It feels like a single day can’t go by without Tesla being in the news lately. With stocks plummeting recently due to the antics of Elon Musk, the last thing the company can afford is more issues. Yet, here we are, with the company now being sued for allegedly fiddling with their customers’ odometers. According to a class-action lawsuit recently filed in California, Tesla has been changing the odometer readings in an attempt to cut warranty coverage short. If these allegations of Tesla odometer tampering turn out to be true, it could put the company in serious trouble.
Tesla Odometer Tampering Allegations
Nyree Hinton, the plaintiff of the lawsuit, stated that he noticed that the car was logging considerably more miles than they had driven. The used 2020 Tesla Model Y had less than 37,000 miles on it when Hinton bought the car. Yet, within six months, the number now exceeded 50,000 miles, effectively surpassing the bumper-to-bumper warranty of the Tesla. The plaintiff knew his daily commute well and had driven the same route with three of his previous vehicles. Hinton claims that he was only driving a little more than 6,000 miles every sis months with his other cars. Yet, according to his Tesla odometer, he has driven 13,228 miles in the same period.
The lawsuit states that Tesla uses algorithms based on “driver behavior” and “energy consumption” to determine your odometer readings. This means that Tesla could be making judgments on your driving based on assumptions determined by an algorithm instead of on the actual distance you have driven. Yet, this is not the first time that the company has been caught lying. In 2023, an investigation by Reuters found that Tesla had been juicing the range projections for the battery. This gave drivers unrealistic readouts on their dashboards. Yet, when owners called the company to lodge complaints, they were typically tied up in remote diagnostics before eventually being told that there was nothing wrong with their battery.
The Future of Tesla
The year so far has not been a good one for Tesla. This is mostly due to the political antics of Elon Musk. However, there may be a change coming soon. Musk has apparently committed to “significantly” reducing his involvement in the US government after the company announced a massive decline in sales at the beginning of the year. He stated that he would, from now on, allocate only one to two days each week to it, following allegations that he had shifted his focus away from Tesla. His recent involvement in politics has resulted in Tesla boycotts and protests all around the world.
Yet, it remains unclear how long it will be before he steps out of his governmental role. Temporary employees of the government are usually limited to only working 130 days per year, which will expire in May. However, Trump earlier this month said he would hold on to Musk “as long as I could keep him”. Yet, even if Musk does pull back from Tesla and governmental activities, would this save the company? Especially considering the endless recalls and scandals, such as the Tesla odometer tampering allegations. Time will only tell, but for now, the company seems to be in an inescapable downward spiral.
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