Tesla Model X: E-SUV made “weaker” via update

Tesla’s legal disputes seem to be piling up at the moment. In addition to the increasing problems surrounding the controversial Autopilot, the company has now suffered a defeat in court. In this country, a lawyer successfully sued the e-car maker and was proven right. Result: the Model X may be returned because the ground clearance no longer corresponds to the original.

Software was changed without warning

But let’s start at the origin. This lies in a questionable update on the part of Tesla. The e-car maker subjected its electrifying SUV to a software update without warning. According to the ruling, this results in a right to return the car, which cost more than 150,000 euros. This has now been reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung in one of its articles. In the questionable update, Tesla revised the Model X’s height adjustment. The stylish SUV has this to regulate the ground clearance depending on the situation. When driving fast over the asphalt, this should be as low as possible to ensure maximum aerodynamics. On the other hand, if the surface is rather uneven, a correspondingly large ground clearance should be ensured. A margin of 15 cm is given here.

Unfortunately, the software update ensured that the Model X no longer had 15 cm of clearance. However, it was not clear from the release notes of the update that such a reduction had taken place. Thus, users were unaware that this revision was taking place. While the company got away with this obvious misconduct with many customers, a lawyer from Germany did not put up with it. He complained about the feature that was changed in an update in August 2020 and went to court. The demand: his car should be returned to its previous state with 15 cm clearance.

Tesla did not comply with the demand

However, the e-car giant did not comply with the understandable demand. In court, Tesla then had to draw the short straw. Thus, the company was told that such a change per se is not a problem. However, customers should have been informed beforehand that a restriction of the ground clearance was planned. Now Tesla has to bite the bullet and refund the money for the angry customer’s vehicle. Of course, the customer will not receive the full purchase price. The usage fee for the kilometers already covered will be deducted from this.