A few days ago, because the FSD function could not be fulfilled, a German car owner sued Tesla for this. The latter was sentenced to buy back the owner’s Model 3 and refund the FSD software fee.
After activating Tesla’s FSD software, the German man said the car was “like a drunk novice driver”, unable to overtake on the motorway or recognize traffic lights and stop signs. He also claimed that the hardware in his Model 3 was incompatible with ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems).
It is not clear why the owner’s Tesla FSD is not working properly, but foreign media speculate that this should be related to the well-known chip reduction, and the new car may not use the HW 3.0 chip, which makes the FSD function impossible.
Elon Musk pledged on April 22, 2019, that all Teslas built from that date will have HW 3.0 hardware with the necessary computing power to enable autonomous driving. Before that, it was equipped with HW 2.5.
But the problem is that many car owners keep receiving cars with HW 2.5. In China, customers complained to consumer protection agencies about the matter, and Tesla was ordered to replace all of the old computers in new cars. In Canada, car owners are looking into suing Tesla to get them HW 3.0.
Tesla’s excuse is that everyone who pays for FSD will replace HW 3.0 for free when the software is ready. But for now, because the FSD has been in beta, Tesla is exempt from its commitments, which doesn’t apply in Germany.
In the end, Tesla lost the case and was not only ordered to refund the owner of the 6,300-euro FSD fee but also ordered by a judge to buy back the Model 3, which costs 69,000 euros. Tesla appealed the verdict.