New Haynes manuals are about to get bogged down in digitization. But before you throw your manual on the wall in disgust, keep in mind that this switch to digital-only manuals applies to “new” manuals that Haynes hasn’t published yet. All manuals previously available on paper are still printed and made available for sale in the form of a dead tree. The huge catalog will remain.
Assuming you own or plan to buy a used car, chances are Haynes has a repair manual for you. However, anyone looking for a physical Haynes manual of a car like the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E should draw their attention to the Internet. That’s where every new manual Haynes publishes from now on will live. The company tweeted a brief statement announcing this news, while simultaneously promoting a new project it is taking on.
It’s not the end of the road for Haynes – we’re on an exciting new journey!
Contrary to what is reported, Haynes does not stop printing manuals. While we will no longer be publishing new printed workshop manuals, we will continue to print and publish our huge back catalog. [1/3]
– Haynes Manuals (@HaynesManuals) December 3, 2020
If you remember February 2019 (we know, it feels like an eternity now), John Haynes, the founder of Haynes Repair Manuals, passed away that month. About two months later, Haynes was acquired by Infopro Digital. Among other things, Infopro Digital says that one of its services is to “provide solutions for the automotive aftermarket industry to optimize and digitize its functions and business processes”.
It appears that Infopro Digital has done exactly what it says it does. Haynes transitions into the landscape of all digital that we now live in. Many manufacturers today upload owner’s manuals to their car’s infotainment systems so you can search by keywords to find an item. It might be a little faster than word list searching, but we still like having the physical book as a resource.
The second part of Haynes’ statement has somewhat intrigued us. The more manuals for maintenance and repair, the better. Coverage of 95% of the makes and models means that the chances are very high that your vehicle will soon be included in these manuals. In the meantime, we probably won’t feel any kind of pain about Haynes’ decision to stop printing new user manuals. In 20-30 years, we might feel different. But for now, you can still surf to Haynes’s website and look for a physical owner’s manual for the used car you just bought.