Physical network disconnection, firewall boxes... Car owners are going all out to block ads from Shenlan cars.

“Is watching ads while driving more 'punctual' than waiting at a red light?”

On May 27, 2025, a complaint from Mr. Li, an owner of a Deepal car in Zhengzhou, completely detonated the “advertising minefield” in the intelligent vehicle industry.

Without the owners' consent, Deepal cars forcibly pushed a 5 - second full - screen ad when the car system started. The content was actually a car purchase coupon for “grateful feedback”. As a result, 480,000 owners were outraged. The public opinion sensitivity soared to 82.27%, and CEO Deng Chenghao was forced to apologize overnight.

On the evening of May 27, Deepal apologized for the ad - pushing behavior on its official Weibo account. “We're very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our car owners. In the future, we will continuously improve our service quality to ensure a better car - using experience for our owners and will no longer push benefit reminders to users through the car system.”

Subsequently, Deng Chenghao, the CEO of Deepal, reposted the Weibo post to apologize. “We have optimized our internal processes to ensure that in the future, we will inform everyone about Deepal's welfare information in a better way.”

At the same time, he said, “I visited the market on the weekend and received several old car owners. Half of them didn't even know about the 10,000 - yuan exclusive car purchase benefit. So I asked the team to let more customers know about this benefit. It's my mistake. I'm sorry and hope to get everyone's understanding.”

Behind Deepal CEO's Late - night Apology

Deepal's ad design can be described as “a precise strike on users' pain points”: full - screen pop - ups, forced viewing for 5 seconds, and the ad can only be closed by manually clicking “Skip” or shifting to Drive.

The experience of Ms. Wang, a car owner in Zhengzhou, is more representative. During the morning rush hour, the ad directly blocked the navigation interface, causing her to miss the highway exit and detour an extra 15 kilometers.

Huang Qirui, the director of Beijing Hongsa Law Firm, pointed out sharply, “This violates Article 44 of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, which states that pop - up ads should be able to be closed with one click. If an accident is caused by an ad blocking the driver's view, the car manufacturer has to compensate for medical expenses and lost work expenses.”

Deepal's official statement said that the ad was pushed to remind the first - generation car owners to claim the exclusive car purchase coupon for S09, “because many car owners were found not to be aware of this benefit during terminal receptions.”

However, Article 9 of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates that consumers have the right to independently choose goods or services.

Deepal, however, through the update of the App privacy agreement, forcibly tied “accepting ad push” with “fully using the App's functions”. If you don't agree, you can only access partial content in guest mode.

Wang Jiucheng, the director of Beijing Lidao Law Firm, said bluntly, “This is using technological advantages to restrict users' choices and is suspected of being illegal.”

CEO Deng Chenghao said in his apology Weibo post, “I visited the market on the weekend and found that half of the car owners didn't know about the welfare. So I asked the team to let more customers know about the benefit.”

While Deepal is getting deeper and deeper into the “traffic trap”, Tesla's “ad - free cockpit” strategy has become the industry benchmark. Elon Musk once publicly stated, “The car system is a driving tool, not an advertising screen.”

In Tesla's system, there are no pop - up ads and no forced push. All service information is provided through users' active queries or subscriptions.

This “restraint” has not only won users' trust but also enabled Tesla to achieve a 22% gross profit margin in Q1 of 2025.

Physical Network Disconnection, Firewall Boxes... Car Owners Go All Out to Reject Ads

When Deepal cars were scolded on the hot search for car system ads, countless car owners realized that what they spent hundreds of thousands of yuan on was not a car but an “intelligent advertising terminal”.

From the car purchase points ad popping up on the navigation interface of FAW - Volkswagen ID.6 in 2022 to the collective “fall” of Mercedes - Benz EQE and Great Wall Haval, car system ads are no longer an isolated case.

Data from the China Automobile Dealers Association shows that the number of relevant complaints in 2024 increased by 210% year - on - year, becoming the “hot - spot area for rights protection” second only to battery safety.

Behind this chaos is a “gray industrial chain” woven by car manufacturers with technology, treating users' rights as a “traffic cash machine”.

As revealed by a technician from the Henan branch of China Mobile IoT, car manufacturers' control over the car system has reached an “unscrupulous” level.

The vehicle is connected to the cloud in real - time through the built - in T - Box module. Ad instructions can be directly “air - dropped” to the car system terminal through the OTA channel, leaving car owners with no chance to refuse.

Car manufacturers take advantage of the underlying permission loopholes in the Android system to tie the ad process with the core system services. Want to uninstall the ad? No way. Want to disable auto - start? Impossible.

Some models even have pre - set ad instruction bits in the communication protocol. Even if the network is disconnected, the ads will be “supplemented and pushed”.

Should ordinary car owners just “lie flat” in the face of car manufacturers' technological hegemony?

Mr. Wang, a vehicle chip engineer, said with a bitter smile, “The only way to eliminate ads is to physically disconnect from the network, but then functions like remote car control and OTA updates will all be disabled.”

The geek group is even more determined. Some people install “firewall boxes” themselves to block ad instructions, but once it involves modification, the warranty is void.

The current regulations' constraints on car system ads are almost “useless”.

The Regulations on the Administration of Internet Pop - up Information Push Services requires pop - up ads to be “closed with one click”, but it doesn't mention the special restrictions in the “driving scenario”. Article 22 of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China emphasizes “safe driving”, but it doesn't clearly state whether car system ads count as “disturbing factors”. That's why car manufacturers dare to blatantly test the legal red line.

Deepal's legal department stated that the adjustment of the App privacy policy was “to strengthen user privacy protection as required by relevant departments” and has “nothing to do” with ad push.

However, the privacy agreement clearly states “accepting product promotion activities” and “car system message push”. If you don't agree, you can only access partial functions in guest mode.

Cui Dongshu, the secretary - general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference, pointed out sharply, “The business model of car system ads is far from mature. Car manufacturers are eager to make money from ads, which can only sacrifice users' rights.”

From Volkswagen to Mercedes - Benz, from Deepal to Haval, the “gray industrial chain” of car system ads is growing wildly. The 210% surge in complaints and the anger of 480,000 car owners are all sounding an alarm: In the era of intelligent vehicles, technology can be innovative, but business ethics cannot 'derail'.

Car manufacturers must understand that the car system screen is a driving tool, not a billboard; users' rights are the bottom line, not “traffic resources” that can be trampled on at will.

The Right to Choose in the 'Third Living Space'?

From shopping links popping up during charging to promotional pop - ups suddenly appearing during navigation, the car system screen is changing from a “driving assistant” to a “traffic harvesting ground”.

Users' safety should not be the “sacrifice” of ads. Tesla's “push - when - parked” principle is like a resounding slap in the face of the industry. Its car system ads are only pushed when the vehicle is parked, and there is even an option to permanently disable them.

On the contrary, Deepal directly pushes ads forcibly while the car is in motion. As a result, the voices of “boycott Deepal” and “switch to competitors” on social media are ten times louder than the ad click - through rate.

Data shows that the penetration rate of intelligent vehicles in China will exceed 60% in 2025, and the market scale will reach trillions of yuan. But if every car becomes a “moving advertising screen”, will users dare to use them?

Legal compliance should not always be forced by “painful lessons”.

The EU GDPR requires car manufacturers to clearly inform customers of the ad rules and obtain written authorization when selling cars. The current regulations are almost blank regarding the legal liability of “ads in the driving scenario”, which results in car manufacturers acting unscrupulously.

An accident caused by an ad blocking the view? At most, the car manufacturer will apologize and pay some compensation, and they'll do it again next time. But what users lose is trust in the brand.

After Deepal apologized, its stock price fell and sales declined. How many times higher is this loss than the ad revenue?

The industry urgently needs “rigid constraints”: establish a “blacklist of car system ads”, fine and restrict the sales of violating enterprises; clearly stipulate that car manufacturers should bear the main compensation liability for accidents caused by “ads in the driving scenario”.

Shift from “traffic harvesting” to “service value - added”.

NIO's NIO Life mall sells high - quality peripheral products, and XPeng offers software service subscriptions. These models prove that users are willing to pay for value, but they don't want to be treated as “traffic leeks”.

Users' trust is a more precious asset than ad revenue. Only when car manufacturers learn to replace “traffic harvesting” with “service value - added” can they survive in this trillion - yuan blue ocean.

Deepal's ad storm is essentially a catalyst for the industry's “ethical awakening”. When the car system screen changes from a “driving tool” to an “ad carrier”, enterprises are facing not only legal risks but also an ultimate test of business ethics.

Deepal's apology should not be the end of the industry storm but the starting point for the reconstruction of the business ethics of intelligent vehicles.

It is reported that Article 43, Paragraph 1 of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that “No unit or individual may send advertisements to a person's residence, means of transportation, etc., or send advertisements to a person by electronic means without the person's consent or request.”

Article 44 stipulates that “When engaging in advertising activities on the Internet, all provisions of this Law shall apply. When publishing or sending advertisements on the Internet, the normal use of the network by users shall not be affected. Advertisements published in pop - up forms on Internet pages shall clearly indicate the closing mark to ensure that they can be closed with one click.”

Meanwhile, Article 29 of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law of the People's Republic of China also stipulates that “Business operators shall not send commercial information to consumers without their consent or request, or when consumers have clearly expressed their refusal.”

It can be seen that the law does not prohibit advertising operators from pushing ads or other commercial information to consumers through the Internet and other means, but it should guarantee consumers' right to refuse (right to choose).

In this regard, some industry insiders said that users' acceptance of ads varies for different products. For products like TVs and mobile phones, ads may at most affect users' experience.

But for cars, suddenly popping up ad interfaces not only seriously affect the user experience but may also distract the driver's attention, posing potential safety hazards. This should be treated with extreme caution.

This battle for ethical reconstruction has just begun.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Market Value Home”. Author: Sun Xinxin, Editor: Sun Chao. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.