The renowned electric vehicle company, Tesla, is now facing a significant probe by the US DOJ, and this is because of the misleading driving range claims for its electric vehicles that it tells customers. This issue has already seen massive complaints in recent months, with three customers launching a class-action lawsuit against the company for this allegedly "fraudulent" act.
It was said that Tesla would exaggerate the EV's range, with the accurate or real numbers so far below what it claims to its customers, leading them to believe that their cars are defective.
Tesla Now Under Investigation by DOJ
(Photo : David von Diemar from Unsplash)
A recent SEC filing from Tesla this week detailed that it is now subject to a United States Department of Justice (DOJ), with the judicial agency sending requests for information and subpoenas Tesla documents related to Autopilot and FSD. The subpoena also asked for "vehicle range" documents from the company, believed to be part of this massive probe.
The recent Tesla lawsuit follows a problem related to its Full-Self Driving (FSD) beta which led to a massive recall of as many as 363,000 EVs for this issue.
This investigation by the DOJ remains unknown as to where they are and what they are trying to find, with this range issue remaining unsolved, especially for those who complained.
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Tesla Misleading Driving Range
According to Ars Technica, this is not the first time Tesla is dealing with complaints against its exaggerated driving range estimates for customers and users of its EVs. Initially, Tesla put stickers on the car windows that claim certain "impressive" driving range figures but in reality, are two times "far off" than what the clean energy company has claimed.
Tesla's Range Claims Before
Earlier this year, Tesla saw a massive lawsuit from the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) which led to the company being penalized for as much as 2.85 billion won, equivalent to $2.2 million. This was because of the false EV advertising by Tesla for the country, particularly as the company "exaggerated" the range of its electric vehicles in cold weather since 2019.
It was said that in cold weather, Tesla's range decreases by as much as 50.5 percent, and significantly less than what the company claimed in its automobile ads.
Last July, massive reports and complaints also arose against Tesla, with US customers claiming that they are getting manipulated as Tesla's range claims are misleading than what the car can actually output.
Tesla EV owners were led to believe that either their electric cars were defective or that the charge did not match up to the car's performance and what its EV claims. It was said that a specific team that addresses these problems is only diverting customers, but repairs never actually happened, with this issue now reaching the US DOJ and hopefully finding a conclusion to the issue.
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