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Tesla sued by customers who claim it falsely advertised its driving range
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By Nithya Bose in US business news, posted August 5, 2023
A group of Tesla owners has filed a lawsuit against the company accusing it of inflating the mileage range in advertisements.
The suit seeks class-action status in the Northern District of California and demands undisclosed monetary damages.
It also calls for a court order to prevent the automaker from "falsely advertising the estimated ranges of its model vehicles."
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The suit says: “Understanding that this [range] would be an important feature (if not the most important feature) to many customers, and preying on this fact.
“Tesla marketed its electric vehicles as having a grossly overvalued range in an effort to increase sales numbers.”
Tesla has not yet responded to the lawsuit or press inquiries.
In January, South Korean regulators fined Tesla $2.2 million for exaggerating vehicle range in cold weather conditions.
A recent investigation by Reuters found Tesla employees were instructed to deter customers complaining about poor driving range from bringing their vehicles in for service.
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The company allegedly employed a secretive "Diversion Team" to cancel customer appointment requests for battery range examinations.
According to Reuters, Tesla algorithms display optimistic driving range estimates until the battery power drops below 50 percent, at which point more accurate readings are provided.
The lawsuit claims that CEO Elon Musk “directly” ordered the use of these overly optimistic algorithms.
The suit argues that if drivers had been aware of the true driving range limitations, they might not have purchased Tesla vehicles or would have paid extremely less.
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The plaintiffs cite Reuters' findings, corroborated by three automotive experts who studied or tested Tesla vehicles.
But Tesla remains widely recognized for having the best EV driving range across all its models, with four vehicles ranked in Car and Driver's Top 10 longest-range electric cars for 2023, more than any other brand.
This lawsuit is the second legal action against Elon Musk's businesses within days.
Apart from being CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk owns "X," formerly known as Twitter.
International news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has sued Twitter in a European court for refusing to compensate AFP for using its news product on social media, which is mandatory in much of Europe.
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