Instructions don't come with Toyota Accessories

In March when I took delivery of my new Model 2 ECO, I decided to get some Toyota Accessories listed on the Toyota website: Rear Bumper Protector, Cargo Tray Plus, All-weather Floor Liners, Door Edge Guards. My dealer's parts guy had no idea what I was talking about and said he could not get them for me. So I got them (quickly!) through the PriusChat Shop.

They arrived in their OEM Toyota boxes. But there were no mounting instructions in the boxes! This was a problem only for the Door Edge Guards and the Rear Bumper Protector. Then I noticed these stickers on the boxes:



Huh? I pay $230 and instructions are not included? The TIS is not accessible by mere customers.

The parts guy at my dealer was very helpful, found the files, and printed them for me. I put on the rear bumper protector no problem, the instructions were useful. I bought from Sears ($25-ish) a double-sided mallet recommended to attach the door edge guards. And yesterday I finally geared up to install the edge guards. The last four pages of the instructions are templates, one for each door, that one cuts out, tapes to the car, and uses to align the edge guards properly. Each template includes a scale you check to make sure it was printed at 100%, not enlarged or shrunk. This complication would be avoided if instructions printed at the right size were included in the box.. Then I noticed that the upper edge of each template is off the page, so that the tabs that you need to align the top end of each edge guard are missing.

So I did what I should have done to begin with: a Google search on the part number, and up popped a link to a pdf of the instructions that a thoughtful Toyota dealership (Sparks Toyota, Myrtle Beach, SC) has posted online:
http://toyotaparts.sparkstoyota.com/install/PT936-47160inst.pdf

Examining that, I saw that the last four pages (the templates) were cut off because they are supposed to be printed on LEGAL sized paper! I phoned the parts guy at my dealer, and he said they don't have any legal sized paper (which apparently means that their techs would mount the edge guards by eye?). Rather than pay for a ream of legal paper I don't otherwise need, I'm going to try to bum a few sheets from somebody in town.

Seems like a lot of heavy lifting just to mount parts I paid for. And given what I found out, I'm so glad I didn't ask the dealer to mount them for me!!!

A forward step for Toyota would be to post mounting instructions online somewhere that customers could access them. Perhaps a new section of the ToyotaCare website: Toyota.com/Owners

EDIT: I went to Staples and they sold me sheets of legal paper for 11 cents each: same price as copies except they didn't do the copying. Most copy centers would probably do likewise.

 

I love computers, but paper definitely has its uses too. When factory manuals came out on microfiche I felt that was a step backwards because they could not be annotated with useful hints by the user. Same for factory manuals online. Some day maybe we will be able to download a factory manual and add comments where needed (I suppose that might be done now if one has the full version of Adobe Acrobat).

 

Thanks! I looked at the US owners site and could not find any installation instructions. I think these accessories are region-specific anyway, so it may be a case of "wrong pond land".

 

Templates: you need them on paper, and at 100% scale.

 

So here I am sitting at my table, cutting out these paper templates for mounting my door edge guards. I'm alternately having flashbacks to grade school art class, and wondering who at Toyota imagined that a tech at a dealer would have the time or inclination to do this, even supposing they had legal-sized paper to print the templates on. Perhaps these are generally mounted at the port, and maybe they have reusable plastic templates there?????

 

Just to finish up, we FINALLY got some warm dry weather so I could get the car clean and work outside. Applying the door edge guards was easier than I expected, took only about 30 minutes. A soft-faced hammer is needed (e.g., Craftsman 9-38388, about $20, I used the hardest tip, the yellow one). The templates help because the guards are supplied precisely bent to conform to the contours of the door edge, so they need to be aligned carefully. They look really nice.

While working it occurred to me that getting door edge guards in a different color might make an interesting custom styling touch. I'm thinking red edge guards on a gray or maybe black car?

In the course of this I discovered my first parking lot door ding. Someone parked close at the supermarket the other day, bet that's when it happened. Nice to have that over with!

 

They hardly show at all, especially on a dark finish like my blue. The photo in the PriusChat shop is probably better than anything I can offer:
2016 Prius Door Edge Guards - OEM - PriusChat Shop

 

Don't forget spinners!