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My previous car's owners manual might have been an inch thick. My new car's owners manual is nearly 4 inches thick. What's the thickest owners manual you've seen and have you seen some so big they skipped the book and went digital (CD, tablet, thumb drive, etc)?
I've only seen one about an inch thick but, if they get any thicker, I hope the industry finally hires someone who knows how to build an index. In the past, I think they had the janitor come in on overtime and do it.
My Volvo Owner's manual is 400 pages long, I've not measured how thick it is.
The way I tackled that was to have college like study sessions with my car. I would sit out in the car reading the manual - car running so as to not drain the battery. I would read about some gizmo, then fiddle with it on the car and see how it worked or changed settings to what I wanted.
I spent two weeks in that car off and on until I got to the end of the book!
Note there were some *VERY* important things I came across. Like how to open the gas filler door if the automatic/electric button is malfunctioning. (Pull a hidden cord.) Or how to get into the car if the key FOB is not working - How to move the shift lever into neutral if the battery is dead. (For towing - those access points are hidden.)
Usually I just have the important bits summarized. It provides a good test of analytical reasoning and writing skills for a new young employee in any event.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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That's crazy, my 2014 with rather elaborate electrionics is only about 3/8" thick. It's also available online as an indexed PDF.
Are you sure you mean owner's manual, and not shop manual?
One thing federal govt telling automaker to list the right way to put baby car carrier and car seats in the vechial. Then it tells you about the airbag system. It also list all the engines that you have in your vechile. Alo all about the electronics that you might have in your vechile. Cars are allot different these days and the federal govt tells the automakers what has to be included in the owners manual also there is a section about emissions never had that in older manuals. And a section about child safty locks.
I wish they could divide the owners manual into a few small books. One for the usual safety and most commonly used things for driving including AC, cruise control, wipers, & seats (adjustment & baby seat latch). The next book would be the high tech stuff not necessary for daily driving.
My Volvo Owner's manual is 400 pages long, I've not measured how thick it is.
My Volvo manual is pretty thick. 95% of it is crap: how to buckle a seat belt, what happens in an accident, how to change a tire or jump start it.
They have to fill the manual with all that stuff so they don't get sued later. Blame people and lawyers for why a manual is so thick.
"I destroyed my battery because I put jumper cables on wrong! Volvo should have told me how to jump start a car!!!". *lawsuit*
How to move the shift lever into neutral when the battery is dead has been pretty standard on most cars since the early 00's, even late 90's. But if they didn't put it in there, and you needed it at an inopportune time and it wasn't in the manual???? *lawsuit*
My '13 Charger came with a smaller reference book with a CD containing the full manual.
My '14 BRZ has a sizeable manual, and a second book nearly as thick just for the audio and Nav screen.
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