Experts Advise Going by the Book

Although you will never see it on a best seller’s list, and it will never win any literary award, the owner’s manual to your car is one of the most important books you may ever need as a motorist.

These books are typically relegated to the bottom of the glove compartment and rightfully so. They are often terribly written and either too simplistic or too technical. Sometimes, the books skirt important subject areas and fail to provide important safety information. They contain few illustrations and have a literary format that is dated to the early 1960s.

General Motors is making an effort to change that by giving a modern look to all of its owner’s manuals. GM, which has had plenty of problems making quality cars and beating the competition, has come out a clear winner on owner’s manuals.

By comparison, Toyota’s owner’s manuals for its 1990 lineup look as if they came straight out of a government document office during the Great Depression. There isn’t any color, illustration or photography.

Owner’s manuals contain the most important available information on the care and operation of your car. Whether it is the proper oil to use or safety tips on braking, it is usually contained in the manuals. The information is based on the best judgments of the car manufacturers’ engineers, and few experts ever suggest that motorists not follow the advice in the manuals.

But many motorists never even crack the pages of their manuals, let alone make a thorough reading and occasional review of the material in there.

In an effort to get their car owners to read the manuals, GM began redesigning all its manuals in 1989, using bold color on almost every page and using color illustrations and photographs. The manuals come in the form of a small loose-leaf binder.

“The color and photography is there to keep the interest of the reader,” said Bob Pandell, GM’s director for service information. “We tried to make it easier to read and interesting to read.”

GM did not stop there. It added lengthy sections on important subjects such as child-restraint seats and drunk driving. The books also contain several pages of driving tips, including special sections for winter driving in snow and rain.

It is notable that the first several chapters in the new GM manuals deal with safety. Included is a persuasive section on why wearing seat belts is important. By comparison, Toyota starts out its manuals with the usual information about instrument panels, keys and doors.

The new GM manuals run about 300 pages, about twice as long as the older-format GM books. But the new books actually take less time to read and are far better organized.

“It is important that a customer feels good about his investment,” Pandell said. “We have gotten some complimentary letters from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and from Department of Transportation officials.”

Given how many fewer young people are reading these days, GM is also considering a videotaped owner’s manual, but the company has made no decisions. It already offers an audiotaped owner’s manual. Since there are few blind motorists, these tapes are presumably for the illiterate.