Ten Chinese Tesla Owners Sue Over Alleged False Advertising of FSD, Seeking ¥39.5M in Damages

The Daxing District People's Court in Beijing recently heard a class-action lawsuit targeting Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature. Ten Chinese vehicle owners filed the suit, alleging false advertising and consumer fraud, and are collectively seeking compensation of over RMB 3.95 million. The plaintiffs argue that Tesla engaged in misleading promotion and concealed hardware limitations, despite knowing that its advertised “Full Self-Driving” capability had not been approved by Chinese regulators and could not deliver core functionalities, thereby inducing them to purchase the feature or the vehicles themselves. During the trial, both parties presented evidence and debated whether FSD truly possesses the “full self-driving capability” as claimed. Nine of the plaintiffs demanded a “refund plus triple damages” specifically for the FSD feature—seeking reimbursement of their purchase price plus three times that amount in compensation. The tenth plaintiff, who stated that the promise of full self-driving capability was the sole deciding factor in purchasing the vehicle, is seeking “refund plus triple damages” for the entire car. The plaintiffs’ main grievances center on two issues: First, the FSD functionality promised by Tesla at the time of sale has still not been officially launched in China; since entering the Chinese market, it has only been rolled out under the name “Intelligent Driving Assistance,” and is compatible solely with vehicles equipped with HW4.0 hardware—those with HW3.0 hardware cannot use it. Second, some plaintiffs purchased the FSD option package as early as 2019 for prices ranging from RMB 56,000 to RMB 64,000, yet after years of waiting, they have still not received the core features originally promised, despite sales representatives having assured them the feature would be available “very soon.” Tesla, for its part, contends that the FSD functionality has now been “implemented” or partially implemented, with additional features still under development.