With the increasingly sophisticated car has come the increasingly sophisticated car manual – all 4 pounds of it, which is looking more and more like the phone book of yesteryear.
“We’re getting to the point where you can barely fit it in the glove box anymore,” says Al Motta Head-Service Operations at Mopar.

So starting with the 2010 model-year, Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles will include a consolidated user guide and a user-friendly DVD. The move toward more digital owner’s materials not represents our more tech savvy culture, but also a more eco-conscious one. 
 

 “If you look at our new minivans, with two DVD players and infotainment systems, that’s really where the whole future is going; the owner needs to know how to use all of that,” Motta explains.
 

The more compact user manual, which will be about one-tenth the size of the current generation, will include many of the basic functions that customers new to a particular vehicle will need to understand, such as how to adjust the seat, operate the radio and turn on the heating or AC.  It also includes detailed photos and diagrams, allowing customers to quickly find assistance for emergency situations, such as changing tires, jump-starting a battery or assessing warning lights.
 

Meanwhile, the DVD user guide provides video tutorials for commonly used features, such as folding down a Jeep Wrangler soft-top, operating the video entertainment system and setting electronic speed control. In addition, owners may search by topic rather than sifting through a lengthy book.  The DVD tutorials will be of the “show” and not just “tell” variety by walking customers through a step-by-step process to operate features on the vehicle and performing typical maintenance tasks.
 

“So if I wanted to turn on my heated seats, and there’s an LED light that comes on, you’ll actually see the LED light come on in the DVD … so the customer knows what to expect when he pushes the button,” says Motta.
 

The new user guide will range from 60 to 80 pages generally, down from a standard of 500. That not only means more room in the glove box, but more trees in the ground. The digital move will save an estimated 930 tons of paper, the equivalent of 20,000 trees every year. 
 

Chrysler hasn’t forgotten the 10-15% of customers who would still prefer the full manual book.  Those customers may call their dealers or customer service to order the manuals, which will be free of charge.