$50,000 vehicle does not include printed manual?

[GabeBoyTheGreat]

You think people who can’t figure out how to drive will read a 600 page booklet and figure it all out?

Well considering that the owner's manual doesn't exactly tell you how to drive, no. I feel that dangerous driving is an issue in the country that should be addressed, but that is a different discussion and should be tackled separately.

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[gato]

Well considering that the owner's manual doesn't exactly tell you how to drive, no. I feel that dangerous driving is an issue in the country that should be addressed, but that is a different discussion and should be tackled separately.

So what is the purpose of this 600 printed pages manual for a consumer product? What percentage of humans operating this consumer product will read the manual. Do you read the 600 pages when say you rent a car on vacation?



It is a huge fail to even have a 600 page manual, let alone one printed on hard copy.

 

[Heimkehr]

In fairness to comments regarding the sheer heft of the Owner's Manual...

By way of example, my 2021 manual is 458 pages long, not the endlessly-repeated "600 pages". Still, it's quite the tome. It would be observably slimmer if every breathless, lawyer-driven Warning language paragraph and text box were ruthlessly excised.

There's the context: strip out that which isn't strictly necessary to know how the vehicle functions, and to operate it in a competent manner, and it would appear considerably more reasonable. Remove the seemingly endless chapter on the Multimedia (Uconnect) system, and we'd really make some headway.

It's plain that such language is here to stay, however. It's easy enough for the reader to learn how to skim past all of it and find what he's looking for.

Owner's Manuals are innocuous. The prior suggestion that their absence might be linked to weight savings was good for a chuckle. In that respect, this thread has been unintentionally humorous.

 

[Roky]

First world problems…….

 

[LuvHydro]

This thread has been,,,, interesting for sure.

All I wanted was to whine a bit about Jeep being cheap.

You guys don't know it but I requested the moderators nuke my thread after it started falling apart right at the beginning, but I will admit it has been entertaining to read, at 200 posts in.

I'm almost reluctant to post the photo of the full size owners manual my dealer is sending, for fear of relighting the thread fire.

In the end, I got to vent, I got my manual and many got to express their varying opinions on the subject.

Who knew the passion people had about a book.

 

[Opus]

I'm just gonna say it... with as many people around here that ask if it's okay to run 87 octane in their Jeep, I don't blame Stellantis for saying "why bother printing a manual"...

 

[gato]

As proof, I had to bring my 2018 JL into the dealership multiple times because the owner's manual clearly stated that the clutch interlock could be bypassed by simply putting the vehicle in 4L. Lo and behold, it doesn't work that way. After multiple trips to the dealership, the answer I got was that the manual was incorrect; I believe they have since updated the manual to reflect the accurate procedure.

If only the owner manual (in its most updated form) was available in electronic format on the Jeep web site, or the Jeep app or the infotainment screen.

You realize that you just made the point as to why printing/reading/consulting a 600 page document that was printed months or years in the past is not very smart.

Get it online. Download a copy to your favorite device in case you have no connectivity. Consult the most up to date electronic version.

Even all the printed bibles will be out of date when a certain return happens.

 

[gato]

I'm just gonna say it... with as many people around here that ask if it's okay to run 87 octane in their Jeep, I don't blame Stellantis for saying "why bother printing a manual"...

Not as bad as all those who insist Jeep engineers are idiots for putting in the manual that oil in the recommended grade should be changed every 10K miles or 12 months or as called for in the instrument panel. They insist that 40-weight oil changed every 5K is the only correct way.

And they also insist on changing the fluid on the lifetime ZF8. Because you know, no one should believe the 600 pages hard copy manual.

 

[JSFoster75]

If only the owner manual (in its most updated form) was available in electronic format on the Jeep web site, or the Jeep app or the infotainment screen.

You realize that you just made the point as to why printing/reading/consulting a 600 page document that was printed months or years in the past is not very smart.

Get it online. Download a copy to your favorite device in case you have no connectivity. Consult the most up to date electronic version.

Even all the printed bibles will be out of date when a certain return happens.

That return date is getting very close based on current events predicted years ago.

 

[flyer92]

If only the owner manual (in its most updated form) was available in electronic format on the Jeep web site, or the Jeep app or the infotainment screen.

You realize that you just made the point as to why printing/reading/consulting a 600 page document that was printed months or years in the past is not very smart.

Get it online. Download a copy to your favorite device in case you have no connectivity. Consult the most up to date electronic version.

Even all the printed bibles will be out of date when a certain return happens.

Guess this bears stating once again:

Ever been out in the boonies with no LTE, wifi, or satellite connectivity so you couldn't download a manual? Ever had your device run out of power or fail so you couldn't download a manual? Ever lost your device or had it stolen so you couldn't download a manual?

I hope that everyone is lucky enough to never experience these heinous first-world maladies, but they really do happen. Certainly, many owners are happy to drop $40-$90K on a Jeep without ever reading a page of their manual, and many others can't imagine a world without devices or internet connectivity, but it really exists. For these owners, I agree 100% that it makes zero sense for Stellantis to unnecessarily destroy more trees and furnish them with a hard-copy manual. To each his/her own, but for the rest of us who do face these realities, there is simply no replacement for a hard copy manual, and they should at least be available on a by-request basis.

 

[yokramer]

Guess this bears stating once again:

Ever been out in the boonies with no LTE, wifi, or satellite connectivity so you couldn't download a manual? Ever had your device run out of power or fail so you couldn't download a manual? Ever lost your device or had it stolen so you couldn't download a manual?

I hope that everyone is lucky enough to never experience these heinous first-world maladies, but they really do happen. Certainly, many owners are happy to drop $40-$90K on a Jeep without ever reading a page of their manual, and many others can't imagine a world without devices or internet connectivity, but it really exists. For these owners, I agree 100% that it makes zero sense for Stellantis to unnecessarily destroy more trees and furnish them with a hard-copy manual. To each his/her own, but for the rest of us who do face these realities, there is simply no replacement for a hard copy manual, and they should at least be available on a by-request basis.

Have you ever bought a luxury non necessity vehicle and complained about spending $60 for a paper book you dont really need?

Talk about first world problems lol

 

[Jocko]

Guess this bears stating once again:

Ever been out in the boonies with no LTE, wifi, or satellite connectivity so you couldn't download a manual?

I would have downloaded it before I left.

Ever had your device run out of power or fail so you couldn't download a manual? Ever lost your device or had it stolen so you couldn't download a manual?

I would look at it on the infotainment screen.

I very much support folks being able to easily and cheaply get one if they prefer that format. But I find these arguments for why its completely unacceptable to make them optional equipment to be quite a stretch. So I guess in this scenario where your phone has failed and I guess also your Jeep's power/infotainment has failed... please remind me again what info it is that you need to reference in the manual in that moment? Why have you headed out into said boonies without knowing how your vehicle works in the first place? That seems dangerous.

 

[ASSFROW]

No vehicle should come with a printed manual that is 600 pages long.

In fact in 2025, if you need a manual to operate anything in your vehicle, then your vehicle is improperly designed. An iPhone can do a lot more than a car - and they don't come with a manual to operate. The device guides you gives you a scripted "tour" and offers suggestions as you go along.

Besides any printed manual is obsolete before the vehicles is built. Particularly these days, when vehicles are constantly being updated over the air. Printed manuals are more likely to be dangerously out of date.

A searchable electronic copy of the manual should be presented on the vehicles entertainment screen, with a copy on your phone or phone app, with those copies tailored to the exact model and options you have, vs the useless hundreds of pages that don't even apply to your vehicle, like all the Rubicon lockers and disconnected sway bars on a Sahara.

Jeep should be bold and ditch printed manuals once and for all. You can't live in 2025 like it is 1925. What is next? You want a printed phone book?

So you're saying you should have to have a phone in order to use your vehicle? I'll pass.

You're phone gives you proper loading instructions, specs, operating procedures for on/off road, towing, removing doors/top, opening soft top, service intervals, etc? A phone is not a vehicle.

Edit: Holy shit, you know you're an asshole when you go back and read your own reply and realize it's not so nice. My bad, it was not intended to be so.

 

[ASSFROW]

I think it’s important to have basic things like where are the lift points when changing a tire.

The Wrangler is the *only* vehicle where you have to put the jack on the axle tube instead of the body/frame, and doing it any other way won’t work or will destroy the pinch welds. Particularly when you’re stranded with no service.

But why the hell isn’t there an owners manual in the infotainment??

Don't worry the Jeep will guide you through changing a tire on it's own.

 

[ASSFROW]

I would have downloaded it before I left.

I would look at it on the infotainment screen.

I very much support folks being able to easily and cheaply get one if they prefer that format. But I find these arguments for why its completely unacceptable to make them optional equipment to be quite a stretch. So I guess in this scenario where your phone has failed and I guess also your Jeep's power/infotainment has failed... please remind me again what info it is that you need to reference in the manual in that moment? Why have you headed out into said boonies without knowing how your vehicle works in the first place? That seems dangerous.

And how do you find out how to turn the screen on if it's off, without a manual? Sure, you can likely figure it out, but have you talked to people nowadays?

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