I paid full price for this car, why am I forced to deal with so many ads?

[ZenRockGarden]

You likely nailed it.
The VAST majority of Trolls, Tesla haters, and Tesla Bashers on this forum have felt scorned for something they feel they are entitled to but of course aren’t. And when you tell those people “No, Tesla doesn’t give customers things they aren’t entitled to”, they attack, and inevitably show up here, because how dare you tell them no.
You also have short sellers that lost their shirts, oil company staff, competing auto makers, media, etc. the list is long.

I'm still laughing at the patheticness of needing to exaggerate a single push notification to "I'm being forced to deal with too many ads". HOW many again? And when that line of irrationality fails, the problem statement is re-imagined to be that there is a button in one menu on the car which you have to manually press to then possibly look at available software upgrades for... the car. The HORROR!

 

[jjrandorin]

The last few posts in this thread before mine here are very close to being over the line, so I am going to request any discussion be re directed toward discussion around the thread topic. Thanks.

 

[YNoVA]

That inbox is in the app, and has to be clicked on to read. There is no reason to click it if you dont want to. I hate advertisements as much as the next person (probably more actually), but this is grasping at straws to complain about something.

The only annoying part is that it gives you a notification and then the blue dot on the Inbox doesn't go away (at least for me).

Tesla has used the Inbox to give me important information before so I never know if it's an ad or Tesla communicating with me.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

FYI attackers: I'm not entitled, not new, and not affected by the price or stock drops. I just don't like spam. Let's agree to disagree on that topic.

 

[drtimhill]

FYI attackers: I'm not entitled, not new, and not affected by the price or stock drops. I just don't like spam. Let's agree to disagree on that topic.

Since this is getting WAY too serious....

For fun, I did the math based on the M3/MY screens. On the home panel, the "Upgrades" button actually occupies 0.8% of the total screen by area. So it's 10x less than posted. However, if you total up all the various panels that popup (Service, Lights etc) and then look at the area of the Upgrades panel, the TOTAL of the UI devoted to the Upgrades "ads" is 6%, again by area (the main full screen plus the popup panels, plus the climate controls etc).

BUT, how could Tesla offer an option to NOT display the Upgrades panel? They would have to put a button somewhere saying "Do not show upgrades panel", but this button, by your definition, would ITSELF by an "ad", so they kinda cannot have the option to not show it ... shades of Russell's Paradox

 

[Hayseed_MS]

Has the OP tried the state's lemon law or considered a class action suit? He can piggyback on the other TMC class actions.

 

[Sambub]

What ads? I don’t see any ads.. I’ve never been bothered with ads in the app. there is menu option to ad features…. Is this what you’re griping about?

 

[Yelobird]

This thread wasted more of my time then an Upgrades button. I’m going to start a thread about threads that waste forum space/content by 8%

 

[Tiger]

I thought this thread was about the annoying ads in the youtube. Is there any way to install an add blocker like uBlock Origin into the car?

 

[gsmith123]

I can't believe I wasted the time to read all the way to here, but might as well chime in now that I'm here. LOL.

At a really high level I think it's perfectly reasonable that products offer the ability to buy things in them. Phones, computers, TV, gaming consoles, etc all fundamentally offer this (via app stores, subscriptions, etc).

Nowadays a car is no different in this regard. So it really is a question of "The ads aren't that big" as OP rather disingenuously put it. Size isn't the only factor here; it's about the overall design and how intrusive / invasive it ends up being.

That's certainly subjective, and I don't think Tesla has crossed my line. I can imagine a design where they did. The parody earlier is a good start. More realistically, moving the upgrades section to the top or making it a more visually distinctive color would cross over to not-OK for me. Or permanently putting it in the dock at the bottom. Or if the Autopilot settings menu had a Buy FSD button at the top. Or any kind of notification to buy something (like the tips that pop up to try the light show, except to buy something).

Side note: on occasion Apple has crossed this line on iOS touting their paid subscriptions.

 

[drtimhill]

I can't believe I wasted the time to read all the way to here, but might as well chime in now that I'm here. LOL.

At a really high level I think it's perfectly reasonable that products offer the ability to buy things in them. Phones, computers, TV, gaming consoles, etc all fundamentally offer this (via app stores, subscriptions, etc).

Nowadays a car is no different in this regard. So it really is a question of "The ads aren't that big" as OP rather disingenuously put it. Size isn't the only factor here; it's about the overall design and how intrusive / invasive it ends up being.

That's certainly subjective, and I don't think Tesla has crossed my line. I can imagine a design where they did. The parody earlier is a good start. More realistically, moving the upgrades section to the top or making it a more visually distinctive color would cross over to not-OK for me. Or permanently putting it in the dock at the bottom. Or if the Autopilot settings menu had a Buy FSD button at the top. Or any kind of notification to buy something (like the tips that pop up to try the light show, except to buy something).

Side note: on occasion Apple has crossed this line on iOS touting their paid subscriptions.

I think it's important to distinguish between Tesla noting the availability of upgrades to a car vs Tesla selling screen real-estate for arbitrary third party ads. The former can be argued to be informational, the latter is just cheap commercialization.

There is also the question for how much it is "in your face". If the Upgrades button were flashing red and at the top of the screen, I think the level of outrage would go off the scale. As you note, Apple (for me, at least) was really in the verge of crossing the line when they pushed Apple Music and similar far too hard (and still do, imho). But Tesla has one normal sized button that simply shows you what upgrades are available. Which doesn't seem to me to meet the level if invasiveness implied by the OP.

 

[cantchoosename]

I can't believe what I saw this morning. I witnessed a Tesla drive right by me. Get this, the car still had the Tesla logos on it!!! I didn't opt in to seeing cars with 1% of Tesla's logo advertisements all over it. It was extremely upsetting and distracting to the critical functions of driving my own car that I immediately filed a complaint with the local DMV!

PS I can't believe this thread is still going. Second thought, I'd probably be more surprised if such a ridiculous thread wasn't still alive. This is the internet after all!

 

[OxBrew]

I have a small issue with the idea of paying for upgrades to unlock functionality already in a car, but it's only the extreme cases that cross the line: BMW charging a periodic fee to keep your seat heaters working? That feels like extortion.

The Tesla upgrades I can see are the performance boost and FSD. Neither are a problem for me: performance boost is basically a one time insurance payment to off set increased wear on the battery and drivetrain components, across the fleet.

FSD: makes sense, not interested, happy not to pay for it.

What I really love about the Update button is it takes me straight to the accessories page, where I can buy all kinds of stuff, and have: mudflaps, tire repair kit, several plug adapters, wiper blades, TPMS modules for second set of wheels.

Also, there is an option to turn off in-car purchases, right? I wonder how that works, might help with the once every 2 years notifications?

What would be way over the line for me would be on screen notification about new games and junk available for sale. Since toy box stuff and games are all free, does not bother me.

 

[derotam]

Again, super weird that the overwhelming majority response to my complaint about ads in the car sums up to:

"The ads aren't that big"
"That's not an ad, it's just a SHOP NOW button linking to stuff they want to sell you"

If they were advertising Tesla swag then I could be with you here.

Generally and "ad/advertisement" is something that a company is doing in an overt and unsolicited manner to directly show you something for purchase. The Upgrades button on the screen, or on any in car system from any manufacturer, I don't believe very many people would consider an advertisement.

Now, IF you got in the car and a pop up came up saying "hey check out these available upgrades", then yes that would be generally recognized as an advertisement. Same with a push notification to your phone which you alluded to earlier. I have not gotten the same push notification you received, but I would agree that a push notification that either directly shows something for purchase, OR that makes you conduct actions that then result in showing you something for sale could be construed as and advertisement.

You have an argument about push notifications, you do NOT have an argument about the Upgrades button.

Congratulation on getting 5 pages of a "conversation started" concerning your frivolous claims though.

 

[Richbot]

One of the manufacturers of one of my other vehicles had the gall to dox me to a marketing company and have them mail something to my private home address, if you can believe it

To be clear, I'm not attacking, I'm ridiculing

 

[Gurule92]

I'm like 90% sure this was a troll post. But in the case that it isn't, I guess I'll chime in.

Upgrades, to me, are not ads. They are giving me the ability to improve my car and I want the option to do that. The reason none of your old cars could do that was likely because they were not capable of improving via software.

As far as the ads in email go. Please tell me what car you've bought before where the dealer didn't email you all the time. I get birthday emails from a used car lot I bought a Nissan altima from in 2010.

The inbox in the app can be annoying I suppose, but I've never been targeted by an ad. I've been told what's available to me if I get a referral to buy a car. Less ad, more scratching of each other's backs.

The big reason that tesla keeps in contact, imo, is because most people don't know about their offerings. Because they don't bombard your radio waves or YouTube mid rolls, people don't know what they have a lot of the time.

I'd rather get the occasional email or the rare tesla app inbox noti then hear/see a bunch of real ads that actually interrupt my experiences.

Everyone has their own pet peeves though I suppose.

 

[Yelobird]

Everyone has their own pet peeves though I suppose.

and some like to just complain for the sake of complaining. Lol

 

[PACEMD]

Well, I for one like all the ads. Why I've even switched over from Amazon to Tesla for all my shopping needs.

 

[xtofotx]

This thread is litterally hilarious.

 

[gtg465x]

Oh shoot, I just found some advertisements on the outside of my car too. These are preliminary estimates, but it appears that approximately 1% of my hood and 1.7% of my trunk are devoted to advertisements. Unbelievable.

Edit: Looks like I’m not the only one! @cantchoosename noticed them too!