Buy a Chrysler, save a tree

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Chrysler is going paperless -- almost.

Beginning with its 2010 lineup, the automaker will no longer provide full-length owner’s manuals with its Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles. Buyers instead will receive an abbreviated, 60- to 80-page guide covering such things as jumping a dead battery or changing a flat tire and operating basic systems such as the air conditioning and windshield wipers. Everything else will be included on a DVD. The DVD version will include warranty information, navigation and entertainment system guides, and video tutorials on operating vehicle features such as folding down the soft top of a Jeep Wrangler.

Buyers who miss the security of an old-style, doorstop-sized manual will still be able to order one free of charge.

Noting that an owner’s manual can exceed 500 pages and weigh more than four pounds, Chrysler said it expects the change to save 930 tons of paper a year -- the equivalent of 20,000 trees.

-- Martin Zimmerman