After years of ambitious promises about its self-driving technology, Tesla now faces lawsuits in multiple countries from customers who claim that they did not get what they believed they were paying for.
What's happening?
In China and the United States, Tesla customers who shelled out thousands of dollars for the so-called Full Self-Driving feature have now sued the company, claiming that it failed to deliver on the promised technology.
Teslas sold in China from 2019 to 2023 contained the company's HW3 hardware, which Tesla long claimed would support future versions of the company's Full Self-Driving technology. However, in January 2025, Tesla conceded that HW3 hardware could not support FSD, according to Electrek.
This left many Tesla owners with the HW3 technology who had paid as much as $15,000 for the FSD add-on feeling scammed. Though Elon Musk, Tesla's controversial billionaire CEO, promised in January that vehicles would undergo a comprehensive retrofit to make the technology work on the older hardware, the company has been mum on the topic since, per Electrek.
This led a number of customers in China to sue, claiming that Tesla had failed to fulfill its promises.
"I am guessing that the Chinese government is not going to step in and help him this time around," said one commenter to the Electrek article. "Musk has now outlived his usefulness to China."
Meanwhile, in the U.S., a federal judge in California ruled that a class-action lawsuit brought by plaintiffs who claim Musk and Tesla lied about the company's self-driving technology could move forward.
As in China, customers who bought Teslas with the HW3 hardware model alleged that they were promised their vehicles would support Full Self-Driving, only to be later told that it would not. These customers said they paid thousands of dollars for an FSD package that was never delivered, according to court documents.
Why is it important?
According to Musk himself, Tesla's ability to deliver on its autonomous-driving promises are vital to the company's future success.
"The overwhelming focus is on solving Full Self-Driving," the Tesla CEO said in a 2022 interview, Business Insider reported at the time. "That's essential. It's really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero."
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Absolutely 👍 After years of unkept promises, it looks like Musk's inability to deliver might finally be catching up with him. What impact that has on the overall health of the company itself remains to be seen, but Tesla could face potentially billions of dollars in damages over its self-driving failures.
What's being done about it?
By filing lawsuits in multiple countries, Tesla owners who feel short-changed on their FSD purchase have been taking matters into their own hands, seeking court-ordered compensation.
Commenters on Electrek article debated the merits of the claims, with some considering them to be a good sign of accountability and others believing that they were punishing optimism.
"Hopefully this inspires lawyers and consumers in other countries to sue Tesla, particularly in Europe," said a person commenting on the Electrek article.
Said another: "The CEO just has been slightly optimistic, even allowed to purchase it for bargain $15k and help the company to accelerate the sustainable abundance. And what does he get in return?"
Said a third: "Tesla promised level 5 [fully automated driving]. They are probably a decade away from level 4, and will never have level 5."
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