Nothing quite says “high-performance muscle car” like a popup ad for a Mopar Extended Warranty covering your whole center console. That’s right, Dodge Charger owners are now experiencing an exciting new feature: pop-up ads that appear every time the vehicle stops at a light. This absolute garbage feature was spotted in the wild, take a look here.

  • @wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works
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    1016 days ago

    Welp every manufacturer that shows this should go down immediately upon first offense.

    Not even kidding, this should be corporate suicide.

    Dodge and Jeep are (well Jeep already was tbh) both firmly on the “actively speak out against” list. If I was in a place of hugely inflated power, I would dismantle the entire company, and sell it to whoever that company likes the least.

    This should honestly be a brand ending scenario in less than 5 seconds after the first ad. CEO should be in the bread line TODAY from getting hit with this.

    ABSOLUTE zero tolerance. There are no valid arguments against this and I will die on this hill.

    • KayLeadfootOP
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      206 days ago

      Jeep and Dodge are both owned by Stellantis :) It’s one shit-circus out of France the Netherlands (corrected because apparently I don’t know geography).

      On the good news front, the market is beating them like a rented mule. Dodge alone is down 29% in sales year-over-year.

      • @wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works
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        86 days ago

        I had never heard of Stellantis until the comments on this post.

        That’s at least a little good news, but I want day-after total zero existence for stunts like this.

        As in executed the day after murder kind of immediate punishment. In this case, total, irrevocable punishment.

        C suite people literally living in shelters fighting for leftovers at a food bank after paying out years of employee salaries and benefits kind of punishment.

        You can’t just fine people like this for crimes. You have to actually take away money and the ability to accrue more than enough to live on.

        • Pandantic [they/them]
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          5 days ago

          Wow, if you’re this fired up about car dashboard ads, wait until you hear what Google’s been doing with your data.

          • @wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works
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            46 days ago

            Yeah I’m not exactly happy about that either.

            I was trying to stay on topic about this. That’s a whole different rant.

            Plus, things spread before they get worse. This is a line that shouldn’t be crossed by anything in any way. The inside of my car is a nice little island. It should stay that way.

            I feel pretty much everybody would agree with that. Even the ones open to it probably just want to make the money from it without having to deal with it themselves.

            • @Throskie@midwest.social
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              45 days ago

              I dunno about anyone else but you can slide into my DMs with that rant since i ain’t getting visited by the fediverse chic anyways

      • I Cast Fist
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        86 days ago

        Dodge alone is down 29% in sales year-over-year.

        “Clearly we need to add more AI, internet of shit, microtransactions and advertising on the cars to compensate!” - Stellantis CEO

        • KayLeadfootOP
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          35 days ago

          You are… very correct about that!

          I somehow got my wires crossed and assumed that the PSA Group (who got rolled up into Stellantis) was still the home base. Thanks for the correction.

      • Possibly linux
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        76 days ago

        Or better yet, the masterminds behind this will lose someone due to distracted driving over an ad.

  • @SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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    2166 days ago

    Why? Well, probably because Dodge badly needs the money. The brand’s U.S. sales plummeted 29% in 2024

    This’ll help sales, I’m sure.

      • @commander@lemmings.world
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        156 days ago

        The american dream right here.

        It’s why american cars suck. Nobody buys dodge overseas.

        You have to be stupid enough to buy something just to support your ruling class in order to buy american cars.

        • @ByteJunk@lemmy.world
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          96 days ago

          I saw my first one the other day (outside of America).

          The guy clearly is an American living here. It’s hard to put into words just how out of place it all looked, it’s like you picked up a palm tree, cocunuts and all, and plopped it down in the middle of Antarctica.

    • KayLeadfootOP
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      576 days ago

      Stellantis looking at all that blank ad space on your infotainment console: “It’s free real estate!”

      • drzoidberg
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        26 days ago

        They’re solid vehicles. My 08 caliber died last year with nearly 300k miles. Their interiors are just so old looking. I had an 97 Contour that doesn’t look much different than their current interiors.

  • @bradd@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I’ve been saying this for a long time. We need to recognize it for what it is, attention rape, and reject it completely.

    The junk mail you get in your mailbox should be illegal. I’ve tried contacting people to have them stop, but low and behold it’s USPS that’s responsible and there is no mechanism in place to stop it.

    So many platforms now make you pay for their service and then show you ads with it. You pay to be advertised to. I mean the car is exactly what I’m talking about.

    I honestly believe it’s a detriment to US culture, how saturated every environment is with advertising, people don’t even see it anymore, it’s “normal”, invisible.

    Do not pay for a service that show you ads, I wouldn’t even use a service that relied on advertising. Use only paid services that do not advertise. Do not buy products that advertise to you.

  • @Zzyzx@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    486 days ago

    But I’m still not allowed to touch my cellphone while behind the wheel because the screen is too distracting, right?

    • @ThomasCrappersGhost@feddit.uk
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      6 days ago

      This what I don’t get, those huge “infotainment” screens are perfectly acceptable, but you can’t answer a phone.

      Edit; missed the letter “a”.

      • @NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        You are typically allowed to have limited interaction with a mounted phone.

        You can’t pick your phone up or anything like that, but you are allowed some very limited usage if it’s mounted. It’s no different than a built in car dash at that point.

        However, fuck this, this is beyond expected use, and is definitely going to cause distracted driving.

      • @kungen@feddit.nu
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        36 days ago

        You’re usually not supposed to interact with the screen either when driving, and it’s easier to put your hand back on the wheel when the screen is mounded instead of dropping your phone… but I get what you mean.

  • @commander@lemmings.world
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    6 days ago

    They’re just testing to see what people are willing to accept.

    Every time you see a useful idiot saying “it’s not that bad” or “they’re a business and they need to make money”, you know who to blame for why things are the way they are.

  • @foggy@lemmy.world
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    135 days ago

    Welp. Never buying a new Dodge vehicle or from a Dodge lot.

    0 tolerance for this.

    BMW, Mercedes, Tesla, Toyota, Jeep, Dodge have all tried to add subscriptions to their vehicles basic functions or otherwise monetize owned property.

    Hit their mommies and daddies, while Im at it.

    BMW Group: BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce

    Mercedes-Benz Group: Mercedes-Benz, Smart

    Tesla, Inc.: Tesla

    Toyota Motor Corporation: Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu, Hino

    Stellantis (Owner of Jeep & Dodge): Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Citroën, Vauxhall.

  • ssillyssadass
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    526 days ago

    Did you know John Deere tractors have a dedicated piracy scene? Because the tractors require authorized technicians to service them and doesn’t allow farmers to service them themselves, spoofed firmware has appeared and is fairly frequently used to bypass this.

    My point is, if you can jailbreak a tractor you can jailbreak a car. Just a matter of time.

    • KayLeadfootOP
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      156 days ago

      Hell yes I do.

      When that old antipiracy ad was like “you wouldn’t download a car,” turns out they were vastly overestimating your average American tractor owner or car driver’s respect for the corporate arcology.

      • TrackinDaKraken
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        76 days ago

        Arcology: architectural ecology, a city intended to be contained in a single structure.

        • KayLeadfootOP
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          66 days ago

          Thanks boss, I used the word and I’m like “I’m maybe 10% sure this is a word and most that confidence is coming from SimCity 2000” but then I went full send, I might not be the best journalist.

          You know, I meant the corporate hierarchy. They’re increasingly living in Spacex company towns or other arcologies and such. The gated communities, whatever the corpo version of the Ivory Tower is. In a word, that one building from SimCity 2000.

    • @Zetta@mander.xyz
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      176 days ago

      Aptera, what I’m waiting for. They claim they will have all parts available online for easy repairs, and IMO it’s just a really cool car concept.

    • @KoalaUnknown@lemmy.world
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      46 days ago

      I drive an ‘03 Lexus SC430. No dealer locked bs, never has issues, documentation easily obtainable, new OEM parts still sold.

      Basically a Linux car.

  • @applemao@lemmy.world
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    456 days ago

    Stop buying new cars until they remove this bullshit. We can go 40 years with existing cars without buying a single new one.

    • @SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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      86 days ago

      The cost of used cars isn’t much better assuming you don’t want a piece of crap. After almost being killed by 2 used cars I’d prefer to not risk it anymore.

      • @applemao@lemmy.world
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        66 days ago

        I was very lucky in that I can repair most cars. It’s a lot harder now. Before I had a real job, all my vehicles cost less than 3k. If you learn what to look for and to stay safe (brakes, tires) you shouldn’t really be in danger with a used car. Now in an accident, some ass in a 30 foot tall dodge truck will kill you, but that’s kind of unavoidable even if you’re on the sidewalk

      • @medgremlin@midwest.social
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        56 days ago

        Subaru has great safety ratings and the “used Subaru tax” (as in, a used Subaru tends to be more expensive) is because they are very good cars. They have some of the best safety ratings on the market.

    • @Agent641@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      I have a Renault master from 2016. I’m pretty sure I can squeeze another 50 years out of this diesel bitch with adequate maintenance and care. Plus my other car is an e-bike.

      • @applemao@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        That’s awesome ! My dad had a Renault back in the 70s air cooled…which is super weird for living in middle of nowhere. He overheated it eventually haha

  • @null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    726 days ago

    Any minute now one of those brave-browser idiots will be along to tell us all how great ads are because they can make us aware of products that we had not yet discovered or remind us of products we didn’t know were near by.

      • @null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        456 days ago

        Brave derives revenue from advertising.

        Brave devotees are the only people I’ve ever seen defending advertising as a user friendly revenue model.

      • @commander@lemmings.world
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        6 days ago

        I’ve noticed brave users are some of the biggest useful idiots on the internet.

        I genuinely think there are 2 classes of brave users: people who are invested in the company trying to viral market it, and the morons who fall for it.

        • @HamsterKiller666@lemm.ee
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          66 days ago

          What about users who don’t use it for the crypto stuff, vpn or any other shady features? I just use it to browse without ads. What’s the downside?

          • @PartiallyApplied@lemmy.world
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            I think many people don’t like it conceptually because the advertising for Brave is:

            Built in Privacy + Crypto + Ad Blocking

            Firefox + uBlock Origin suffices well enough for most people. It’s stable, suits the purpose, and separates them from a company entangled with crypto.

            Everyone is just trying to do their best to balance convenience with the social impacts of their actions. People make change because they care, either altruistically or personally, but it always comes with some sort of personal cost. Putting your neck out there and trying to make a change is more important than any specific browser choice

        • @Kalysta@lemm.ee
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          36 days ago

          I use it on my mobile devices to avoid youtube ads. Because i’ve yet to find a better way to avoid them on a tablet or phone.

          If you have a better option for iphone/ipad, i’m willing to try it.

  • @ErinCrush@lemm.ee
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    296 days ago

    I will not buy or watch anything with ads. I can’t stand ads. Ads represent everything wrong with the US and capitalism. Just not stop shit shoveled into our faces.

  • @SleepNotRequired@lemmy.world
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    386 days ago

    Starting price is now $58,000.

    They ditched selling the accessible models for the luxury market and they do the most cheap and trashy thing possible.

    It’s incredible how stupid millionaire CEOs can be.

    • KayLeadfootOP
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      116 days ago

      It does appear… pretty bootleg.

      Starting price on a new Dodge Charger is $61,590, get on that inflation train, boss!

      • @SleepNotRequired@lemmy.world
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        76 days ago

        It seems like every US brand under Stellantis has completely lost their minds.

        Jeep has become all around terrible while becoming more expensive at the same time and it looks like the same thing is happening to Dodge.

  • @daq@lemmy.sdf.org
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    246 days ago

    As an unfortunate owner of a Chrysler and having owned and driven a ton of other cars I can confidently say Stellantis makes the shittiest cars you can buy in US. On screen ads are just a small piece of an immense garbage island that is this shitty company.

    • @Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      186 days ago

      I forget where I heard or read it, but there was an anecdote about a guy that worked for Toyota engineering in a department that would purchase competitor vehicles to disassemble them and see what they were up to, like what kind of innovations they were adding. They didn’t bother with chryslers because the most they’d gain was new ways to design a car to be difficult to maintain or repair.

      My friend had an early 00s intrepid and would always bring up needing to remove the passenger tire and wheel well to replace the battery any time car maintenance was brought up.

      • @jaschen@lemm.ee
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        65 days ago

        My wife’s first car was a Dodge Stratus. It was the worse. It had a battery leech and I couldn’t find what was leeching power. She was stuck on the side of the road and I bought a battery to try and save her and didn’t realize I was also needed to remove the front passenger tire.

        • KayLeadfootOP
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          65 days ago

          Why on EARTH would you need to remove a TIRE to replace a BATTERY…!?

          • @jaschen@lemm.ee
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            85 days ago

            What made things even harder was that the plastic wheel well used steel wood screws, which is exposed to salt. So the screws were completely rusted out. I ended up having to breaking the screws and zip tying the plastic wheel wells in place.

            Never ever again.

            I fucking hated that car.

          • @ysjet@lemmy.world
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            65 days ago

            Because you shouldn’t trust dodge Chrysler to plan a birthday party, let alone a damn car.

    • @Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      I want to really know how often this works. Has there ever been a single instance where someone says…“let me read this popular. Oh my! I really should get am extended warranty. Let me just click accept.”

      And even if they do accept it, what then? Does Dodge expect the person to continue reading the terms of service and enter their credit card info…in their car?

  • @skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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    215 days ago

    So, here’s a solution that will likely work but I’m just extrapolating based on auto industry stuffs. If the ads are driven by SiriusXM, they’re likely coming over the satellite radio. The shark fin on top has several antennae in it, including the XM antenna, which is on a specific frequency band and antenna type. Find the wiring harness for the shark fin, trace the SiriusXM cable, unplug or snip it. You’ll lose XM, but, honestly, based on the garbage I hear on a lifetime subscription radio these days, I don’t understand why anyone pays for it, except for living in or traveling through remote areas with frequency and wanting live background noise.

    Chances are it’s possible they’d also try and load the ads via a paired Bluetooth phone for Internet, (maybe) if that’s the case it’s a little more difficult. Probably impossible on iPhone, but on Android may allow one to disable the act of shuttling data to the car stereo via Bluetooth. If Stellantis uses an app to proxy data to the car stereo, deleting the app on the phone would break it.

      • @skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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        12 days ago

        It’s a weird thing in apps when you accept permissions. The app is allowed to ostensibly tether over the Bluetooth link enabled in the app.

      • @viking@infosec.pub
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        55 days ago

        Correct, Bluetooth pairing and Bluetooth tethering are two separate functions. First is for playback, second for internet sharing.

        • @0x0@infosec.pub
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          15 days ago

          Not really. You cant tether unless paired first. And pairing is definitely not only for playback.