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Tesla owners have filed a lawsuit against the company owned by Elon Musk their vehicles’ car batteries with thoughtless automatic software updates.
In some cases, the lawsuit alleges, plaintiffs were forced to purchase brand new batteries, at a cost of up to $15,000, to replace the bricked-up “bad software.”
The Tesla owners claim these software updates came “without warning” and reduced their cars’ range by at least 20 percent.
And a few of the owners spent between $500 and $750 to undo the offending update, according to the indictment.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys stated that the class action applies to the company’s Model S and Model X vehicles and that other Tesla owners, based on the public response to this class action, appear to be affected as well.
“We’ve had a lot of interest,” Steve Berman, an attorney representing the Tesla owners, told Dailymail.com.
“We brought a not unusual case v. Tesla and were successful,” says Berman.
Tesla’s Model S (above), alongside Model X, were the models affected by the automatic software update that reportedly ruined the vehicle batteries of four consumers
“When car owners buy their vehicles,” reads the lawsuit“they reasonably expect that unforeseen events – such as weather, accidents or flat tires – could affect the performance of their vehicles and lead to costly repairs.”
“But no reasonable consumer would expect the automaker itself, through an automated system, to intentionally and significantly interfere with the performance of the car,” the lawsuit alleges, “through software updates that reduce the operational capability of the vehicles.” ‘
That said, however, past lawsuits against Tesla have accused the automaker of similarly clumsy software patches, as the new complaint makes clear.
One such case, filed on August 7, 2019, alleged that Tesla defrauded its customers by “placing an artificial, software-induced limitation on the total number of usable kilowatt-hours (“kWh”),” which impaired customers’ ability to ” recharge’ was undermined. the battery cells to the natural and normal amount of about 4.2 volts.”
Tesla lawyers decided to settle that 2019 case almost immediately, eventually offering to reimburse each eligible party $625 each.
During that case, Tesla’s outside counsel, Sean P. Gates, admitted through a court statement that “Tesla records show that 1,743 2012-2016 Model S vehicles in the United States were subject to a 10 percent voltage restriction.” due to a May 2019 software update.”
The problem, Gates said, was reportedly corrected in future software updates over the course of the next ten months.
Four Tesla owners claim bad software updates came ‘without warning’ and reduced their cars’ driving range by at least 20 percent, meaning they have to drive to charging stations more often (above)
Musk has downplayed the severity of software update problems in recent months, criticizing the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration for their use of the word “recall”
Controversy has arisen over the software updates implemented on Tesla vehicles in recent months, both at home and abroad.
Last week, it was promised that a recall of 1.1 million Tesla vehicles in China — nearly a quarter of all Teslas on the road to date — would be corrected with a remote software update that would fix problems with the car’s “regenerative braking system.” any car fixes.
Critics with consumer safety groups have said that this energy-saving, automated braking system has led to accidents by contradicting the driver’s own input through traditional foot pedals.
But Musk has downplayed the seriousness of software update problems in recent months. In February, the billionaire criticized the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) for describing any Tesla problem that could be fixed via a software update as a “recall,” regardless of the circumstances.
“The word ‘recall’ for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just plain wrong!” announced Musk through Twitter.
The NHTSA website indicates that the agency issues a recall when its regulators or the cars manufacturer determines that “a vehicle, equipment, car seat or tire poses an unreasonable safety risk or does not meet minimum safety standards.”
The agency states that manufacturers should buy back vehicles in full from owners only in “rare cases.”
Steve Berman, one of the attorneys representing the Tesla owners in the new class action, described the recall debate as “an interesting question,” but ultimately a semantic issue with no “legal meaning.”
“Consumers don’t care how they are characterized, but what the impact on the car may be,” Berman told Dailymail.com via email.
‘Here the impact is a negative effect on the main selling point for an electric vehicle, THE BATTERY!’