Tesla under investigation by California attorney general over Autopilot safety, marketing

The California lawyer general's bureau is investigating Tesla, seeking accusation from customers and erstwhile employees astir Autopilot information issues and mendacious advertizing complaints, CNBC has learned.

Greg Wester, the proprietor of a 2018 Tesla Model 3, filed a ailment with the Federal Trade Commission successful August 2022, regarding "phantom braking" — sudden, automatic braking by a car for nary evident crushed — that helium would acquisition erstwhile utilizing the company's operator assistance systems, oregon Autopilot, connected the highway.

Wester besides told the FTC that helium felt misled by Tesla aft paying thousands of dollars for the company's premium operator assistance option, marketed arsenic Full Self Driving capableness (FSD) successful the U.S.

By the 2nd 4th of this year, an expert with California Attorney General Rob Bonta's bureau near Wester a voicemail seeking to interrogation him astir the issues referenced successful the complaint. Wester shared the dependable connection with CNBC, and provided a transcript of the FTC's automated effect acknowledging receipt of his complaint.

CNBC confirmed that the idiosyncratic who called from the California AG's bureau works arsenic an expert there. The authorities worker did not petition confidentiality successful the voicemail.

Phantom braking, a known contented that Tesla customers person complained astir to federal agencies for years, tin permission drivers susceptible to being rear-ended, among different dangers.

Musk has agelong promised investors and customers that features and functions would beryllium added to Tesla vehicles implicit time, via over-the-air bundle updates, that would crook their cars into self-driving oregon autonomous vehicles. On Tesla's second-quarter net call, Musk called himself "the lad who cried FSD."

To this day, Tesla has not delivered a self-driving car and sells "level 2" systems, which necessitate an attentive operator down the instrumentality who is acceptable to steer oregon brake astatine immoderate time.

"Tesla should connection customers the enactment to person a afloat refund of Autopilot features if they are unsatisfied with the product," Wester said successful an interview. In purchasing FSD, helium said, "we bought a afloat autonomy merchandise and we received a operator monitoring merchandise with partial autonomy."

Wester isn't the lone Tesla lawsuit to beryllium contacted by analysts with the lawyer general's bureau aft voicing information and related concerns.

A erstwhile Tesla employee, whose household owns a 2021 Model 3 with the FSD option, was contacted by email successful July 2023 by a elder ineligible expert successful the California AG's user extortion division. In the email, reviewed by CNBC, the expert said she was seeking accusation from the idiosyncratic for an unspecified but progressive probe into Tesla.

The erstwhile Tesla employee, whose individuality is known to CNBC, asked to stay unnamed to support his privacy. The idiosyncratic had antecedently voiced concerns astir Autopilot and FSD information issues astatine Tesla and publicly.

Tesla and the California lawyer general's bureau didn't respond to requests for comment. The FTC declined to comment.

It's not antithetic for law enforcement offices successful the U.S. to get user complaints filed to the FTC via an online database called the Consumer Sentinel Network. According to the national agency's website, the web "gives instrumentality enforcement members entree to reports submitted straight to the Federal Trade Commission by consumers," and to different reports shared by "data contributors."

In its second-quarter fiscal filing, Tesla said it receives "requests for accusation from regulators and governmental authorities, specified arsenic the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the SEC, the Department of Justice ('DOJ') and assorted state, federal, and planetary agencies."

While the institution has antecedently identified "requests from the DOJ for documents related to Tesla's Autopilot and FSD features," Tesla has not disclosed that the California lawyer wide was investigating the company.

"Should the authorities determine to prosecute an enforcement action, determination exists the anticipation of a worldly adverse interaction connected our business, results of operation, prospects, currency flows and fiscal position," Tesla said successful the filing.

California has been Tesla's largest U.S. marketplace for its electrical vehicles and is location to the company's archetypal conveyance assembly works successful Fremont. The institution relocated its firm office to Austin, Texas from Palo Alto, California, successful 2021.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has been investigating Tesla's operator assistance systems for years, and has formally accused the institution of deceptive practices successful selling its Autopilot and FSD technology.

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