Tesla Sued in Small Claims Court for False Advertising

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

Many, including the federal government, are concerned that Tesla’s claims of working with Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology aren’t entirely accurate. The automaker’s semi-autonomous feature is still in the beta testing stage, but it uses customers as test subjects, which doesn’t sit well with regulators. Customers are beginning to lose interest, too, especially when they’re told to pay more for features they thought already came with their car. One man sued Tesla in small claims court and won, but the most interesting part of the story is the precedent this could set for other owners. 


Electrek reported that Tesla owner Ian Jordan sued the automaker in Washington state small claims court over additional costs involved with activating FSD. His Model 3 already had the version 2.5 computer, but Tesla quoted $1,000 to upgrade to a newer unit for FSD. Jordan’s small claims court challenge was successful because Tesla didn’t show, but the judge’s ruling accused the company of false advertising, saying the “plaintiff purchased a second Tesla Model 3, relying on advertisement from the company that all Tesla 3 models come with all the necessary hardware for self-driving. Defendant learned that, in fact, installing the self-driving function would cost $1,106 in further hardware upgrades in violation of Tesla’s false advertising.”


Jordan sued Tesla again for the loss of functionality in a vehicle equipped with the MCU1 media unit. The automaker claimed it could not fix the problem and stated that Jordan would need to cough up an additional $1,657.50 for the upgrades. Tesla quickly paid both amounts, but these court cases could encourage other frustrated owners to pursue legal action as they face steep charges to get FSD. 


[Image: Tesla]

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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • FreedMike FreedMike on Dec 13, 2022

    I suspect this won’t be the last lawsuit over this. Tesla needs to make the technology work or make the people who bought it whole again. But unfortunately, Elon Musk is busy with his Free Speech Extremism vision quest, which explains why Tesla stock is in the crapper despite strong sales.




    • FreedMike FreedMike on Dec 15, 2022

      @jk: I don't hold any Tesla stock, but my concern is that the automotive industry needs more players, not fewer, so Musk's Twitter ego trip does have an impact. The company really is an extension of him. It performs best when his eyes are on the ball, and that's not what's happening right now.

      Far as the "hate" towards Musk over free speech is concerned, as it turns out he's mainly absolutist about his own speech, not the speech of others (surprise, surprise!), but whatever.


  • Inside Looking Out Inside Looking Out on Dec 13, 2022

    Unfortunately you cannot make fools "whole".

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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