Car Manual Warnings So Weird They Had To Come From Somewhere
Warning labels sometimes make us wonder why they’re necessary. Anybody with the purchasing power to buy an electrical appliance shouldn’t have to be told that a hair-curler or toaster gets hot when it’s in use, that they shouldn’t try to iron clothes while wearing them, or that they should remove the baby before folding a stroller. And yet, there must be some backstory that made a company print a reminder. Somebody must have done it already. And then likely tried to litigate for their own lack of common sense.
Automotive owner’s manuals aren’t exempt from this sort of thing. They are written to help drivers operate increasingly complicated machines safely, and with so many things to consider, there is bound to be something that needs a reminder of potential danger. But they also serve to protect manufacturers from claims that a foreseeable danger (no matter how nonsensical) was never adequately explained. Here are a few (some bizarre!) examples of a company anticipating that someone might misuse a feature, damage a component or put themselves in danger.
Don’t Treat The Engine Computer As A Basketball
A Toyota ECU Anecdote
Electronic control units (ECUs) are sophisticated components with very specific purposes, so there isn’t a lot of room for improvisation. There are stories of ECUs coming with very specific handling instructions, with some of the more bizarre ones probably not translated well from their originating language. An unverified passage reportedly said: “Your Toyota engine’s electronic control unit is a complex, important, delicate piece of equipment. It is not a basketball.”
Wear lint-free gloves, grasp the ECU firmly to make sure you don’t drop it, place it gently on a level surface … those are sensible ECU-handling tips that some handlers may not immediately consider, but picking one up and thinking it would be neat to take it out to the driveway to shoot some hoops? Though the legitimacy of this one can’t be verified, the following are well documented.
Don’t Hang Body Parts Out Of The Sunroof While Driving
Mazda CX-50
Mazda isn’t unique in this one, and it seems like common sense in this day of stringent seatbelt regulations that you don’t hang body parts outside a moving vehicle, but sometimes you get dared or alcohol is involved, and your sense of risk goes out the sunroof or moonroof (take your pick).
Bigger sunroofs naturally offer more opportunities for vehicle occupants to be reckless and carefree, but the world goes by more quickly at even 30 mph, as do birds, bugs, and airborne debris, and you also don’t have as much time to react to low-hanging obstacles or projectiles. Mazda goes a step further and warns against allowing children to work sunroof controls, lest they pinch body parts.
Umbrellas May Become Dangerous Projectiles
Nissan Altima
It may seem odd to single out an umbrella, but it really applies to all the convenient things you keep within easy reach inside your vehicle, including purses. The warning here applies to placement, particularly in keeping things close to hand to grab when you exit your Nissan Altima. Placing those things close to the side-impact airbag may make it an agent of injury in a side impact that causes the airbag to deploy. Remember the warnings for front passengers to not put their feet on the dashboard, lest they end up being driven into their faces? Same principle.
Cleaning Care For Your Key Fob
Mazda CX-5 And Nissan Qashqai
Car keys used to be simple pieces of metal. If they got dirty, you wiped them off or maybe put them in a soapy sink to scrub them. You dried them and they were good to go. Heck, they were often good to go even if you didn’t dry them. Today’s keys are miniature tech gadgets closer to your laptop than your house key, complete with transmitters, circuit boards and batteries. That makes them less tolerant of certain cleaning methods.
For example, Nissan’s Qashqai manual delves into domestic absurdity by explicitly stating the Intelligent Key should not be washed in a washing machine, and Mazda’s CX-5 manual specifically warns owners not to put them in an ultrasonic cleaner (like you would jewelry, dentures, or, and here’s where the confusion comes from, some metal car parts or circuit boards).
Don’t Use Home Appliances While Driving
Toyota 4Runner Hybrid
In case you didn’t have the common sense to not use household electrical appliances while driving, Toyota spells it out specifically in the manual for the 2025 4Runner, which comes with a 120-volt outlet. Useful for powering electrical equipment while camping, tailgating, and at the worksite, it is not there to allow you to speed up your morning home routine by multitasking during your commute because (a) the hair dryer could fall under the pedals and prevent braking, (b) the toaster or coffee maker could cause burns or damage due to excessive heat, or (c) catching up on the morning TV newscasts could distract the driver.
Your Dashboard Is Sensitive To Your Perfume
Mazda MX-5 Miata And Kia Infotainment Systems
You know how when you spray on perfume or cologne, the scent lingers in your room and when you enter the room later you can still smell it? Well, manufacturers are alerting us to the fact that the mist is not a suitable way to mask odors in your car. Until a self-cleaning car interior is developed, natural or manufactured automotive surfaces require periodic cleaning, but they can be sensitive to chemicals that are otherwise mostly harmless in everyday life.
Mazda’s MX-5 manual warns owners to prevent perfume and other cosmetic oils from contacting some surfaces because they can damage or discolor them. Meanwhile, Kia’s infotainment instructions caution against cleaning the display with air freshener (we didn’t know that was a cleaning hack), explaining that chemical reactions can damage the panel.
Fixing Cosmetic Blemishes Is Different From Touching Up Cosmetics
Volkswagen Jetta And Porsche 911 Carrera
Modern automotive paints are sophisticated in their formulation and how they are applied, and there are few easier ways to turn a small cosmetic problem into an expensive one than to use an aggressive chemical compound. For example, Volkswagen’s owner-care guidelines warn against using nail-polish remover, and Porsche goes a step further, warning against using fuel, kerosene, and naphtha as well.
We assume this warning came as a result of nail-polish scuffs usually found around exterior door handles, and what better way to remove those marks than with nail polish remover? The fact is that acetone is likely to take a layer of the paint surface with it.
Don’t Let Your Dog Operate Vehicle Controls
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
Many buyers are taking into account traveling with their pets, and pets mostly like traveling in cars. Mercedes-Benz’s Sprinter offers advice on traveling with pets and warns against leaving an animal unattended or unsecured in the vehicle, which might lead to its pushing buttons or activating switches or equipment.
As vehicles become more sophisticated, controls are also easier to deploy, so care must be taken to ensure vehicle functions aren’t easily activated. The commonsense solution is to not leave your dog in the vehicle with the engine running to supply cool or warm air for interior comfort. Just because a vehicle is pet-friendly doesn’t mean dogs can be entrusted to use it.
Keep Kids Away From The Car’s Perfume
Mercedes-Benz Fragrance Systems
Luxury-car manufacturers spend considerable resources turning their luxury interiors into oases to escape the tedium of driving, and one of the most exotic features is the Mercedes-Benz fragrance system (Lincoln also features one) that uses a small container of perfume to create a more pleasant ambience.
We don’t know if new-car-smell is one of the available fragrances, but that’s not the point. The point is that owners have to be warned to not let children near the liquid, presumably in much the same way as children are discouraged from drinking perfume or cologne at home on their parents’ dressers.
Hybrids Are Not Home Power Sources, And Neither Are Their Batteries
Toyota Prius
This one is sort of understandable when you consider that some EVs or PHEVs can be used for emergency home power, using the proper reverse-flow technology and equipment. However, they have to plug into something for that to happen, and the conventional Toyota Prius hybrid does not, so it cannot be used in that way.
Toyota does not endorse or discourage emergency power use of its plug-in vehicles, but does extensively document how to deal with hybrid batteries that need to be replaced. It’s true that hybrid battery packs can theoretically be used to power other things once they’ve outlived their usefulness, but removing them and adapting them for that purpose is not a DIY weekend project.
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