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Most motoring forums, (especially the model specific ones), have many questions about the operation and use of cars. simple stuff like "What does this light on the dash mean", "How do you operate the aircon / climate control", etc. Do people find it easier to ask the world, and risk duff info, than reading the manual which gives the manufacturers instructions.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 12:21
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They've probably lost the book, because they've never bothered to look at it. SWMBO and daughters fall into this category. I've sold cars for my daughters, usually without handbooks, although they eventually turn up along with jack handles, spare key etc.
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no-one is prepared to read the fine manual these days. Blame the internet. Far to easy to ask someone else.
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>> no-one is prepared to read the fine manual these days.
Not often I agree with you wholeheartedly Z, but you're right here. My ex bought a new Saxo, and had owned it for two years before we met; I drove it one night to collect her from a hen party, switched lights to full beam and she asked what the blue light on the dash was for.
Subsequently found she'd been using the front fogs as full beam.
Also found out from the dealer that she'd taken it back complaining that the washers didn't work. They filled the reservoir up, and guess what?
Thankfully the present Mrs. H is the opposite; took the manual into the house with her when we got the new car home, and read it cover to cover.
Last edited by: Harleyman on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 19:52
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Combination of both, sometimes the handbook expains things worse than i do, Toyota Satnav being a prime example of how to make and indeed explain the use of badly in a thousand words when 20 good ones would have done.
Without Youtube for example i wouldn't know the sequence of on screen clicks to allow the satnav to be programmed once on the move.
Handbooks try to make the workings of the car sound like a form of magic, every slight hiccup requiring a dealer visit, sometimes experiences aired and pooled save us all our hard earned.
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I once bought a Mk1 Cavalier without a handbook. I had it eighteen months before I discovered (by accident) that pulling the hedlight switch towards you operated the interior light. I'd thought that the lack of a switch was some sort of cost cutting measure by Vauxhall.
I must say though, finding that sort of stuff out as you go along is much more exciting than getting it out of a book.
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I remeber when the 105E Anglia came out(Sept.1959)even the motor magazines complained that the interior light couldnt be turned on manually and that there was no ashtray.It could and there was!!
Last edited by: jc2 on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 13:33
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I've just remembered why I've got two Volvo 300 Haynes in the loft.
Daughter told me it had a problem and I said make sure you bring the Haynes with you. She couldn't find it, so bought a new one.
I found the old one in her boot!
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The owners handbook/manual is alive and well. At work, we've recently been looking at a project with a major European manufacturer looking to personalise their handbooks. By which I mean, instead of dishing out a full, generic handbook with every conceivable European market option (and lots of "may not be fitted to all models" asterisks), each handbook is individually "built" for the exact spec of the car it is designated for. Only the options and specification of that individual car will be covered each time. It could even go as far as adding the VIN number, colour, model and specification to the front page so the handbook really is "linked" to the actual car.
The technology to do this is actually quite cheap, and the environmental and cost benefits of producing a 50 page handbook with 50 relevant pages, instead of a 100 page one with the same relevant pages are quite clear. The same solution can also be applied to produce tailored marketing and sales collateral, so can benefit elsewhere in the business.
It's still at the discussion stage, but hopefully it will come. :-)
Last edited by: DP on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 16:32
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It would be nice if owner's manuals could be easily downloaded from manufacturer's websites. I had a quick look on the Audi UK website and couldn't find anything. although googling did provide a link to a PDF of the Quick Reference guide from another unconnected site.
For those cars with decent sized satnav screens the manual could be displayed there as part of a Help system.
A couple of other quick searches revealed:
Renault - yes, driver's handbook available as a PDF
Ford Kia & BMW- couldn't find any handbooks online
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DP - I hope this project comes to fruition! There's always a slight feeling of disappointment when you dig out the very thick manual for a car (or anything else for that matter), thinking there are loads of features to play with and get to know, only to find that it's only the first few pages that are in English, everything else is a repeat in all the other languages of the world...
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DP, that would be brilliant. And the PDF option mentioned below.
JH
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>> The owners handbook/manual is alive and well. At work, we've recently been looking at a
>> project with a major European manufacturer looking to personalise their handbooks. By which I mean,
>> instead of dishing out a full, generic handbook with every conceivable European market option (and
>> lots of "may not be fitted to all models" asterisks), each handbook is individually "built"
>> for the exact spec of the car it is designated for. Only the options and
>> specification of that individual car will be covered each time. It could even go as
>> far as adding the VIN number, colour, model and specification to the front page so
>> the handbook really is "linked" to the actual car.
>>
How retro !
IIRC in the 70s & 80s, a lot of the UK manufacturers (BL, Ford, Vx etc) were so written. SWBOs 88 Metro Vanden Plas had a specific handbook.
Last edited by: Kithmo on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 19:28
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>> How retro !
>> IIRC in the 70s & 80s, a lot of the UK manufacturers (BL, Ford, Vx
>> etc) were so written. SWBOs 88 Metro Vanden Plas had a specific handbook.
Sure, for trim level, but did it go right down to the factory fit options that were fitted to that individual unit, and exclude the ones which weren't? I would be surprised, given that it's taken until the last few years for the digital print technology needed to produce tailored / variable output to come even close to the running cost of a traditional offset press that would have historically produced this kind of work. That, and the speed of top end digital printers has increased tenfold since the 80's, and the cost has halved.
The company we are talking to looked at this in the mid 90's and the ROI was unrealistic. Today, for the first time, it can be justified.
Under the system I am talking about, you could have four Metro VdP's on the line in sequence, with four different specifications, and four different handbooks paired up with the correct cars at the end of the process. I simply cannot see how that would have been done cost effectively, if at all, with 70's and 80's technology.
Last edited by: DP on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 19:53
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>Sure, for trim level, but did it go right down to the factory fit options that were fitted to that individual unit,.
Jaguar went halfway and my last two XJs came with a collection of manuals.
A generic one for the base model plus additional manuals for all the different options. A single manual tailored to the individual car, (with the facility to order a reprint), sounds like a good idea to me.
Most Jag manuals are available online as PDFs including obscure stuff like how to fit a surfboard holder, hydraulic bike lift or even an inclination sensor. I wonder how many requests they got for an XJ inclination sensor to make it worthwhile producing a bespoke kit?
www.ownerinfo.jaguar.com/extfree2viewjagprod/index.jsp
Kevin...
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Since many owners apparently buy a car without doing any research or even driving it first, the idea that they might read a manual seems outrageous..
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When I bought my Mk3 Cav it came with no user manual, in these days I didnt have T'internet so a phone call to Vauxhall Customer Services, and for £5 they sent me out a new one.
Fast forward 10 years, and before I bought the Vectra I went onto Vauxhalls website downloaded the PDF and a faxctory fitted options list for the trim level (from a alternative source) and read the PDF from start to finish, so I knew before I bought it what to expect and then only had to refer to specfic points when needed in the supplied hard copy.
Useful tool T'internet.
Last edited by: Redviper on Mon 23 Aug 10 at 12:55
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There is a term for this :-
RTFM
I won't say what it stands for but I am sure it is easy to guess :).
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Read The Flaming Manual? - but Yes I know the other version too.
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It was the other version I was thinking about :).
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RTFM: not many people know that...
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Do cars have user manuals these days ? - bathtub tom
