Toronto, Ontario — False advertising lawsuits have been levelled against Tesla in the past few days, leaving the OEM with the possibility of class action lawsuits taking shape in California and Florida.
In California, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP announced a class action lawsuit on Wednesday. The law firm alleges that Tesla misled the public regarding its autopilot and full self-driving (FSD) technology, saying that the OEM made untrue and misleading statements while having yet to produce a fully self-driving car.
According to the firm’s press release, company partner Joe Cotchett said that “people have relied upon the representations of Tesla that the self-driving capabilities are completely safe, when Tesla knew they had many problems.”
This follows an earlier lawsuit by the California Department of Motor Vehicles on July 28, making similar claims that the OEM was making misleading statements, and ultimately intended to revoke Tesla’s manufacturing and vehicle dealing licenses.
Meanwhile in Florida, a Palm Beach County court has set a date in February for the first in a series of autopilot collision trials. According to an article published by Bloomberg on Tuesday, the name “autopilot” might lull drivers into a false sense of security that the vehicle could automatically pilot themselves.
This question arose when a Tesla Model 3 owner enabled the autopilot on his vehicle, seconds before crashing into the underbelly of a tractor trailer and shearing off the top half of his car in the collision. He left behind a family of three.
For better or worse, these cases are far from unique. On Aug. 30, Electrek reported on yet another class action lawsuit regarding a notorious phantom braking problem in the vehicle’s autopilot systems.
Similarly, Collision Repair has reported on various incidents where individuals and state or provincial bodies accused Tesla of false advertising, factories painting over vehicle damage, unresolved problems in a vehicle series and missing components such as brake pads.
This leaves the OEM with three ongoing class action lawsuits, among several dozen smaller investigations—not ideal, to put it lightly.
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