On Wednesday, three Tesla owners in California filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the automaker, accusing it of misrepresenting the estimated ranges of their electric vehicles.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. The Northern District of California District Court references a Reuters article from last week that claimed Tesla established a "Diversion Team" in Nevada to reschedule as many range-related meetings as possible after receiving a barrage of owner complaints.
According to a source cited by Reuters, Tesla made the decision to design algorithms for its in-dash range meter approximately ten years ago so that drivers would see "rosy" forecasts for how far the car could go on a full battery.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, gave the order to present the pessimistic range predictions, this source claimed. Whether Tesla still employs algorithms that inflate range estimates is unknown to Reuters.
Tesla Violated Terms of Vehicle Warranties
The lawsuit claims Tesla violated the terms of the vehicle warranties and committed fraud and unfair business practices.
The three plaintiffs in the lawsuit list instances where their Teslas' ranges fell short of what was stated and claim they have tried to contact the corporation about these issues without result.
The case filed by James Porter, a Model Y owner from Petaluma, California, claimed that during one journey he "lost approximately 182 miles of range-despite only driving 92 miles."
(Photo: by Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images) GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MARCH 22: Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022, near Gruenheide, Germany. The new plant, officially called the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, is producing the Model Y as well as electric car batteries.
The complaint requests unspecified damages and class-action status on behalf of "all persons in California who purchased a new Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model Y, and Model X vehicle."
Tesla's Autopilot and "Full Self-Driving" technology, as well as its assertions regarding the security of such systems, are also the subject of legal actions and regulatory investigation
After Reuters reported that Tesla personnel had exchanged private photos and videos taken by their vehicles' cameras on an internal messaging system, a California Tesla owner also launched a proposed consumer class action in April. In this case, Tesla is charged with violating the consumers' privacy. These claims have been refuted by Tesla.
Tesla's History of Lawsuits
Tesla has been involved in a number of lawsuits in the past, some of which have been high-profile.
In 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Tesla and Elon Musk for securities fraud. The SEC alleged that Musk had misled investors by tweeting that he had secured funding to take Tesla private when he had not. Musk and Tesla settled the lawsuit, with Musk agreeing to step down as chairman of the board for three years and to pay a $20 million fine.
The company has been sued by the families of several people who were killed in accidents while using Tesla's Autopilot driver-assist system.
The families allege that Tesla's Autopilot system is defective and that the company knew about the defects but failed to warn consumers. Tesla has denied the allegations, saying that its Autopilot system is safe and that it has been updated to make it even safer.
In 2022, a group of Black Tesla employees filed a lawsuit against the company alleging racial discrimination. The lawsuit alleges that Tesla has a "toxic work environment" for Black employees and that the company has discriminated against Black employees in terms of pay, promotions, and assignments.
Tesla has denied the allegations, saying that it is committed to equal opportunity and that it does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.
These are just a few of the most notable lawsuits that Tesla has been involved in. The company has also been involved in a number of other lawsuits, including lawsuits alleging product defects, breach of contract, and unfair business practices.
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