UN-friendly Prius User Manuals

Is it just me or has anyone else found their Prius manuals difficult to use?

For me it started when we tried to activate Homelink. My husband and I read, reread and tried to follow Toyota's instructions several times but it still didn't work. Frustrated, I decided to get out our Honda Pilot manual and VOILA - we identified the area of confusion and had it working in a couple of minutes. Ever since then it seems like I'm forever reading every instruction several times only to figure out the problem by trial and error or even finding the answer on these forums. I realize the Prius is supposed to be a technically advanced vehicle but I can't remember using manuals that are more difficult to interpret.

Toyota does not write good manuals. It's surprising, given their considerable resources. They should pay one of us to rewrite them.

Tom

If I were a betting man, I'd wager they have a Japanese writer with a modicum of understanding of English syntax and grammar.

I also struggled with the manual, and like the OP, had to reread certain passages multiple times, often with NO final comprehension of the material I had just read.

David (aka Blind Guy)

Include me in the list of those that agree that the Toyota manuals leave a lot to be desired. Before I bought my Prius, my daughter bought a Toyota Sienna minivan. I tried to help her program her Homelink with the Toyota manual and finally gave up.

I was able to go to the garage door vendor's website that gave very detailed instructions for the Toyota vehicles in plain English. We had the Homelink programmed in less than five minutes with these directions.

I have to confess, I read John's manual while I was waiting for my Prius, so I understood the Toyota manual better than if I read it cold.

John's Stuff - Toyota Prius User-Guide

Wow - compare the Toyota manuals to ANY American car's manual, and you'll think Toyota writes Nobel literature!

LOST IN TRANSLATION !!

The user manual is translated from the Japanese manual by Japanese writers, who are not know to have good grammar.

I found this when I went to change the clock from daylight saving time. I looked in the owners manual index under clock and found the page which said to press setup- clock- daylight saving- out- save. I did this three times with no effect on the clock. I then looked all over the dash and found 2 small buttons labeled H M. I pushed these and reset the clock. I am not sure what the manual instructions were for.
I also had the same problem setting the Homelink opener. It would not work until I used the manual from our Jaguar which stressed that you had to clear the system before you set it. Toyota fails to tell you this. They tell you how to clear it but not that it is necessary on a new car.

As soon as I saw references to "driving enjoyment" in the Prius manuals, I knew I was reading a cheap Japanese translation!

I also worked for a multi-national American company, everything is written in English and then translated to foreign languages as needed. Toyota is a Japanese company and all the cars are engineered in Japan, it is natural that the documentations are written in Japanese originally.

added: Even if the manual is translated by a native tongue person, but then the original language is foreign to the translator, this is the reason for the lost in translation.

Yes, UN-friendly is frustrating, but what about the instances where what is written is either incomplete or worse; totally INCORRECT!?
...could drive a normally rational individual to insanity!

Poor organization is also an issue. For example, in the Gen II manual, radio instructions are grouped by operation, not by radio model. If you want to set the station presets, you find that section of the manual, then you sift through all of the different types of radios until you find yours. Now you want to load a CD. You find the CD section, and once again sift through all of the different radio models. This doesn't make any sense. Each car only has one radio model, so you group the instructions by model. That way you find your model, and all of the instructions are right there - no more hunting about.

Tom

Priius Chat is a great manual!

+1

Poor organization, plus poor indexing and unwieldy size (the 2010 Prius Owner's Manual is over 600 pages and the 2010 Prius Navigation Manual is over 300 pages) are the reasons why I like to have PDFs of the manuals available.

With PDFs, I can do word and phrase searches of the entire manual and find what I'm looking for in seconds (or at most, a minute or two).

Anyone interested in getting the 2010 Prius OWNER'S Manual on PDF should go to Posts #19 and 20 of the following thread where there are instructions for downloading a PDF of the Owner's Manual yourself:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...2010-prius-owners-manual-available-pdf-2.html

Anyone interested in getting the 2010 Prius NAVIGATION Manual on PDF can PM (Private Message) me with your email address, and I will email you a copy when I can.

Understand not talking many are doing. No trouble manual with have I.

Really they should start by writing a heavily hyperlinked electronic manual and then make it available in print form, instead of starting with the print version.

They're written by the same folks who write some of the things you'll find hereEngrish Funny: Engrish Pictures That Is Your Funny Engrish

I understand what you are saying and, in fact, we do the same thing where I work. But then I wish Toyota do whatever Honda does to make their manuals more usable.

See, its not so easy.