Editing Tesla

{{Incomplete}}
{{CompanyCargo
|Description=American electric vehicle and power company.
|Founded=2003
|Industry=Automotive
|Logo=Tesla.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Public
|Website=https://tesla.com/
}}
'''[[Wikipedia:Tesla, Inc.|Tesla, Inc.]]''' (formerly '''Tesla Motors''') is a company founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. In 2008, it was funded and taken over by Elon Musk, when both original founders left their positions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schreiber |first=Barbara A. |last2=Gregersen |first2=Erik |last3=Ashburn |first3=Doug |date=21 Mar 2025 |title=Tesla, Inc. |url=https://www.britannica.com/money/Tesla-Motors |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Qai group |date=29 Sep 2022 |title=Tesla: A History Of Innovation (and Headaches) |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2022/09/29/tesla-a-history-of-innovation-and-headaches/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Forbes}}</ref> 

==Controversies==
After the company was bought by Elon Musk it has been involved in a number of controversies such as requiring subscriptions or requiring a Tesla technician to fix 2012's Model S,<ref>{{Cite web |title=2012 Tesla Model s problems |url=https://www.slotcar-today.com/problems/tesla/model-s/2012 |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=SlotCar Today}}</ref> With cases such as the continued denial of adding Apple Carplay or Android Auto to their vehicles, putting an expiry date on their cars, and making a $100,000 utility vehicle whose warranty is void by a car wash.

This is a list of all consumer protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:Tesla|Tesla category]].

===[https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-workers-shared-sensitive-images-recorded-by-customer-cars-2023-04-06/ Privacy Concerns]===
Tesla employees have allegedly viewed and shared embarrassing, disturbing, and potentially explicit recordings of Tesla through internal messaging systems; Tesla claims that all recordings are anonymous regardless of anonymity, it raises some privacy concerns, such as the fact that employees can even access those recordings in the first place, there don't seem to be effective measures in place to prevent those videos from being shared and they use these recordings to train their artificial intelligence which posses other privacy concerns. 

===Artificially disabling functionality===
Tesla was among the early automakers to implement feature gating through software updates. For example, the company introduced an "acceleration boost" for certain vehicles that increased acceleration performance once the software feature was purchased, despite the necessary hardware already being present in the car.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Agatie |first=Cristian |date=20 Nov 2024 |title=Refreshed Tesla Model 3 Gets Acceleration Boost in Certain Markets, US Still Waiting |url=https://www.autoevolution.com/news/refreshed-tesla-model-3-gets-acceleration-boost-in-certain-markets-us-still-waiting-243025.html |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=autoevolution}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Iqtidar |date=22 November 2024 |title=Tesla starts offering Acceleration Boost for the Model 3 Highland Long Range variant |url=https://www.teslaoracle.com/2024/11/22/tesla-starts-offering-acceleration-boost-for-the-model-3-highland-long-range-variant/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Tesla Oracle}}</ref>

Tesla initially promoted the inclusion of radar hardware in its Model 3 vehicles, highlighting its role in enhancing driver assistance features. In subsequent production runs, however, the company discontinued radar hardware in new Model 3 units, while continuing to include it in higher-end models such as the Model S (and later the Model X). Later, Tesla issued an over-the-air (OTA) software update that disabled the radar hardware in existing Model 3 vehicles equipped with it.<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 Jan 2024 |title=Tesla’s Relationship With Radar |url=https://www.edge-ai-vision.com/2024/01/teslas-relationship-with-radar/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Edge AI and Vision Alliance}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Klender |first=Joey |date=10 Jun 2023 |title=Tesla owners claim their radar was disabled during service visits |url=https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-disables-radar-model-3-model-y-service-visits/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Teslarati}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dnistran |first=Iulian |date=22 Mar 2023 |title=Elon Musk Overruled Tesla Engineers Who Said Removing Radar Would Be Problematic: Report |url=https://insideevs.com/news/658439/elon-musk-overruled-tesla-autopilot-engineers-radar-removal/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=InsideEVs}}</ref> As a result, these vehicles saw changes such as a reduced range of following distance options in Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC), from 1-7 to 2-7. Reports also indicated degraded performance in driver assistance systems, including instances of unexpected braking behavior.<ref>{{Cite web |last=rwiegand |date=22 Jul 2024 |title=Unfortunate new panic braking behavior from TACC |url=https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/unfortunate-new-panic-braking-behavior-from-tacc.331045/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |via=Tesla Motors Club}}</ref>

Tesla has also phased out other commonly expected vehicle features, such as ultrasonic parking sensors, reportedly as a cost-saving measure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tesla Vision Update: Replacing Ultrasonic Sensors with Tesla Vision |url=https://www.tesla.com/support/transitioning-tesla-vision |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Tesla}}</ref> These changes are often implemented without formal announcements. Additionally, Tesla has removed dedicated rain sensors from some vehicles, with similar impacts on feature performance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Jeremy |date=8 Dec 2023 |title=Are Softening Tesla Model Y Sales In Europe Really Due to $119 Worth of Sensors Removal? |url=https://www.torquenews.com/14335/are-softening-tesla-model-y-sales-europe-really-due-119-sensor-removal |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Torque News}}</ref>

===Wrongful legal threats===
Tesla once sent a legal threat to a Swedish car repair company called "Grufman Bil AB" to take down a YouTube video that they had posted that showed them smashing a car component that was supposed to hold up a wheel with a big hammer, showing how that component was made of metal that was a lot weaker than one could reasonably expect. Grufman Bil decided to quickly take down that video and when someone asked them why, Grufman Bil said "because it's not worth getting sued over," which indicates that Tesla was possibly threatening to sue people who show important car defects.  
<!---'''Note:''' Someone who remembers this incident in greater detail and can give sources and proof etc, should modify this paragraph I've written so it's much more clear and trustworthy etc. Someone who has the skills of being a reporter should ask Grufman Bil AB about this and try to find the original YouTube video as evidence of my claim etc. I understand that the legal fight would not be worth it to a small car repair company but it's important to the overall society to be aware of that Tesla does things like this. Tesla's argument for why Grufman Bil must take down that video was that "It hurts Tesla as a company financially if people can see that video" IIRC. But the counter argument would be that a car part that uses too weak metal is a danger to Tesla car owners and that they can be hurt physically if such weaknesses are hidden by Tesla. So someone please improve this paragraph because I think it's important that big companies should not get away with bullying smaller companies like this, and succeeding in hiding important weaknesses in their cars from their buyers. --->

===Resale restrictions===
Tesla has recently started prohibiting the resale of its vehicles within one year of purchase, imposing fines of up to $50,000 on owners who violate the policy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hood |first=Bryan |date=4 June 2024 |title=A Man Says Tesla Won’t Let Him Sell His Cybertruck—Even Though It’s Too Big for His Parking Spot |url=https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/tesla-cybertruck-owner-cannot-sell-ev-parking-space-1235638981/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Robb Report}}</ref> This is done without regard for situations that may necessitate a resale, and appears to align with practices adopted by other companies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foote |first=Brett |date=7 Jan 2022 |title=2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Will Come With One Year No-Sale Provision |url=https://fordauthority.com/2022/01/2022-ford-f-150-lightning-will-come-with-one-year-no-sale-provision/ |access-date=22 Mar 2025 |website=Ford Authority}}</ref>

===Full Self-Driving switching to subscription only===
On January 13th, Elon Musk announced that Tesla will stop selling their "Full Self-Driving" (or "FSD") feature as a one-time purchase for $8,000 USD, instead offering only a subscription option for $99 USD per month.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Full Self-Driving (Supervised) Subscriptions |url=https://www.tesla.com/support/full-self-driving-subscriptions |url-status=live |access-date=22 Jan 2026 |website=Tesla Support}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Musk |first=Elon |date=13 Jan 2026 |title=Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14. |url=https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2011324998653513810/ |url-status=live |access-date=22 Jan 2026 |website=X}}</ref> 

==See Also==

*[[Tesla asks customers to vote against Right to Repair]]
*[[Tesla blames drivers for part failures it admits were defective]]
*[[Tesla locks battery range behind paywall]]
*[[Tesla locks heated rear seats behind paywall]]
*[[Tesla locks horsepower behind paywall]]

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Tesla]]