diff --git a/ionic/components/tabs/tabs.ts b/ionic/components/tabs/tabs.ts
index 502e915be9..7018b6f39f 100644
--- a/ionic/components/tabs/tabs.ts
+++ b/ionic/components/tabs/tabs.ts
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ import {isBlank, isTrueProperty} from '../../util/util';
  * example, set the value of `id` to `myTabs`:
  *
  * ```html
- * <ion-tabs id="myTabs">
+ * <ion-tabs #myTabs>
  *   <ion-tab [root]="tab1Root"></ion-tab>
  *   <ion-tab [root]="tab2Root"></ion-tab>
  *   <ion-tab [root]="tab3Root"></ion-tab>
@@ -111,17 +111,16 @@ import {isBlank, isTrueProperty} from '../../util/util';
  * ```
  *
  * Then in your class you can grab the `Tabs` instance and call `select()`,
- * passing the index of the tab as the argument. In the following code `app` is
- * of type [`IonicApp`](../../app/IonicApp/):
+ * passing the index of the tab as the argument. Here we're grabbing the tabs
+ * by using ViewChild.
  *
  *```ts
- * constructor(app: IonicApp) {
- *   this.app = app;
+ * constructor() {
+ *  @ViewChild('myTabs) tabRef: Tabs
  * }
  *
  * onPageDidEnter() {
- *   let tabs = this.app.getComponent('myTabs');
- *   tabs.select(2);
+ *   this.tabRef.select(2);
  * }
  *```
  *