Tesla Sold Battery Warranties With ‘No Intention’ to Honor Them, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Tesla has advertised and sold warranties for its electric vehicle batteries with no intention to honor drivers’ warranty claims.

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The 19-page Tesla lawsuit was filed by a California consumer who claims to have brought his 2016 Model S in for covered repairs for a second time last July after viewing the vehicle’s “battery fuse requires replacement soon” light, only for the company to refuse to replace the fuse without charge. 

The Tesla driver, whose battery fuse had already been repaired once, in February 2023, pursuant to the man’s warranty, alleges the automaker failed to disclose in its advertisements and contracts that consumers who experience a battery fuse malfunction will not be able to utilize the warranty they paid for. 

“Had Plaintiff known that Defendant would not honor the warranty, Plaintiff would not have purchased the Model S vehicle from [Tesla], [sic] rather, Plaintiff would have considered purchasing a different vehicle from another manufacturer,” the filing insists, alleging that Tesla’s sales tactics “rely on falsities” and often “mislead and deceive” reasonable consumers. 

Warranties are particularly important to consumers given that they provide “a guarantee of the value of a good” after it is bought, the case states. Per the suit, this is especially true for electric vehicle batteries, which are essential to the proper operation of a car. 

Tesla’s warranty explicitly states that consumers can “rest easy” knowing that the company’s state-of-the-art battery and drive unit are “backed by this battery and drive unit limited warranty,” the complaint shares. The Tesla warranty at issue is purported to cover “the repair or replacement of any malfunction or defective battery or drive unity [sic]” for eight years or 150,000 miles, whichever comes first, among other limitations, the lawsuit relays. 

The class action lawsuit accuses Tesla of knowingly lying to the plaintiff and proposed class members so as to induce them into buying its electric vehicles. 

The lawsuit looks to cover all consumers who, within the applicable statute of limitations period, bought a Tesla electric vehicle battery warranty, “namely used items on which Defendant makes statements that it will honor any manufacturer warranty.” 

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