Late yesterday afternoon at work, I got a call from my wife. Her Jetta had a flat tire and my assistance was required tout de suite. Now I'm not a world class tire changer like Ralphie's dad from A Christmas Story, but I've changed enough in my day to feel pretty comfortable with the chore. A jack, some lug nuts, a tire iron; how hard could it be?
Given my previous experience and the fact that I am a man, I dove right in as soon as I arrived on the scene, pulling the spare out of the trunk and getting down to business. Hmmm...Never seen a jack like this before. And what are all these other parts of the kits for?
After twenty minutes of getting absolutely nowhere, I was forced to concede and pull out the owner's manual. Volkswagen had managed to design the least intuitive manner to change a tire that I've yet to come across. They also managed to put together one of the harder to use owner's manuals of all time, especially when you're trying to page through it in semi-darkness and temps in the teens.
Ten minutes later, my frustration building, I finally was able to find the section on changing a tire and figure out how to use the jack. Things proceeded smoothly from there until I ran into the anti-theft bolt that required a special adapter. Apparently Jetta wheels are a hot commodity among the young thug set, although I imagine the need to use this adapter causes far more consternation for the legitimate owner of the vehicle than it does for a would-be wheel jacker. Eventually, I found the adaptor and finished the job.
The whole experience brought to mind the German tendency--oft evidenced in their WWII weapons--for precise mechanical engineering at the expense of easy usability. When working their machines operate marvelously, but God help you if they happen to break down.
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