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.

  • LuxSpark@lemmy.cafe
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    10 days ago

    Damn, I would be pissed if my car started showing ads. I hope this enshitification doesn’t spread.

    • KayLeadfoot@fedia.ioOP
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      10 days ago

      Dodge dropped 29% in sales in the USA last year, and something tells me, this isn’t going to have folks lining up to buy Chargers in 2025. Watch the free market* take care of this one.

      *Unless you’re Tesla, in which case the market costs $277 million to purchase.

      • SecondaryAnnetagonist@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        10 days ago

        I think that has more to do with ending production on the LX Platform Challenger / Charger tbh. They haven’t quite managed to gather the same hype among domestic car nerds with their replacements as those old boats had.

      • Petter1@lemm.ee
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        10 days ago

        Free market doesn’t work if all car brands are owned by like 5 companies and all of them agreeing to add ads.
        That is why we need to regulate cooperations as well as enforce them properly.

      • hddsx@lemmy.ca
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        10 days ago

        Hornet, Journey, Charger. That’s it. Hornet is a piece of cheap, charger has ads. Journey…?

    • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      Narrator: “It spread. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. Really you wouldn’t believe how much it spread. It spread like Domino’s™ all new creamy red sauce on only the freshest of dough seasoned wi—”

      *car crashes*

  • Devadander@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    I thought GM foregoing CarPlay in favor of their own proprietary UI was a great way to kill sales, this is absolutely genius. Way to ensure I would never purchase your products!

  • blankmind@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    Took my Dodge vehicle in for service. They wanted my email address “so they can get in touch with me if I don’t answer the phone.” I gave it to them.

    It took less than half a day for the first spam mail to hit my inbox.

  • PeteWheeler@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    If we had actual regulation here this would be illegal for distracting driving.

    Illegal to look at phone (I know everyone does it and isn’t enforced, but still illegal on paper) but not illegal to watch this short message from our sponsors?

    I hate living through a bad joke. Much rather read about this shit and laugh then wondering what the next stupid thing is.

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        10 days ago

        For me right now? Mazda. They have always been enjoyable to drive, and if you look at their interiors in everything from the MX-5 and Mazda3 up to their big family SUVs, you see physical controls in the foreground and a moderately sized infotainment screen up and back. Good location for glancing at it, and not for using a touch screen for everything in the car.

        I’ve been commuting in a 2012 mazda3 for several years and it’s been fun to drive and mechanically reliable. Also very fuel efficient with one of the early Skyactiv branded drivetrains.

    • tehn00bi@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      That was my idea as well. You are providing a negative feedback for following the rules.

  • vortic@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    It seems like displaying an ad at a stop light would be a safety issue since it makes it so you can onky look at the screen while moving.

    • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      Not to mention it has the potential to completely distract the driver when the light turns green and other traffic starts moving again.

  • LupusBlackfur@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    Oh, look…!!

    Yet another good reason I’ll not buy a new car. 🙄

    Perfectly happy with my current 03 model thank you…

      • LupusBlackfur@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        😂 🤣

        Yeah, mine did too…

        I updated the “entertainment deck” to a unit with aux, usb, sd card, and Android Auto (which is what I really wanted).

        All good!!

    • i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 days ago

      I said that about my older reliable car. Until I was rear ended at a stop light and it was totaled. During a time that used cars were more expensive than new. (I did find an 8 year old Corolla with high miles and lots of body damage for $18k though!)

      I went without a car for nearly a year. Had to buy one when my partner was forced back to work in the office.

      Peeking at the used market, it’s still not great where I am. Better than 2022-23 at least.

      • LupusBlackfur@lemmy.world
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        9 days ago

        A wreck like that is my one fear…

        Doesn’t take much of a hit to “total” an older vehicle like that. 🤷‍♂️

        • i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          9 days ago

          It really doesn’t. I also dislike the fact it can be more difficult to find some parts for older cars too, so even if you wanted to salvage, it may not be viable.

          • LupusBlackfur@lemmy.world
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            9 days ago

            Haven’t run into the “finding parts” problem…

            That may be a regional feature though. Driven older vehicles my whole life and never had too much trouble finding parts… even from junk yards if necessary.

            I have many junk yards within 50 miles, most within 20. 🤷‍♂️

            And I’m familiar with local/online companies that provide NOS as well as new fab for older vehicles.

    • vortic@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      You know, I was annoyed by that when I had to pay for an out-of-warranty update but now I’m pretty happy that my car is one year too old for automatic updates.

      • xthexder@l.sw0.com
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        9 days ago

        How is a software update a warranty claim? They should be free, like a recall. Maybe a DIY option with a USB or SD card. Either that or whatever they’re adding probably isn’t worth the update to me.

  • elatedCatfish@lemm.ee
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    9 days ago

    Blows my mind that this kind of stuff isn’t a safety issue… I guess as long as it’s “touch-free” it’s not considered distracted driving lol

    • reddig33@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      I bet you might have a court case if you could prove that the dealer had disabled this advertising “feature” during your test drive.

    • oyo@lemm.ee
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      10 days ago

      I would drive it straight back into the dealership through their display room window.