Hi Guys -
I think that it should be a state law that anybody who buys a new car from a dealership be required to read the owner's manual before taking possession of the vehicle. What say Ye? And thanks.
here here I do agree!
Nay! How would they make sure? Testing?
I paid enough as it is to obtain and renew my license. I HATE dealing with the useless good for nothing DMV people. This would be an excuse for them to charge another $500 in fees and screw things up even more.
The solution to bad drivers is simple. I think there should be stricter insurance penalties for people who cause accidents. They pay more, I pay less.
I never said anything about driving or the DMV.
sorry ... selective hearing kicking in again. Or reading rather.
But the same idea applies. They would have to test people to make sure they were doing it. And that would add to the cost acquiring the vehicle. And I don't wanna pay for that. I already read my manuals. If you don't then that's your problem.
Apparently, when they don't read it, it's our problem since half the questions asked in this forum are easily found in the owner's manual. There wouldn't be any testing of the people reading it, it would just be a requirement of buying a new vehicle.
I see. Well I'm sure EVERYBODY is going to be honest and read it.
You don't have to answer questions if you don't want to. Or even read them.
About the stricter insurance penalties for people who cause accidents. What about the people that drive without insurance, registration, or a license? Also, there's about a 60% chance that at least one of the people in the accident will run off if their car is still drivable. So I doubt the solution to bad drivers is that simple, bad drivers have been around since cars existed and probably even before that.
It’s illegal to drive without insurance where I live, with stiff penalties for being caught.
I'm sure that's true, but lots of people drive without it anyway.
Nope not lots. Not here anyway. It's difficult to get away with it. Everybody has stickers with insurance expiry dates. Police cruisers have cameras that are constantly scanning plates automatically as they cruise the streets. If it sees an uninsured vehicle on the road it sets off alarms. I've heard several stories of people getting ticketed for being days late on renewal.
I have never had an issue where I've been stuck with covering damage out of pocket. Nevertheless whenever something happens on the road I always take picture of everything. Never had a runner, but even then our policies include some "hit&run" coverage.
I've never considered it a problem.
It is interesting some people don't read few pages for some devices and they have hard time to find out how to make them work.
But on the other hand, owner's manual for 1997 Daewoo Nexia had only 75 pages with a size similar to 10 inch tablet.
Manual for Auris is double size and contains over 600 pages. Despite I skipped chapters about features my car doesn't have, it took me some time to read it.
When I bought 2002 Suzuki Swift 6 years ago, manuals were not included.
2/3 of those pages are for French and Spanish and 250 pages are devoted just to operating the entertainment. The rest tells you about lifetime fluid
The manuals for newer cars have too many pages and besides the maintenance section, the idea was to use it whenever you had some issues. It is completely different than old days.
Volkswagen is especially bad for this. You get about 30 lbs of literature and most of it is useless. I don't like the Japanese manuals either. I think GM still provides good manuals. Lots of uselful information that others don't provide.
I'm just old school. Nowadays people are all wrapped up in video everything. If the owners manual was a video, they would watch it. but read something? probably not.
Just like the commercial where two young men are on the side of the road with a flat and one is calling daddy . Daddy says to put on the spare and they both are completely lost.
Sad.
You're exactly right. I just can't understand how people can buy a new car, never read the owner's manual then can't figure out how something on their new car works. Have you seen how many questions come in about what type of oil to use? C'mon Man!!!!
Yeah, and why don't you get one when you buy a new computer?
So many times you see a posting here about something simple that's in the manual.
I got lucky.
I recently got a fully restored 95 olds silhouette for a song and it came with the original owners manual. First thing I did was to read it front to back several times.
You are, obviously, a responsible man with a working brain.
same reason cars don't come with driving lessons.
haha you can’t even trust the manual anymore. Just crack open any new Ford manual and you’ll see.
why... what does it say? I haven't read a Ford one yet.
@mountainmanjoe fluid change intervals are way to long.
well, one would hope we make better made, longer lasting stuff over time.
@mountainmanjoe What we hope and what’s really happening are totally different. American manufacturers do not make better made, longer lasting vehicles. They don’t need to cause we buy the crap anyway. GM is a prime example, Fords getting close to GM level and FCA is in a category of their own.
I read that in Japan, you have to pass a comprehensive test on mechanics of cars to get a license, including how a differential works. You also have to prove that you have a parking space to register a car.
Is this what you have in mind, Doc? If enforced, it certainly would reduce traffic jams.
Certainly NOT what I had in mind at all. I never said anything about enforcement or testing or driving skills. I just think it's odd that people ask all these questions about their vehicles and they never even considered looking at their owner's manual.
I didn't think so.. That would be like a rule that they Google their questions first before posting here! Nice in theory, but as likely as everybody using the left lane for passing only.