I wonder what the tech writer’s explanation is on this Honda and Acura Owner’s Manual Correction. Any tech writers for Honda who want to let us know the inside scoop? The story says that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has recalled over a million cars and motorcycles because the manual contains incorrect information for NHTSA’s vehicle safety hotline. Reuters reports that it only affects 2006 and 2007 models. They’re sending out postcards to dealers and owners with the corrected information.
I own a 2000 Honda Accord so I looked at the manual just to get an idea of how much text is affected, and in mine it appears in the last column in one page, and it’s only about 9 lines. The paragraph probably measures less than 3 inches by 3 inches.
In looking at the text to be corrected, I was reminded of the great sticker days of a grad school experience I had. As a grad student I worked on instructional materials for science teacher workshops. Once, when a typo got through our many layers of editing, we had to print and then peel-and-stick stickers by hand on a brochure to cover up and correct that typo. I don’t remember exactly how it got through, nor do I recall what we were correcting, but I sure do remember putting stickers on hundreds of brochures.
I know that there’s hardly any fair comparison between a brochure for science teachers and critical safety information for vehicles, but I do know incorrect information can make its way into any deliverable and we’re always on the look out for those last minute corrections. But sometimes our best efforts are thwarted when something makes it to print. Ah, for the correctibility of online doc… but wait, there’s always Google’s cache or the Wayback Machine at archive.org that we can’t just put a sticker on. (although you can request that Google remove a URL if you need to.) Plus, once a product ships with integrated online help, there’s no way to correct help content other than a reinstall.
What are some of your favorite correction memories that you’d like to share? Postcards? White-out? Stickers? Any more creative cover-ups?