Angry Tesla owners sue Elon Musks automaker for misleading them about self-driving tech
Angry Tesla owners are mounting a legal battle against the electric vehicle giant, accusing billionaire CEO Elon Musk of misleading them about the cars’ self-driving capacity.Tom LoSavio – an 80-year-old retired attorney living near San Francisco and leading a class-action lawsuit against Tesla – paid more than $100,000 for a Tesla Model S in 2017.He also shelled out an extra $8,000 for lifetime access to the company’s self-driving tech – but he’s accusing Tesla of flaking on its promise that the hardware in older models would eventually be compatible with fully autonomous software.“My wife and I talked about what a great thing it would be if we could just get in a car and have it drive us places,” LoSavio told the Wall Street Journal.“You want to believe that you’re not a fool,” he added.Nine years after LoSavio’s initial purchase, his rideand many other early Tesla autos still aren’t capable of true autopilot, according to the lawsuit, which includes a class of roughly 3,000 people in California.It excludes many Tesla owners who signed agreements with the company that prevent them from suing, and Tesla is appealing the case’s class-action status.Tesla and Musk’s lawyer did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.Musk has been promising that fully autonomous capabilities are within reach for years, keeping Tesla’s stock price high even as Chinese rivals take a bite out of the EV seller’s market share.The company has launched pilot programs of driverless robotaxis and is eyeing Cybercab volume production this month – but it appears to have no path to full self-driving technology in the millions of Tesla vehicles that are estimated to be on the road with outdated hardware, according to the suit.LoSavio’s lawsuit is seeking a refund for customers who bought or leased new Tesla vehicles between 2016 and 2024 and paid extra with the expectation that the cars would eventually be fully self-driving. It is also se...