Who Reads The Instruction Manual? (Update: No One)

J.D. Power and Associates on Tuesday released its study of in-car technology that showed many new car buyers either don’t use features available on their car or aren’t aware they exist.

According to the study, at least 20 percent of buyers haven’t used 16 of 33 features targeted by the study, including in-vehicle concierge services such as OnStar (43 percent); mobile Internet connectivity (38 percent); automatic parking aids (35 percent); heads-up displays (33 percent); and apps (32 percent).

Owners said their smartphones probably do all those things better, and who has time to learn systems when you have to text and drive anyway?

“While dealers are expected to play a key role in explaining the technology to consumers, the onus should be on automakers to design the technology to be intuitive for consumers,” said Kristin Kolodge, who is the executive director of driver interaction & HMI research at J.D. Power. “Automakers also need to explain the technology to dealership staff and train them on how to demonstrate it to owners.”

Ongoing cost could be a concern too. For example, Chevrolet’s mobile WiFi hotspot, which is equipped in all of its new cars, requires a subscription to OnStar in addition to monthly fees for data usage beyond the initial 3 GB of data. A monthly plan for data could range between $25 and $85 a month for 200 MB to 5 GB of data.

Beyond what the dealer doesn’t tell you about your new car, there’s no real resource for drivers to learn about their car, is there? (Answer: maybe.)

The study doesn’t directly ask the question, but many car manuals are disorganized encyclopedias of frustration that few people seem to use. For example, a current-generation Mini comes with seven booklets (the longest is 222 pages, the shortest is a fold-out brochure) one USB drive and three informational cards.

(Included in the instruction manual are gems such as: “Due to system limitations, warnings may not be issued at all, or may be issued late or improperly. Therefore, always be alert and ready to intervene …” Owner’s manuals are too much and not enough, all at the same time.)

More importantly than wasting your time, unused tech may be wasting money.

“In-vehicle connectivity technology that’s not used results in millions of dollars of lost value for both consumers and the manufacturers,” Kolodge said in a statement announcing the findings.