Elon Musk's Tesla sued over allegedly exaggerating range estimates
A group of Tesla owners has sued Elon Musk's car company, claiming it had exaggerated the range capability of its vehicles.
This is not an unexpected development, considering a Reuters investigation found that Tesla had exaggerated its vehicles' range and had worked to suppress customer complaints to that effect. The report alleged that Teslas would, at first, show a "rosy" estimate of how far the car would go on the charge then change to a more accurate picture once the battery hit 50 percent. This became such an issue that Tesla reportedly created a diversion team that specialized in canceling maintenance appointments for customers who feared their battery was faulty.
So, yes, when that report dropped it seemed to be a foregone conclusion there would be lawsuits.
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"Put simply, Tesla has a duty to deliver a product that performs as advertised," said Adam A. Edwards, an attorney at the firm representing the Tesla owners, via CNBC.
The suit filed this week accuses the company of "false advertising of its electric vehicles’ range, which Tesla grossly overvalued when selling the vehicles to consumers." The suit, though it has three named plaintiffs, is a class-action suit seeking to represent all people in California who purchased a Tesla Model 3, Model S, Model Y, or Model X.
"Had Tesla honestly advertised its electric vehicle ranges, consumers either would not have purchased Tesla model vehicles, or else would have paid substantially less for them," the lawsuit reads.
With these reports in the news, it seems to be a good bet that this will not be the last lawsuit we see.
Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).
