Tesla is now facing a class action lawsuit over “allegedly misleading the public regarding its Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot, and Full Self-Driving Capability (‘FSD’) technology.”
With Tesla’s approach of selling features that it has yet to fully develop and missing several timelines relating to them, it was inevitable that the company would eventually face some legal repercussions.
Those repercussions are now starting.
Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, announced that it filed a class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California in which it claims that Tesla has been misleading buyers with its claims about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Package and basically delivering a faulty product.
They wrote in a press release:
The lawsuit filed today alleges that Tesla has yet to produce a fully self-driving car. Tesla owners receiving the latest “updates” to Tesla’s Autopilot software and FSD beta software have reported myriad problems, such as cars having difficulty making routine turns, running red lights, and steering into oncoming traffic. There have also been numerous collisions involving Tesla’s purportedly cutting-edge software, including vehicles crashing at high speeds into large stationary objects such as emergency vehicles and an overturned box truck.
The lead plaintiff is Briggs Matsko, a financial planner based out of Sacramento. Now the firm is looking to add plaintiffs to the lawsuit.
Joe Cotchett, a partner of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, said about the lawsuit:
As alleged in the complaint, people have relied upon the representations of Tesla that the self-driving capabilities are completely safe, when Tesla knew they had many problems.
The lawsuit is also using government investigations into Tesla Autopilot and FSD. However, those investigations have yet to find Tesla to have a defect with its systems.
Tesla is also facing a class action lawsuit over Autopilot’s phantom braking problem.
Electrek’s Take
This was inevitable, and it’s going to be a hard one for Tesla to defend. At the very least, I think Tesla should promptly offer refunds to anyone who ordered Full Self-Driving if they want it.
I think that’s fair after so many missed deadlines and virtually no usefulness from FSD Beta.
On Tesla’s side, that would be some goodwill that could help prevent more people from joining the lawsuit, but I think those legal actions are inevitable at this point. Tesla dug itself into a hole that it has to climb out of by delivering on its promises, and this is proving way harder than it thought.
What do you think about the situation? Let us know in the comments section below.
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