Chrysler scraps owner's manuals, shifts to DVDs

September 21, 2009 - 1:44 pm ET
DETROIT -- Chrysler Group is replacing its traditional owner's manuals
with DVDs and an abridged printed guide in an effort to reduce costs and
save 930 tons of paper annually. Chrysler will see "substantial savings"
from the shift away from paper manuals, which often had more than 500 pages,
spokesman Bryan Zvibleman said. He declined to say how much will be saved by
the change, which is taking effect with 2010 models.

The searchable DVDs, designed for viewing at home or on some vehicles'
entertainment systems, each contain an owner's manual, warranty information,
direction for navigation and entertainment systems and a guide for 24-hour
towing assistance. They also provide video tutorials for some instructions,
such as folding down a Jeep Wrangler's soft top. Information from the DVDs
will also appear on Chrysler's brand Web sites.

The abbreviated printed guides, designed to be kept in the vehicle,
will typically have 60 to 80 pages, the automaker said in a statement today.
They will provide instructions for dealing with emergency issues, such as
flat tires, dead batteries or flashing warning lights. The guides also give
instructions for basic operations of vehicle features such as air
conditioning, windshield wipers and navigation systems.

Consumers may still receive a full printed owner's manual on request.

Chrysler had been considering the change for more than a year, said Al
Motta, head of service operations. The automaker conducted a consumer study,
solicited input through an online forum and held four focus sessions in
Chicago to help determine what information to include in the printed
version.

Finally, Chrysler mailed 500 sample DVDs and printed guides to
customers who had bought 2009 Wranglers and sought feedback. The reaction
was mostly positive, Motta said, especially to features such as the soft-top
video tutorials.

 

This story was posted here about a month ago. Why is it being re-posted
again?

Chrysler sold 1,453,122 vehicles in the US in 2008, and 2,076,650 in
2007. Chrysler's 2009 US sales will probably come in at around 800,000
units.

Chrysler's total sales numbers (including Canada) come in at 2.33, 1.63
and 0.9 million in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

If we assume that Chrysler was expecting to print 1 million owner's
manuals each year for the forseeable future, with a net paper weight of
930 tons, that works out to 1.86 lbs per manual. I should weigh the
owners manual for my 300m and Ram.

I'm guessing that the cost of the DVD's will work out to be about $1
each, and that the paper manual was probably $3 each. Total savings
will probably be $2 million.

I do question the statement that paper manuals "often had more than 500
pages". Are they talking about the service manual? I know of no owners
manual that ever had that many pages.

I don't get it.

Are they saying that they will still be including a 60-80 page printed
booklet anyways? Isin't that the owners manual?

WTF is going on here?

 

You can't repost again unless this is the third post...

DAS

To send an e-mail directly replace "spam" with "schmetterling"
---

 

You must be forgetting that Chrysler is now a government company. It is
simply using government accounting methods. The numbers don't have to
add up. It just has to make people feel good.

 

well seeing as my News server only holds about 3 weeks of content i had no
idea it was posted already. i guess i wont be posting things of this nature

 

It's all about marketing.
They want to sell those highly profitable car display panels. <

 

Don't top-poaster or a full-quoter. It's bad usenet form.

Your news server is operated by Newshosting.com.

According to their website, their servers have 414 days of usenet
retention.

Now, do you want to give us another explanation?

 

Now, do you want to give us another explanation?

yeah smart ass, i don't pay for it, its a free service thru my ISP with
under 30 days retention, since the ISP dropped access to Usenet, like so
many other ISPs. but that's not on the list of services they show on their
web site so therefore you wouldn't be able to see it anyway.. Sorry you
feel the need to go back and look up my news server, then surf their web
site as part of your "investigation" of me and my reasons for posting
anything. you must be a real detective in your neighborhood watch program.
elected block captain no doubt.

It's bad Usenet form in someone's eyes but not mine. i'll top post all day
long, just like i do on every other Usenet sight i go to. if you don't
like it, kill file me............