Skip to content
going far

Tesla odometer uses “predictive algorithms” to void warranty, lawsuit claims

This is a separate case to the lawsuits alleging Tesla misleads about range.

Jonathan M. Gitlin – | 271
Odometer with 99999 miles
Credit: Getty Images
Credit: Getty Images

Tesla is facing a new scandal that once again sees the electric automaker accused of misleading customers. In the past, it has been caught making "misleading statements" about the safety of its electric vehicles, and more recently, an investigation by Reuters found Tesla EVs exaggerated their efficiency. Now, a lawsuit filed in California alleges that the cars are also falsely exaggerating odometer readings to make warranties expire prematurely.

The lead plaintiff in the case, Nyree Hinton, bought a used Model Y with less than 37,000 miles (59,546 km) on the odometer. Within six months, it had pushed past the 50,000-mile (80,467 km) mark, at which point the car's bumper-to-bumper warranty expired. (Like virtually all EVs, Tesla powertrains have a separate warranty that lasts much longer.)

Ars Video

 

For this six-month period, Hinton says his Model Y odometer gained 13,228 miles (21,288 km). By comparison, averages of his three previous vehicles showed that with the same commute, he was only driving 6,086 miles (9,794 km) per 6 months.

The following year, Hinton's commute got longer, but he claims his car actually recorded 800 fewer miles per month once it was no longer under warranty. During the first six months of ownership, Hinton says the car displayed an average of 2,217 miles (3,568 km) a month; for the 12 months following the expiration of the warranty (and with a longer commute), the Model Y displayed an average of just 1,415 miles (2,277 km) a month.

Hinton's lawsuit alleges that Tesla "employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage traveled by Tesla Vehicles" and that his car "consistently exhibited accelerated mileage accumulations of varying percentages ranging from 15 percent to 117 percent higher than plaintiff's other vehicles and his driving history."

There are claims of similar experiences by Tesla owners on Reddit, and Hinton is bringing the lawsuit on behalf of all Californian Tesla customers. That may well be unsuccessful, though. In the exaggerated range case a US district judge found that individual owners had to engage in arbitration with Tesla and could not form a class.

Photo of Jonathan M. Gitlin
Jonathan M. Gitlin Automotive Editor
Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.
271 Comments
Staff Picks
a
aikouka
When I was switching away from my prior Tesla Model S, I decided to lease a different EV. I figured that I was only using about 12k miles per year, as that's about how much I usually drive. Even back with my earlier Model 3, I was logging all of my trips using TeslaFi, so when I checked my odometer history on TeslaFi, I was shocked to see that I had actually used around 17k-18k in the first year. This article makes me curious to do a deeper dive on the numbers.
Prev story
Next story