A Beijing court held its first hearing in a consumer fraud lawsuit against Tesla over its “Full Self-Driving” software, with 10 owners seeking more than 3.95 million yuan ($583,000) in damages.
The case, which we first covered when it was filed last September, has grown from 7 to 10 plaintiffs and marks China’s first collective legal challenge targeting Tesla’s FSD promises.
What the owners claim
According to a report from The Beijing News, the plaintiffs each paid 56,000 yuan (~$7,800) for Tesla’s FSD package between 2019 and 2021. They allege that Tesla sales staff and CEO Elon Musk assured them “full self-driving” capability was imminent and that the price would increase — motivating them to buy.
The reality turned out differently. When Tesla began rolling out its driving assistance software in China last this year, it only supported vehicles equipped with HW4.0 hardware. Owners with older HW3.0 vehicles, which includes all cars produced between 2019 and 2023, were excluded.
