Tesla Model 3 release date news: Owner's manual leaks online; orders now open for non-employees

Featured in the image is a prototype of the Tesla Model 3.REUTERS/James Glover II

Prior to the expected shipping of Tesla Model 3 to the warehouse this year, rumors regarding the sedan's automatic features have already surfaced. Specifically, alleged tidbits of the official Model 3 owner's manual have been spotted numerous times before, but recently, the entire manual was reportedly posted online.

According to the latest reports, the Tesla Model 3 owner's manual is not yet expected to become available, especially that the car itself has not yet officially hit the market. Only the manuals for the existing Tesla vehicles like the Model X and Model S are available online.

The Tesla Model 3 owner's manual was first posted by a Redditor in the Tesla Motors thread. The person, who is known as pn02ner, said that he was able to obtain the manual after calling Tesla's Roadside Assistance service earlier this November. For some reason, the Model 3 owner's manual was delivered to him after the call, in which pn02ner copied and posted online in a PDF format.

It can be noted that some portions of the said Tesla Model 3 owner's manual are the same as those from the Model 3 and Model X manuals. This should be expected, however, as these sedan models share a lot of similarities in terms of design and automatic commands like the autopilot feature. However, there are some distinct contents in the Model 3 manual, including the new controls related to Tesla's new bidirectional scroll buttons on the steering wheel.

Still, there are doubts that this version of the Model 3 owner's manual will be final. The available copy was dated from September 2017, and it is possible that Tesla will update the owner's manual once the car is finally released.

Meanwhile, Engadget reported that Tesla is now accepting Model 3 orders from regular buyers. The car has been put on sale since July, but the orders taken so far were only from employees and people who were close to Tesla's management. Although, even if a non-employee makes his or her order today, there is no guarantee that the Model 3 will be delivered in a while. Tesla is still suffering from production delays, and there is a chance that some buyers will have the car in their garage in 2018.