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Stupid owner's manual instructions...

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by cyberprius, Dec 1, 2008.

  1. cyberprius

    cyberprius Mtn Bikes don't need foglights

    Joined:
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    Be afraid, I just remembered my password. LOL!!!

    Anyway, had to reset my tire pressure sensor thing, and, as usual, the owners manual is unclear. Why do they neglect to say that you need to step on the brake pedal to make most of their "resets" work.

    For example to reset the oil and the tire lights, you can press power all you want, but nothing will work right, unless you step on the brake pedal, then press "power" and then continue with the instructions as given in the manual....it's just stupid....sorry, had to rant.;)
     
    #1 cyberprius, Dec 1, 2008
  2. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
    Staff Member

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    Oh hey, looks who's back! :D

    Over the weekend, I attempted to turn off my in-laws' back-up beep. I inadvertently reset their oil light. oops.
    Now I feel compelled to call them every day and remind them that they still need to change their oil.
     
    #2 TonyPSchaefer, Dec 1, 2008
  3. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    cyberprius! you're back!!
    [dang it, Danny, you were supposed to ban the IP, not just reset her username]

    We've missed you :)
     
    #3 Rae Vynn, Dec 1, 2008
  4. Boo

    Boo Boola Boola Member

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    Who is cyberprius? Is she the mice lady? :)
     
    #4 Boo, Dec 1, 2008
  5. dwdean

    dwdean Member

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    Hmmm....would have to guess one of three reasons (or maybe some unholy combination of all three):


    1. There was something about the phrase meaning the equivalent of "Put the car in Ready mode" that the translation software didn't like/understand. This resulted in English words that were for one reason or another undesirable in the finished manual.
    2. The words translated just fine, but were deleted by some omniscient tech-writer who decided that they were unnecessarily redundant and therefore were not contributing to the overall effectiveness of the manual.
    3. The words didn't translate because they were never present in the Japanese original. Similar to #2, but the basis here is that said aforementioned tech-writer assumed that "everyone knows" the car has to be in Ready mode for any of the procedures to work.
    Who knows which it is, or what combination it is, but I'm suspecting 2 or 3 are the real culprits. I've noticed that many manuals created in other languages and then translated or that were created by writers who don't have speak English as their first language don't include some really simple things like this.

    Yes, I suppose it can be argued that you should have assumed that you needed to have the car on for the procedure to work, but:

    1. We all know about assumptions.
    2. That you didn't make that assumption (despite what that writer thought) says to mind that the manual failed in its primary mission
     
    #5 dwdean, Dec 2, 2008
  6. Qlara

    Qlara New Member

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    Possible, but my guess is that the Owner's Manual is also read by (non-owner) Techs who just work on the Prius. People who don't own/drive the Toy-Hybrids probably don't know what 'Ready-mode' actually is, thus stating these 'obvious' in the instructions.
     
    #6 Qlara, Dec 4, 2008
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