New truck Owners manual

[Jimbrown]

Well we bought a new truck. A Chevy Avalanche so no one has to ask. I sit down at the table with my coffee and think I ought to read the owners manual. Hah! The thing is 680 pages long. Huhhh the operator’s manuals for none of the helicopters I ever flew were that big. There are over 30 pages of how to work the seat belts. Come on the ejection seat manual for an F16 ain’t that big. I don’t think there is a single page with out a big bold block saying you will be maimed or die if you don’t follow these instructions precisely.
Yikes I don’t recall more than two or three of those things in the operator’s manual for an M60 tank and it is designed to kill people. I read the instructions for how to calibrate the on board tire monitor three times...i am gonna just use my tire gauge. There can’t be more than one person out of 10,000 na make it 50,000 that ever reads one of these things. Oh and I kinda wanted to know how the active fuel mangement sytem worked. The syatem where it shifts from 8 cylinders to 4 under light load... Not a word.

 

[orezok]

Written by attorneys who are paid by the word!

 

[dbdartman]

There can’t be more than one person out of 10,000 na make it 50,000 that ever reads one of these things. Oh and I kinda wanted to know how the active fuel mangement sytem worked. The syatem where it shifts from 8 cylinders to 4 under light load... Not a word.

Ain't that the truth, Jim!!!! Want to know something, it won't tell you, but you'll be bombarded by page after page of warnings & other useless information concerning HOW to drive.

Just wait until the "oil life" message comes up on the dash... First thing you'll wonder is, "What the heck is this about?" Then starts the search through that novel trying to get that useless feature off the dash. About the time you read about it, the next thought will be, "Who seriously thinks 10K+ mile oil changes are a good thing?"

 

[dgl24087]

I bought an 07 Dodge Ram in May, Owner's manual 569 pages, Warranty booklet 80 pages, Lemon Law disclosure booklet 60 pages, 709 pages total. 1 paragraph plus 1 sentence regarding the Dodge MDS (Multi Displacement System).

 

[dgl24087]

Written by attorneys who are paid by the word!

Written by attorneys who try to cover every conceivable item that other attorneys can manipulate to sue the manufacturer when a vehicle owner does something stupid.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Jeez Louise.

The owner's manual isn't the result of attorneys gone wild. It's just a reflection of someone doing a good job.

Think about it. If you were a good tech writer and your job was to write an owner's manual this is exactly the way you would do it. Especially if you were part of a team.

I don't know what kind of work you do. But chances are most likely whatever it is most of the rest of us would be able to stand back as observers and wonder what and why more than once.

 

[Toiyabe]

There ought to be a market for supplemental manuals. Discuss the interesting features, throw in a few torque/HP vs. RPM curves for the stock motors. Organize the specifications/facts/figures in an easy to find way. Make a nice little maintenance checklist. Include a plastic reference card with fluid capacities and specs that you can hang up in your garage or stick somewhere in the engine compartment.

Make it about 150 pages and sell it in bookstores and auto parts stores for $14.95. Advertise it to women as something to buy for that special man in their life.

 

[VA_Joe]

I bought a new GM car a while back and the owners manual even included a section on how to drive (with street signs and all). I guess the fear of lawsuits is driving everything.

BTW - I too think it would be nice if the owners manual included a section that had all of the basic maintainance specs in one place (fluid types, capacities, torque specs and etc.) vice forcing us to search around. It would also be nice if they put a sticker with this info under the hood (like next to the emissions and serpentine belt diagrams).

 

[BobRip]

Jeez Louise.

The owner's manual isn't the result of attorneys gone wild. It's just a reflection of someone doing a good job.

Think about it. If you were a good tech writer and your job was to write an owner's manual this is exactly the way you would do it. Especially if you were part of a team.

I don't know what kind of work you do. But chances are most likely whatever it is most of the rest of us would be able to stand back as observers and wonder what and why more than once.

I have to disagree. Having a manual that long with so many warnings repeated many times each is not a good job. It just makes most people read very little of it and very rarely use it. Just to carry it to the extereme, if the manual were 10,000 pages coverning the same info would that make it better? I don't think so. When we rewrote some manuals we actually got a legal opinion that making it more consice would convey the really important information better and protect the company better. I was amazed. So that's what we did.

 

[RayH]

There ought to be a market for supplemental manuals. Discuss the interesting features, throw in a few torque/HP vs. RPM curves for the stock motors. Organize the specifications/facts/figures in an easy to find way. Make a nice little maintenance checklist. Include a plastic reference card with fluid capacities and specs that you can hang up in your garage or stick somewhere in the engine compartment.

Make it about 150 pages and sell it in bookstores and auto parts stores for $14.95. Advertise it to women as something to buy for that special man in their life.

I think you are onto something there.
Not 150 pages though, more like a dozen laminated pages with just the very basics, specific to your vehicle, and sell it for $4.99.
The hardest part would be wading through every owners manual to compile the information.

Why stop at vehicle. How about tractors?