it in the car, as it is useless to look up something auto related.
The most important section of the written manual is very well covered...in short....'Don't let any one except Tesla work on your car, or the warranty will be voided'.
A few items are allowed to be worked on by Tesla approved shops.
On the other hand, the maintenance schedule is almost non existent. Tire rotation, cabin air filter, etc.
Last edited by Rick Potter; 08-08-2023 at 3:28 AM.
Rick Potter
DIY journeyman,
FWW wannabe.
AKA Village Idiot.
Contributor
I have a 2019 Hyundai Kona SEL.
It isn't the top end and it isn't the bottom end - it's the one in the middle.
It has features I have zero clue what they actually do - like the downhill something or other switch.
I did look it up in the manual and that wasn't much help. I suppose I could always Google it and find out - but - that would remove the mystery so I just look at the switch and shake my head in wonder..
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon
nothing new, my old truck is well over 200 pages and probably 20 are worth reading.
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My wife's suv came with the super duper radio. In the printed manual the instructions for her radio start on page 50 of the radio section. So fifty pages that do not apply at all.
Bill D
Contributor
My '21 Tundra came with 6 manuals/guides. The owner manual is 612 pages. The manuals have been surprisingly useful.
Brian
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger or more complicated...it takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - E.F. Schumacher
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I expect to take delivery of my new Maverick hybrid within a month, and have budgeted 2 hours for the dealer walk through. My wife’s ‘06 Odyssey’s manual is about 300 pages, and my now-sold Mazda pickup was about the same. I’ll be interested to see how much paper is used for the manual in the new car.
Remember back when computers were first introduced and everyone said we’d go paperless in 20 years?
Young enough to remember doing it;
Old enough to wish I could do it again.
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