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.

  • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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    9 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.

    • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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      9 days ago

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

      • commander@lemmings.world
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        9 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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          9 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.

      • drzoidberg@lemmy.world
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        9 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.

  • wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works
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    9 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.

    • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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      9 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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        9 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.

          • wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works
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            8 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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              8 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@programming.dev
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        9 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

        • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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          8 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.

  • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 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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        9 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.

          • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            Brave is involved in a crypto scam and is backed by conservative evil fuck Peter thiel

              • ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                9 days ago

                I’d suggest you change to Firefox, but they have made some… troubling changes to their privacy policy recently, so it may be a good idea to use a debranded port of it instead.

                • Serinus@lemmy.world
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                  9 days ago

                  Afaik that’s mostly FUD and was debunked.

                  I’m still not happy with Mozilla throwing money down the AI toilet.

              • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
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                you have 48 hours to uninstall brave or you will be thoroughly cancelled.

                on lemmy, using the browser you are currently using is tantamount to getting a maga tattoo

                you may delay the cancellation by 24 hours by promoting your affinity for linux installs, or swearing that you will switch to a non USA produced kind of ketchup

      • commander@lemmings.world
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        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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          9 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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          9 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.

  • commander@lemmings.world
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    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.

    • Zetta@mander.xyz
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      9 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.

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          9 days ago

          OMG, Car AI…

          You seem to be hungry, maybe hangry, you haven’t eaten in a while. Sheets is open and has fresh hot food! You know that coffee you got 2 hours ago should be wearing off, don’t you want to stop for a bathroom break? Their restrooms are cleaned hourly!

    • KoalaUnknown@lemmy.world
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      9 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.

  • ssillyssadass@lemmy.world
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    9 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.

    • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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      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.

        • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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          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.

  • theparadox@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    This literally happened to Jeeps a month ago.

    “It should also be noted that ads are part of your contractual agreement with SiriusXM, but we are working on the frequency,” replied a Jeep Cares representative. “Thank you for your patience.”

    A Stellantis spokesperson told Fortune in a statement that “a temporary software glitch affected the ability to instantly opt out in a few isolated cases, though instant opt-out is the standard for all our in-vehicle messages. Our team had already identified and corrected the error, and we are following up directly with the customer to ensure the matter is fully resolved.”

    Fool me once, Stellantis…

    • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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      Companies sure so have a lot of “glitches” and “technical difficulties” when they’re introducing controversial features that forces it on a group of people, only to be nearly immediately removed with all kinds of excuses… And then the feature is forced for everyone within a few months.

      Almost like it’s NOT unintentional, they’re NOT experiencing technical difficulties, and they’re actually just testing the waters before diving in, with neatly 0 intent to pull back unless the consumers put upenoigh of a fuss the company execs get scared.

  • Zzyzx@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    9 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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      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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        9 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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        9 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.

  • applemao@lemmy.world
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    9 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.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
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      9 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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        8 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

    • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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      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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        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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        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.

  • SleepNotRequired@lemmy.world
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    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.

    • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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      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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        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.

    • RushJet1@lemmy.world
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      I know right? I would totally get an ad supported free car. Who knows, someone might make an ad block for it.

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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        An ad that appears at the top of the steering wheel, that always stays at the top since they embedded a circular screen into the wheel so the ads can always be shown.

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    If someone develops an aftermarket fix to make the ads go away, now that might be a product/sertvice people will want to pay for. Look at Dodge - creating new job sectors!

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    9 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.

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    9 days ago

    This is why I’d rather rebuild my 30 year old civic’s engine than buy a new car.

    • Joe@feddit.uk
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      That seems like a lot of hassle if you’re then going to buy a new car anyway.

      • eric5949@lemmy.world
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        Why would i be buying a new car anyways? I don’t want one, the newest car I’m even interested in purchasing in the future is over a decade old. I just drive my wife’s car when I work on mine.

        • SippyCup@feddit.nl
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          9 days ago

          He was making fun of a light grammatical error in your post.

          You said ‘I’d rather rebuild the engine then buy a new car’

          What you meant was ‘I’d rather rebuild the engine than buy a new car.’

        • medgremlin@midwest.social
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          9 days ago

          “Then” means that you will be doing something subsequently. “Than” means that you will be doing something instead of something else. Normally this is a grammatical nitpick, but it actually changes the meaning of your sentence by using the wrong word.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      Good that you have an older Civic. The newer ones are lemons - Honda cheaped out on the air condenser from 2017-2021, so no AC! The electrical shit in the dash is all kinds of fucked up too.

        • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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          Like, I feel so fucked over. I wanted a Civic because they’re usually reliable, and I got a shitbox that gets so hot during the summer that my phone shuts off.

          Really sucked, because Doordash/Uber for cash would be really helpful.

    • AoxoMoxoA@lemmy.world
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      I drove 80’s and pre 92’ VW’s up until 2019 and now I’m exclusively driving pre 04 VW’s . They are futuristic to me , heated sats , heat , AC its crazy .

      I’ve amassed enough maintenance parts and transmissions to keep me going indefinitely…or until some jackass makes them illegal then I guess I’ll just ride a bike