Well folks, it finally happened. The screen in your pickup truck… your last bastion of peace from the chaos of unskippable advertisements… now plays popup ads. Not even subtle ones. We’re talking full-dash, head-unit-commandeering infomercial panels in your RAM 1500, like you’re driving a Times Square billboard on wheels.
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!”
“Accident”
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!”
Gotta carry on the proud Chrysler traditions of shunning innovation and making poor business decisions.
It’s kind of sweet that they write that you need at least RAM 1500 to get these ads in your truck, so that the solution simply is to install less RAM in your truck if you don’t want the ads. (I’ve never owned a truck so I don’t know how much RAM is normal, but 1500 sure sounds like a lot.)
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Boo. Lol
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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.
GM was talking pretty publicly about doing this a couple years ago and there was a mild dust up over it. They also mentioned enthusiasm over the potential revenue to come from mining and selling driver data (which got them sued) . Last I heard about it was late 2023 or early 2024, so it seems their new data team.has been busy.
Don kid yourselves though, if GM is doing it, everyone else is or will be.
This is just terrible. Every aspect of life doesn’t need ads. I don’t care if it makes a company money or not.
Welcome to the second-to-last stage of capitalism.
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.
Okay, cool. Hey, I’m now taking bets on how long until someone uses the ads to inject malware into a car or truck …
Unless it’s a tesla, it probably wouldn’t do much aside from bricking your entertainment and navigation
One of their sister brands, Jeep, had a hack through the infotainment that let them control the CAN bus and disengage the transmission
https://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/
Good old Mopar…
The entire motor controller of ICE vehicles is computer operated today and connected to the infotainment system, they could probably brick the engine too.
You’d still be able to hijack the GPS and the mic, making it a perfect tool for abusive spouse!
“abusive spouse” funny way to spell "government and “techbros”
potæto, potàto
I’m not buying any car made after 2015 ever.
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Stellantis is barely an American brand
Stellantis is leaving ram Chrysler dodge gona be on their own soon. They tarnished the brand to much to make it salvagble/profitable.
Back when covid drove the prices up. They didn’t have a logistics problem like the other manufacturers because they didn’t upgrade their lineup. They just re sold outdated models for way too much money. Hence, the ram classic. But now all the leases and financing terms are ending, and you have a customer base that won’t get shit all for trade in to upgrade to a new model/ used market. So over about a 3-4 year span of worth of customers aren’t in much of a possition to buy a new veichle.
Unfortunately, they are all pillaging your data in the worst ways. The only solution is to not buy new.
You and me? Same page
You and me and them? Same page
I’ve got a 2010s car and drive a rental in 2023. Really liked the new safety features but fuck all this scummy bullshit.
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 weeksThis genuinely stressed me out. 😂
Have you ever seen a smart person driving a DUI1500?
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.
Imagine getting a bud light ad while you’re blowing into your ignition interlock device
Scammy ads for scammy people driving scammy cars.
They’re the first victims of what will inevitably be rolled out to every new vehicle.
Stellantis doing Stellantis things…
It’s remarkable that anyone buys Dodge/Ram/Chrysler/Jeep given how crappy Stellantis has been.
Time to go get a Kei Truck and put an Android tablet in it.
Kei Kei’s delivery service.
I sometimes feel shortchanged as an American (no healthcare, FUUUUCK), but I only get real mad about it when I think about how we don’t get Hiluxes and Kei trucks.
Order a Slate pickup. Buy what you want and only what you want. And add things later as you want or buy that tablet from amazon and a bluetooth speaker and install it yourself.
Looked at my car radio the other day to see the name of the song playing. Evidently, it was called " injured, get ‘xxxx’ lawyer."
