What a perfectly garbage feature.
Fuck this.
My stereo can do Bluetooth for music. That’s good enough for me. I hope my car lasts forever because I don’t want anything like that in my car.
A few years ago, the U.S. passed a law requiring a back-up camera. Of course, this required a display on the dashboard. So, now all new cars sold in the U.S. have some sort of display on the dash, even the cheapest cars. I thought at the time, the real reason for this, since mirrors have always worked just fine, was to eventually display ads in the cars.
As cars have gotten bigger they have larger blind spots. That law was lobbied for by a man who accidentally backed over his child because his mirrors couldn’t see behind his truck.
The screens were originally just CCTV and couldn’t show ads at all.
I had a truck years ago that, yes, had a center screen. But its backup camera was integrated into the rear view mirror. I really liked that.
I’m a little disappointed that the article didn’t put more emphasis on the fact that this latest instance is proof that earlier statements from the manufacturer were straight-up lies.
Back in February, when Stellantis (the parent company of RAM) was caught doing the same thing in Jeeps, they gave an official statement:
This was an in-vehicle message designed to inform Jeep customers about Mopar extended vehicle care options. 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.
Even at the time, that statement was dishonestly trying to pretend like the problem was that the message kept coming back, rather than the problem being its existence in the first place. But, even if you give them a pass on that, they said in no uncertain terms that “instant opt-out is the standard for all our in-vehicle messages.”
This article says that the only way to permanently opt out of the messages in the RAM is to call a customer service number. That’s not “instant” buy any definition I’ve ever heard.
So, in conclusion, this is the third time stellantis has been caught doing this, and they’ve lied about it on at least one of those occasions in the past. Anyone considering purchasing a stellantis vehicle should assume that these ads will continue, will most likely become more aggressive, and any promises to the contrary aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
Instant opt-out is the techno version of “just the tip”.
That’s a very good point. The prior excuses that it was an unintended software glitch, those excuses don’t make sense now that it has become obvious that it is an incremental rollout from Jeep to Dodge to Ram trucks. I’ll update that, good idea!
Everyday we’re getting closer and closer to looking up the sky and seeing ads
Slate is looking more and more enticing every day.
It’s the only electric vehicle I’ve even been excited about, not even because it’s electric (I would frankly prefer gas) but because it’s a small truck. I used to drive a '98 S10 with a manual transmission and hand-cranked windows and I want a truck like that again but no one sells them - I was so disappointed when Ford brought back the Ranger but made it big.
Another upcoming entrant in the small truck market is Telo with their MT1. While more expensive than the base Slate, Telo’s even smaller by nearly two feet, seats five, still has a 5 foot bed (that can extend to 8 feet if you fold the back seats), more range, faster charging, more power, option of AWD, more payload capacity, and significantly more towing capacity.
$41.5k base versus Slate’s $27.5k
That 4-second 0 to 60 time looks so tempting.
“subcompact” truck
It was, until I found out that Slate was created by an ex-Amazon manager and their prime investor is Jeff Bezos.
Slate was founded in 2022, and operated in stealth mode until it revealed the Slate Truck on April 24, 2025.[4] It was originally called “Re:Car”, as a project within Re:Build Manufacturing, a domestic manufacturing incubator co-founded by Jeff Wilke, the former CEO of Amazon’s consumer division.
[…]
Slate raised at least $111 million in Series A financing, including an undisclosed amount from Bezos. Several other wealthy individuals also invested, including Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Tull, who is a lead investor of Re:Build Manufacturing.
I was concerned about that too, so I did some digging. I don’t think it’s anything beyond angel investment currently. No stocks (slate is private), and no obvious strings.
My guess is, it’s to ensure slate sticks around long enough to be a target for future plans. Maybe an amazon slate fleet?
Could also be the billionaire class equivalent of trying to start a pissing match with the existing auto makers.
Pissing match. Elon and Beez are famously pricks to each other. Beez often is an angel investor into any credible threat to Tesla or SpaceX, presumably, because pissing match.
Good. Fuck those people.
And that’s a $80k+ truck, I bet…
I still haven’t left the days when $50k was a lot for a vehicle.
I’d say this would stop me from buying a Stellantis vehicle but no one is buying them. Maybe they should take a hard look at why - starting with why a customer would stay with the brand.
The display snaps off real easy, too.
