How to sue Tesla over historical claims

[CubsFan23]

I sued Tesla in small claims and won. Twice! You can too. I had two claims:

1. I have a car with AP2.5. Tesla advertised this car as having “all hardware needed for full self driving capability.” When I went to subscribe to “Full Self Driving Capability,” Tesla required a $1,000 hardware upgrade to subscribe to this, while calling the upgrade hardware the “Full Self Driving Computer.” Clearly the car does not have all hardware needed, despite the advertisement at time of sale.
2. I have a car with MCU1. As commonly reported, software updates have hindered the functionality, such as breaking voice recognition and causing lockups. Tesla acknowledged that the issues were known software bugs with no resolution date. Tesla’s solution was a $2000 hardware upgrade, even though the car was under warranty, and the car would no longer do what is listed in the owners manual. A NHTSA recall prevented rollback to previous software versions.
   1. Even if MCU1 worked fine, it doesn’t support FSD, so claim #1 would have applied here.

I read my purchase agreement, which states that an owner can use arbitration or small claims for any disputes. It requests that you email [email protected] for any legal issues. I wrote this address 3 times over many weeks, with no response.

Without a response, I filed a small claims case. I properly served Tesla’s registered agent in my state, and then appeared in court (via zoom!) on the appointed date. Tesla made no arguments to defend against my claims, as they did not appear for the hearings.

The Judge reviewed my situation based on the evidence I provided, which included Tesla’s own claims on their website, owners manuals, service estimates, and their descriptions of the Infotainment and Full Self Driving computer upgrades. The Judge agreed that the first claim was false advertising and the second was a breech of warranty, finding for me in full ($3000+tax).

To Tesla’s credit, when I sent the judgment to their resolutions email address, they did pay the amount in full within a few weeks.

You can do this too if you feel Tesla’s policies are unfair. In almost every jurisdiction in the USA you can use small claims for disagreements such as this. The process is easy, and only takes a few hours of your time overall. Lots of places allow you to file online and attend court via Zoom. Most states don’t allow lawyers in small claims, so Tesla won’t have a lawyer on the other side if someone does bother to show up, just a local rep.

You can do this even if you didn’t opt out of Tesla’s arbitration agreement, as the Purchase Agreement specifically allows Small Claims as a method of resolution in all cases. You also have the option of using arbitration, which costs nothing and Tesla pays all fees. Worst case is you don’t win.

DM me if you want any help.

Note: I don’t hate Tesla. I think their cars and mission are great. I just believe they should be held to promises made as part of the sales process or warranty, and the more people that hold them too it, the better they will get in the future,

I don’t know how to DM you here but am looking to do the same soon. Bought my M3 (which I love btw) but 2 weeks before delivery I received notice they removed the USS rendering the summons and park features unavailable for now a full year and 2 months. I paid a hefty $6,000 for these particular features that they chose to disable via premature removal of USS and I find it irresponsible if not illegal to have sold features that I paid for but then choices by tesla made them unavailable. I need to start a small claims suit. Can you help? Do I have a chance on this one? What they did was wrong. I hope a judge agrees.

 

[gearchruncher]

@CubsFan23 - Your case has some reasonable aspects.

The best way I can help is to ask the questions to help you structure your argument:

1) What damages are you suing for? This is the "Tesla owes me because they did something specifically wrong." Be specific. On date X I was told Y, and now it's Z months later and this still has not occured.
Is this a diminished value claim (the car is worth less than if it had the features) or unjust enrichment (they charged you and did not deliver?)
2) What is the amount of damages you are requesting? If it's the full $6K, was that $6K for anything beyond summon and parking?
3) What evidence do you have of their wrongdoing? The language in that notice you recieved before you bought probably means a lot here given you could have cancelled the transaction at that point, so how did they indicate they would deliver these features in the future and on what date?

Have you looked up in TX how Small Claims works? Can they bring lawyers?

I do think you have a chance here, you just need to be well prepared. But go for it! The risk is just a few bucks and a few hours.
Don't forget you also have arbitration availible.

 

[seadrag76]

I sued Tesla in small claims and won. Twice! You can too. I had two claims:

1. I have a car with AP2.5. Tesla advertised this car as having “all hardware needed for full self driving capability.” When I went to subscribe to “Full Self Driving Capability,” Tesla required a $1,000 hardware upgrade to subscribe to this, while calling the upgrade hardware the “Full Self Driving Computer.” Clearly the car does not have all hardware needed, despite the advertisement at time of sale.
2. I have a car with MCU1. As commonly reported, software updates have hindered the functionality, such as breaking voice recognition and causing lockups. Tesla acknowledged that the issues were known software bugs with no resolution date. Tesla’s solution was a $2000 hardware upgrade, even though the car was under warranty, and the car would no longer do what is listed in the owners manual. A NHTSA recall prevented rollback to previous software versions.
   1. Even if MCU1 worked fine, it doesn’t support FSD, so claim #1 would have applied here.

I read my purchase agreement, which states that an owner can use arbitration or small claims for any disputes. It requests that you email [email protected] for any legal issues. I wrote this address 3 times over many weeks, with no response.

Without a response, I filed a small claims case. I properly served Tesla’s registered agent in my state, and then appeared in court (via zoom!) on the appointed date. Tesla made no arguments to defend against my claims, as they did not appear for the hearings.

The Judge reviewed my situation based on the evidence I provided, which included Tesla’s own claims on their website, owners manuals, service estimates, and their descriptions of the Infotainment and Full Self Driving computer upgrades. The Judge agreed that the first claim was false advertising and the second was a breech of warranty, finding for me in full ($3000+tax).

To Tesla’s credit, when I sent the judgment to their resolutions email address, they did pay the amount in full within a few weeks.

You can do this too if you feel Tesla’s policies are unfair. In almost every jurisdiction in the USA you can use small claims for disagreements such as this. The process is easy, and only takes a few hours of your time overall. Lots of places allow you to file online and attend court via Zoom. Most states don’t allow lawyers in small claims, so Tesla won’t have a lawyer on the other side if someone does bother to show up, just a local rep.

You can do this even if you didn’t opt out of Tesla’s arbitration agreement, as the Purchase Agreement specifically allows Small Claims as a method of resolution in all cases. You also have the option of using arbitration, which costs nothing and Tesla pays all fees. Worst case is you don’t win.

DM me if you want any help.

Note: I don’t hate Tesla. I think their cars and mission are great. I just believe they should be held to promises made as part of the sales process or warranty, and the more people that hold them too it, the better they will get in the future,

Sounds great!! I’d like learn from you in case if I have similar issues in the future.

 

[Tesomega]

Has anyone made any arguments that most of the features that are in the Car is "Still in BETA" and Tesla has effectively stopped updating these features for MCU1 Vehicles, while they promised to fix and deliver these features OTA?

Has anyone tried to get back EAP + FSD + Tax + Interest paid on the loans? (If this fits under the max $10K in CA for small claims)

I am getting ready to file the Small Claims court in Jan 2024: At this point, I have reached out to [email protected] multiple times and requested escalation requests to Service through CS Channels. The only thing remaining is going the Small Claims court route and getting this whole thing put to rest..

Anyone in CA, can you provide the Tesla Legal Contact and Address for submitting the paperwork?

 

[Dewg]

We've heard from people who have won suits regarding refunding hardware costs involved in upgrading. We have heard from people who claim to have won but can't give details due to NDAs. We heard from someone who contacted a lawyer to sue but was told by the lawyer that the arbitration clause prevents them from suing. We haven't heard anyone giving us details on winning a complete refund of EAP or FSD from Tesla. Nor have we heard from anyone giving details on winning a complete buy-back of their vehicle from Tesla because of EAP or FSD (example: "I would never have bought a Tesla if it wasn't for the promise of L4 autonomous driving, so Tesla should refund me the cost of the entire car")

 

[Nivekydear]

I am pursuing compensation through small claims court for my failed front end suspension at 35k miles on my Tesla Model S. Car was still under warranty and after I explained that the issue happened as I was slowly backing out of may parking spot, Tesla claimed I was involved in an accident where the damage occurred and I would have to cover the $2.7k in damages. As this was willful neglect and I can show a pattern of similar misconduct through news articles of them doing the exact same thing to other drivers with this issue, I am considering seeking punitive damages as well for this behavior. I am located in CA. I'll report back on my results.

I am aware that there is a possible recall decision to be made before Christmas for the bad front end suspension systems, but I suppose that Tesla would not honor any compensation to me as they made up some boloney about me being at fault in an accident.

 

[MP3Mike]

I am aware that there is a possible recall decision to be made before Christmas for the bad front end suspension systems

Not in the US. (I think that was in Norway, and I think it was the rear suspension.)

Norway Regulator Investigates Tesla Over Suspension Failures - TeslaNorth.com

Tesla is currently under scrutiny by Norway's traffic safety regulator, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA), for potential suspension failures in its legacy Model S and X vehicles. This investigation could lead to a recall, as informed by the agency to Reuters. Senior engineer at...

teslanorth.com

 

[dbldwn02]

I am pursuing compensation through small claims court for my failed front end suspension at 35k miles on my Tesla Model S. Car was still under warranty and after I explained that the issue happened as I was slowly backing out of may parking spot, Tesla claimed I was involved in an accident where the damage occurred and I would have to cover the $2.7k in damages. As this was willful neglect and I can show a pattern of similar misconduct through news articles of them doing the exact same thing to other drivers with this issue, I am considering seeking punitive damages as well for this behavior. I am located in CA. I'll report back on my results.

I am aware that there is a possible recall decision to be made before Christmas for the bad front end suspension systems, but I suppose that Tesla would not honor any compensation to me as they made up some boloney about me being at fault in an accident.

Was this you??

Tesla Knew It Installed Defective Parts In Its EVs. It Charged Customers For Repairs Anyway

The automaker blamed drivers for vehicle “abuse,” but some cars had fewer than 1,000 miles on the odometer.

insideevs.com

 

[Mobile3228]

We got it in Norway both for 3 an Y.

 

[thatredM3]

Depending on how nerfed Autopilot becomes I may have to use this to get my $3000 back.

 

[FrostieBoi]

I sued Tesla in small claims and won. Twice! You can too. I had two claims:

1. I have a car with AP2.5. Tesla advertised this car as having “all hardware needed for full self driving capability.” When I went to subscribe to “Full Self Driving Capability,” Tesla required a $1,000 hardware upgrade to subscribe to this, while calling the upgrade hardware the “Full Self Driving Computer.” Clearly the car does not have all hardware needed, despite the advertisement at time of sale.
2. I have a car with MCU1. As commonly reported, software updates have hindered the functionality, such as breaking voice recognition and causing lockups. Tesla acknowledged that the issues were known software bugs with no resolution date. Tesla’s solution was a $2000 hardware upgrade, even though the car was under warranty, and the car would no longer do what is listed in the owners manual. A NHTSA recall prevented rollback to previous software versions.
   1. Even if MCU1 worked fine, it doesn’t support FSD, so claim #1 would have applied here.

I read my purchase agreement, which states that an owner can use arbitration or small claims for any disputes. It requests that you email [email protected] for any legal issues. I wrote this address 3 times over many weeks, with no response.

Without a response, I filed a small claims case. I properly served Tesla’s registered agent in my state, and then appeared in court (via zoom!) on the appointed date. Tesla made no arguments to defend against my claims, as they did not appear for the hearings.

The Judge reviewed my situation based on the evidence I provided, which included Tesla’s own claims on their website, owners manuals, service estimates, and their descriptions of the Infotainment and Full Self Driving computer upgrades. The Judge agreed that the first claim was false advertising and the second was a breech of warranty, finding for me in full ($3000+tax).

To Tesla’s credit, when I sent the judgment to their resolutions email address, they did pay the amount in full within a few weeks.

You can do this too if you feel Tesla’s policies are unfair. In almost every jurisdiction in the USA you can use small claims for disagreements such as this. The process is easy, and only takes a few hours of your time overall. Lots of places allow you to file online and attend court via Zoom. Most states don’t allow lawyers in small claims, so Tesla won’t have a lawyer on the other side if someone does bother to show up, just a local rep.

You can do this even if you didn’t opt out of Tesla’s arbitration agreement, as the Purchase Agreement specifically allows Small Claims as a method of resolution in all cases. You also have the option of using arbitration, which costs nothing and Tesla pays all fees. Worst case is you don’t win.

DM me if you want any help.

Note: I don’t hate Tesla. I think their cars and mission are great. I just believe they should be held to promises made as part of the sales process or warranty, and the more people that hold them too it, the better they will get in the future,

Hello. Not sure if you still look at this thread but I’m interested in understanding how the small claims work. I have HW2.5 and if it’s possible I’d like to try my luck at getting HW3 for free. I’m not an original owner of my car so I’m not sure if that changes anything. Also I would like to DM you about this but I’m not sure how to, maybe because I’m new here the option isn’t available. Anyways if you see this I’d love to chat to learn more.

 

[gearchruncher]

Hello. Not sure if you still look at this thread but I’m interested in understanding how the small claims work. I have HW2.5 and if it’s possible I’d like to try my luck at getting HW3 for free. I’m not an original owner of my car so I’m not sure if that changes anything. Also I would like to DM you about this but I’m not sure how to, maybe because I’m new here the option isn’t available. Anyways if you see this I’d love to chat to learn more.

There's lots of info in this thread on how to file, and every state and county is a bit different.

If you have a Model 3 with HW2.5, the path I still suggest is:
1) Screen shot that you need a $1000 computer upgrade to subscribe to FSD CAPABILITY
2) Request an upgrade from Tesla and indicate that you believe it should be free due to the car being advertised as having all HW needed for FSD CAPABILIY
3) FIle your case, present the above to a judge

It's really not harder than that.

 

[FrostieBoi]

Thank you for the reply. I do have one question about the filling. So I’m technically a resident of a different state than the one I currently reside in. If you were to look at my license plate it’s for a different state than where I am, so my question is when I file for small claims do I file with the state where the service is taking place? Or do I file with the state I’m actually a resident from? Hopefully that’s not a dumb question but again I don’t know much about legal things. Thank you in advance

 

[gearchruncher]

so my question is when I file for small claims do I file with the state where the service is taking place?

Your residency doesn't matter. The most common place the transaction occured matters. This is generally the buisness address.

Think of it this way: if you were on vacation and had a dispute with your hotel. You don't get to sue the hotel from 3,000 miles away and make them come to your local court. The laws of your state don't even apply to them.

This becomes fuzzy with big corporations like Tesla who are legally based in Delaware. But the laws recognize this too, and say that where the transaction occured is the place so that if you buy a car from Tesla in CA, you don't have to go to DE to sue.

BUT! You have a used car with Tesla that you didn't buy from them. This is why you MUST get a quote from your local service center and have them deny your request. Now you can sue them in that location. Without that, your jurisdtiction would be pretty unlear.

Oh, and unless you have a special situaiton like military service that makes it OK, please register your car where you live. Those local taxes pay for things like small claims courthouses. And if the reason your car plate is different than your residency is that you have one of those tax avoidance/evasion schemes where the car is owned by an LLC or something- well then you have no case here as you as an individual cannot sue because you have no financial interest in the car.

 

[FrostieBoi]

Your residency doesn't matter. The most common place the transaction occured matters. This is generally the buisness address.

Think of it this way: if you were on vacation and had a dispute with your hotel. You don't get to sue the hotel from 3,000 miles away and make them come to your local court. The laws of your state don't even apply to them.

This becomes fuzzy with big corporations like Tesla who are legally based in Delaware. But the laws recognize this too, and say that where the transaction occured is the place so that if you buy a car from Tesla in CA, you don't have to go to DE to sue.

BUT! You have a used car with Tesla that you didn't buy from them. This is why you MUST get a quote from your local service center and have them deny your request. Now you can sue them in that location. Without that, your jurisdtiction would be pretty unlear.

Oh, and unless you have a special situaiton like military service that makes it OK, please register your car where you live. Those local taxes pay for things like small claims courthouses. And if the reason your car plate is different than your residency is that you have one of those tax avoidance/evasion schemes where the car is owned by an LLC or something- well then you have no case here as you as an individual cannot sue because you have no financial interest in the car.

That makes a lot of sense, again thank you for the help. And no my license is different because I originally came where I am now for college, just haven’t decided if I’ll stay yet or not. How have you personally enjoyed HW3 from HW2.5? Any noticeable differences you enjoy more now? Or is it not all that different except now you can do FSD?

 

[FearL0rd]

I don’t know how to DM you here but am looking to do the same soon. Bought my M3 (which I love btw) but 2 weeks before delivery I received notice they removed the USS rendering the summons and park features unavailable for now a full year and 2 months. I paid a hefty $6,000 for these particular features that they chose to disable via premature removal of USS and I find it irresponsible if not illegal to have sold features that I paid for but then choices by tesla made them unavailable. I need to start a small claims suit. Can you help? Do I have a chance on this one? What they did was wrong. I hope a judge agrees.

Wait for the new Tesla. If they release the capabilities in the new 3 only. You have a case.

 

[Tesomega]

Wait for the new Tesla. If they release the capabilities in the new 3 only. You have a case.

Could the OP argue that Tesla did not give me features that he paid for thereby requesting a refund? or a partial refund?

 

[Dewg]

The most important thing is that people who sue return to this thread and give us the outcome of their endeavors. We hear many people threatening to sue, but very few follow ups here. What was the judges ruling - whether it failed or was successful? If it was successful, what were the terms and what compensation did you receive?

 

[brkaus]

Could the OP argue that Tesla did not give me features that he paid for thereby requesting a refund? or a partial refund?

If it's related to USS the person signed an agreement that it wasn't on the car before delivery.

 

[dbldwn02]

The most important thing is that people who sue return to this thread and give us the outcome of their endeavors. We hear many people threatening to sue, but very few follow ups here. What was the judges ruling - whether it failed or was successful? If it was successful, what were the terms and what compensation did you receive?

Yup...I'm lazy and getting a free MCU2 isn't worth the trouble right now. I'll wait until FSD gets a lot better than my version 10 FSD that I'm stuck on.