Tesla Faces Lawsuit in California for Employee Access on Cabin Camera, Sharing its Videos Internally

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 10 April 2023, 11:04 pm

The famous EV automaker, Tesla, is now facing a new lawsuit that concerns its employees' alleged access to the cabin camera's files, where reports claimed of sharing these videos to coworkers for their viewing. It was initially claimed by ex-employees of the company that they had access to the images and videos from internal cameras which were shared among coworkers previously.

It was also revealed that Tesla employees had access to the sensitive media since 2019, and now owners who have had the vehicle since then are pursuing legal action for this breach of privacy.

Tesla Faces Lawsuit in California for Employee Access on Cabin Cameras

(Photo : JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images)

A new complaint was filed against Tesla in California, where the plaintiff, Henry Yeh, a Tesla owner, took it upon himself and others who owned the EVs for the past four years to raise the complaint in court. It centers on the alleged access to Tesla's front-facing cabin cameras by employees, who have been sharing the videos amongst themselves.

As per Reuter's original report, nine Tesla employees stepped forward and claimed that they can indeed access the images and videos from the car's cameras.

However, it was not used for incident or accident purposes but was used for laughs and sharing across the workplace via private messages, on multiple cars.

Tesla's Privacy Issues: Accessing and Sharing Sensitive Videos

This new lawsuit aims to address the privacy concerns and issues that owners have against Tesla, especially with them feeling unsafe from this incident.

Allegedly, sensitive videos were accessed by Tesla employees, with some seeing a naked man walking towards his car in the night, and another video showing a driving person hitting a child on a bicycle. Other private images and videos were also accessed by said employees.

Tesla Lawsuits in the Past

There are many issues with Tesla in the past, and different entities like regulators and Tesla owners have pursued legal action against the company for their actions or development of the vehicle. One of the most notable lawsuits against Tesla was made to be a class action, particularly for the alleged monopolization of its "overpriced" repairs.

Not only that, there were significant performance issues on Tesla, which regulators like the NHTSA have been investigating, concerning steering wheel issues that have defects out of the dealership.

Apart from steering wheel issues, the company also faced seat belt issues which is another safety concern when using the car. This is not to mention the recent problem behind its self-driving features which led to multiple accidents earlier.

Tesla is in a tight bind now, as this problem was corroborated by past employees who have had a hand in accessing these supposedly private videos inside the cabin of its electric vehicles.

While Tesla is known for the access of these records for further investigation during accidents, they should not be accessible to employees, much less shared amongst them for laughs or other purposes.