Tesla owner files class-action suit over warranty-voiding odometers

A Tesla owner is suing the company, claiming odometers were altered to end warranties faster, and is seeking a class-action lawsuit for all affected drivers

A Tesla owner in California has filed a class-action lawsuit against the electric car company, alleging that it manipulated odometer readings to shorten warranty coverage. The lawsuit, filed by Nyree Hinton, seeks to represent all Tesla owners affected by this practice in the state.

 

Hinton said he purchased a used Model Y in December 2022, showing 36,772 miles on the odometer. But after several trips to Tesla service centres for warranty-covered repairs, he started noticing odd behaviour from his car’s mileage tracking.

 

According to Hinton, the odometer regularly overestimated how far he drove—sometimes by 15 per cent and other times by as much as 117 per cent. From March 2023 to June 2023, for example, he said the car recorded an average of 72.35 miles per day, even though his routine was a consistent 20 miles a day.

 

 

Things further changed after his vehicle crossed the 50,000-mile mark in July 2023, when the basic warranty expired. Hinton said the odometer then began underreporting his daily driving. 

 

The lawsuit also claims that by April 2024, his Model Y showed about 50 miles of driving each day, despite him commuting 100 miles two to three times a week.

 

The lawsuit draws on similar complaints posted online by other Tesla owners and argues the issue is widespread enough to qualify for class-action status.

 

The lawsuit further alleges that Tesla’s odometer system does not simply measure the actual distance traveled. Instead, it uses a combination of energy consumption, driving behaviour, and predictive algorithms to estimate mileage.

 

"By tying warranty limits and lease mileage caps to inflated 'odometer' readings, Tesla increases repair revenue, reduces warranty obligations, and compels consumers to purchase extended warranties prematurely," the lawsuit states.

 

Under US federal law, odometer fraud is a serious crime, with steep penalties that can be enforced for each instance of tampering. 

 

The controversy brings to mind past scandals involving major auto manufacturers. In one of the most infamous cases, German automaker Volkswagen was caught in 2015 rigging software to cheat emissions tests in what became known as the “Dieselgate” scandal. According to the 

 

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Volkswagen had installed defeat devices in about 11 million vehicles worldwide to manipulate emissions data during regulatory testing.

 

In a similar scandal, Mitsubishi Motors confessed in 2016 to falsifying fuel efficiency data for several of its car models.

 

(With agency inputs)