Feel like ads in cars should be illegal, but the US doesn't have a government that believes in good things.
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Of course Stellantis was first to do it
“Hey guys our sales are falling through the floor faster than Tesla, maybe we should rework our pricing and reconsider our policies towards buyers to move more volume and improve our imagine.”
“ Uh… nah. How about instead, we put ads on the center console!”
I just got new neighbors out here in rural Kansas. They have two kias and a ram pickup for the man. If only they had a jeep it would be like a nearly complete set of the shittiest vehicles money can buy. Looking forward to exciting things here.
Kia is known for shitty locks, but that seems like a non-issue in rural Kansas? It’s not like they have ads in the dashboard.
Gotta carry on the proud Chrysler traditions of shunning innovation and making poor business decisions.
I remember a while ago when this started appearing in chargers and they tried to act like it was an accident.
This is the defacto stance of advertising agencies doing horrible things.
"OOHHHH, You mean you DIDN'T want ads on your coffee maker or vibrator??? Our bad. This was a technical error we will fix immediately!"
They don't admit it's a mistake, call it an error, or try to fix. They call it a feature.
Vote with wallet
Back at the office:
So it seems people don't like ads on their vibrator which means they are viewing them. Let's wait a couple of years for the anger to die down then do it again.
Why do they keep trying to sell us things to improve "my lifestyle."
My lifestyle is pretty much work, then coming home to do errands, maybe video games. I don't need tacky truck nuts or whatever they're selling.
Please think of the CEOs—they need a new yacht for when they’ve flown in on their G4 to the Hamptons and their summer yacht is in San Diego.
I want one of those barebones trucks that don't even have radios
no man, radio is a must.
but like the old 90s style replacement kind
You want a fleet vehicle.
Apart from how insane it is to put obtrusive ads on a car dashboard, having to link your phone to your car and then call a phone number to opt out of touchscreen display ads is 🤯
There is going to be a reason that they've set it up like that.
It wasn't asking them to pair their phone to call the number to opt out, it was asking them to pair their phone so they could call the number to buy parts for their truck. You'd have to manually dial the number to opt out.
When calling that number, the caller will need somekind of proof that they are in control of the car that they are trying to opt out of ads. Afaik, the easiest way to accomplish that when requiring a phonecall, would be pairing phone and car. But obviously Stellantis is not going for easy with this setup, so this is purely speculation on my part.
Someday in a few years there will be an accident in the opt out service that routes 95% of attempts into a 500 error screen. All they have to do is underpay and never check on the server admin for that service for years until they don't care.
This is why I'm not going to buy RAM / Dodge / Chrysler/ Jeep / anything Stellantis owns, and this is why I'm not buying any new car with "smart" / "built-in" junk.
I don't know of any car that has an actually good head unit. Its either garbage because its a giant touch screen, making it super difficult to navigate without looking (that's why all the controls in an airplane are different shapes and sizes), or its just a hub for you to run Android Auto / apples equivalent.
Now ads? Ffs...
My Honda civic 2012's head unit firmware isn't that bad.
It tells your input source, volume, if your trunk is open, if your tires are fucked, and includes a hookup for a backup camera that only made it into other models, making it ezpz to retrofit.
Could be a lot worse. Wouldn't touch a modern one with a ten foot pole lmao.
"Front left tyre is fucked." "Your fucking trunk is open."
Now that I would not mind having shown when starting the car.
Actually the bastard won't tell you what specific tire. Just that one of them has low air pressure.
Kind of a dick move since there's no way the computer can't tell which tire it is when they're four separate sensors.
Mine will tell me the measured pressures of all tires. But only if at least one is low. I haven't found a way to get it to just tell me the pressure in any tire if it's not throwing an error at me.
Dear Mazda, you have a full user interface in your vehicle. Why can't you let me see the tire pressure from just a menu option?
I've just been thoroughly unimpressed by all of the American car brands. Crap vehicles with lousy interiors the lot of them.
How is this street legal? Can't use your phone but can have popup ads?
It's okay cuz it makes some rich guy money
Oh no don't worry it's fine cause it's only at start up. If we just keep moving the bar of what is acceptable everything is fine.
This vehicle shouldn't be street legal for regular folk based on its shape and height, software is just a minor detail.
It is so bad. The passenger can't even fix the nav, at least not in the Chevy I just rented.
I'm going to start pointing to this when I explain to people why I want "dumb" machines.
I don't want AI to "summarize" my google search, I don't want ads distracting drivers, I don't want a washing machine that needs updates, I don't want my TV to look at me, I want a submissive little machine that does task X.
Ngl bro but I’ve found some good uses for AI. My kids school gave me 2 bullshit pdfs with duplicate information for their school supplies. I uploaded them to chatgbt and asked it to simplify it by combining duplicates and putting it in bullet format that was easily copy pastable. Did it in 30 seconds with minor tweaking and made my back to school shopping so much easier.
AI is not universally bad. There are some things it does well. The problem is that there are a lot more things it does badly, often in harmful ways, and most people using it have no idea how to tell the difference.
You seem to be using it the right way, with caution and awareness.
and what the fuck does that have to do with predatory companies cramming unneeded avenues of fucking predation into EVERYTHING?!
Here's an AI summary of your distain for AI:
I'll begin saying this when people ask why I want "dumb" machines.
AI summaries lack quality, ads distract drivers, you want a washing machine without ads, you don't want your TV to watch you, you want machines to be submissive.
How did I do?
And not even a fucking "don't show again" option. Either "call" or "remind me later". So there is no escape. Either take the ad in the ass or it'll show up again. Fuck that
Do you think Stellantis understands consent?
[ ] Yes
[ ] Ask me again in 2 weeks
There is an X in the corner at least
That's the other "Remind me later" button
The X is for the syncing phone book notification... It's not on the notice itself.
This is just terrible. Every aspect of life doesn't need ads. I don't care if it makes a company money or not.
I call on all hackers to defeat this parasitic disease from incorporating our everyday lives only to make money for its creators. Ads are a fucking disease and needs to be contrroled from entering our lives without our permission.
I call on all Americans to start the revolution so we can treat the disease instead of the symptoms.
Stellantis is a Dutch group. If we head to Michigan and get the CEO, they'll just appoint a new one... Unless you're suggesting the Americans invade the Netherlands...
I call on all consumers to buy used old vehicles that don't do shit like this.
And take it one step further so that whoever wants to check on it will see the ads playing even though no ads are playing.
Driver distraction is a leading cause of accidents, including fatal ones. This is a total dealbreaker, should be illegal, and should result in Chrysler getting sued into nonexistence.
They were joking.
Have you ever seen a smart person driving a DUI1500?
Imagine getting a bud light ad while you're blowing into your ignition interlock device
The Ram 1500 is the official car of "more than one, but not so many they take your license away" -- both DUIs and beers before going to work.

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