Four months ago, more than a quarter ago, Tesla admitted it would not honor its biggest promise, and since then, the Californian manufacturer has done nothing to make amends with its customers. Not a public statement, not a private email, much less a commercial gesture... Tesla Model 3 and other Model Y owners must be content with Elon Musk's last words on the subject: a statement on January 29, in the middle of the brand's financial results release, in which the Tesla boss dismissed any possibility of autonomous driving in Teslas equipped with HW3.
The FSD option will never be activated on these Teslas
"The truth is that we will have to replace all HW3 computers in vehicles where FSD was purchased," Elon Musk said at the time. It should be noted that in the United States, this promise, which is starting to get old, has already been the subject of a class action lawsuit that must be resolved in court. Indeed, in 2016, in the midst of the HW3 launch, the brand's CEO promised that all vehicles produced from that date onward would be capable of autonomous driving. More specifically, it was the transition from the HW 2.5 to the HW3 that alone justified this promise. At the time, Elon Musk added that the system would eventually require a minor hardware update that Tesla could offer its customers.
Nearly 10 years later, the situation has changed. And more than four months after acknowledging that his promise was untenable, Elon Musk has offered nothing to the aggrieved customers. Indeed, in his statement, he admitted that it would be "painful and difficult," but that the hardware change would have to be made, before acknowledging that he was "rather happy that a good portion of buyers did not opt for the FSD option." Indeed, 100% autonomous driving was conditioned by the purchase of this option, but Tesla has never published figures showing what proportion of its customers opted for the famous FSD.
How can Tesla compensate its customers?
It is therefore difficult to know how many Tesla customers are directly affected by this false promise. Nor how they will be compensated. Indeed, since the beginning of 2023, Tesla has deployed the successor to the HW3, logically named HW4. This would be able to honor the hopes of autonomous driving of the FSD except that... it is technically impossible to replace the old system with the new one in vehicles in circulation. In other words, Tesla owners with HW3 will not be able to simply return to a Tesla store or garage to get a brand-new HW4. Indeed, there are also differences in hardware, connectivity, and even format between the two. It's a safe bet that HW5, the promised next step for the Cybercab, will pose the same compatibility issues. In fact, the most obvious solution would be either compensation for customers or a replacement for their old Tesla with a new one. In both cases, the bill could be steep for the manufacturer, and it could be supplemented by a fine imposed by a US court.
Source: Electrek
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