As if it didn’t already have enough going on with declining sales and concerning recalls, Tesla has found itself in more trouble after the electric automaker was targeted in a new class-action lawsuit.
According to The Street, Tesla has been accused of deliberately fudging the mileage on its vehicles’ odometers in an apparent attempt to avoid paying for repairs that would normally be covered under warranty.
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The plaintiff in the lawsuit said he bought a used 2020 Model Y Tesla vehicle with 36,772 miles on it. He said he started to notice "peculiar patterns” in mileage while the vehicle was continually having problems with its suspension. He claimed his daily driving habits should have amounted to about 20 miles per day, but his Tesla’s odometer was registering an average of 72 miles per day. As a result, he said Basic Warranty expired way ahead of schedule.
The lawsuit claims that Tesla’s odometer system relies on “predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage travelled by Tesla vehicles.” And by doing so, the automaker is accelerating the rate of depreciation and the expiration of warranties for its vehicles.
“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 reads.
As the report points out, other owners have accused Tesla of the same type of mileage manipulation.
The lawsuit is another headache for Tesla as it deals with several other problems. Earlier this month, the company reported a double-digit drop in sales for the first quarter of 2025, which the Associated Press attributed to an aging lineup, increasing competition and backlash from CEO Elon Musk’s political career.
Tesla is also facing another high-profile recall for its high-profile Cybertruck, this time because pieces of the electric truck are flying off while driving.
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