Tesla settles class-action lawsuit over Model S range reduction

The lesson from this situation seems to be not to mess with Model S owners.

Tim Stevens / Roadshow

Way, way back in 2019 we reported an investigation alerted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to some issues customers have had with their Tesla Model S batteries. In particular, Tesla sent an over-the-air software update that was supposed to fix an issue with the Model S battery, but ultimately reduced the range of the affected vehicles.

That range reduction was enough to anger a number of Model S owners enough to file a class action lawsuit, which they won, according to a report released Thursday by Reuters. In addition, Tesla has agreed to pay owners of affected vehicles $ 1.5 million, which is roughly $ 625 per owner.

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If that doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s because it isn’t. It’s hard to buy a house in Los Angeles these days for $ 1.5 million, and that’s hardly a drop in the ocean for Tesla. Nevertheless, it should satisfy the affected owners, who – according to Tesla – had the range of their cars restored from March 2020.

We normally would ask an automaker for comment on such a story, but Tesla has closed its PR department, so all we can do is scream into the void of Twitter at Elon Musk and hope for a response we are unlikely to get. It’s a bad scene for us and for consumers.

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