Tesla Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over Autopilot System

DooKey

DooKey

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Tesla has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit filed by Model S and X owners who claimed the Autopilot feature they paid for is unusable and dangerous. The second generation Autopilot was sold as an upgrade between 2016 and 2017 for $5,000. Customers will receive between $20 and $280 as compensation. That's not much compensation if you ask me. Aren't class action lawsuits wonderful? Those customers sure made out on this settlement.

The company has come under increased scrutiny over its Autopilot system in recent months after two Tesla drivers died in crashes in which Autopilot was engaged. The most recent crash, in March, is being investigated by safety regulators.
 
The customers essentially got what they were promised. They didn't get much compensation because they were never promised a perfect, fully autonomous vehicle. The settlement was so small because the lawsuit had so little merit.
 
Montu said:
The second generation Autopilot was sold as an upgrade between 2016 and 2017 for $5,000. Customers will receive between $20 and $280 as compensation. That's not much compensation if you ask me. Aren't class action lawsuits wonderful? Those customers sure made out on this settlement.
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Well, class actions aren't perfect, but they do allow lawsuits to go forward in disputes in situations where it otherwise wouldn't make financial sense or be possible to bring a suit on your own. I think its healthier to think of them as a method to discourage large companies from doing bad things due to the potential costs of class actions, rather than a wayu of seeking financial restitution for class members.

MikeTrike said:
I bet the lawyers/firm made out pretty decent on this deal...
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Well, it's not as if the lawyers just get a massive windfall in cash. They are typically getting paid at standard rates for the many thousands of hours of work they put into a suit like this. The truth is, legal services are expensive.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Well, it's not as if the lawyers just get a massive windfall in cash. They are typically getting paid at standard rates for the many thousands of hours of work they put into a suit like this. The truth is, legal services are expensive.
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Kinda my point. They get paid even if it's stupid and/or frivolous. Of course they're DTF.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Well, class actions aren't perfect, but they do allow lawsuits to go forward in disputes in situations where it otherwise wouldn't make financial sense or be possible to bring a suit on your own. I think its healthier to think of them as a method to discourage large companies from doing bad things due to the potential costs of class actions, rather than a wayu of seeking financial restitution for class members.



Well, it's not as if the lawyers just get a massive windfall in cash. They are typically getting paid at standard rates for the many thousands of hours of work they put into a suit like this. The truth is, legal services are expensive.
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Thing is that most of the time this type of lawsuits are settled. People get pennies, lawyers get millions, the company won't admit any wrong doing and the terms of the lawsuit are confidential.
 
Everyone involved should have the feature disabled permanetly.

They should rebrand it an lane assist and require a eula to engage it.
 
Very few plaintiffs have actually suffered in any way; the lawsuit is designed to punish the company, not make everyone rich. That lawyers getting the real money is another discussion.
 
Pay 5k for autopilot as an upgrade... get 20 bucks back because it doesnt work as advertised

Tesla: Trololololilol
 
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Stoly said:
Thing is that most of the time this type of lawsuits are settled. People get pennies, lawyers get millions, the company won't admit any wrong doing and the terms of the lawsuit are confidential.
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Class action suits enable the public to go after companies for illicit behavior that an individual customer is unlikely to sue over because of the legal costs. Any individual who could be included in a class action suit is free to sue on their own.

Personally, I got quite a bit back from that last DRAM class action.

In this particular situation:
The Tesla owners said they paid an extra $5,000 to have their cars equipped with the Autopilot software with additional safety features such as automated emergency braking and side collision warning.

The features were “completely inoperable,” according to the complaint.
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Tesla said in a statement it “wanted to do right” by its customers and, as part of the proposed deal, agreed to compensate car owners who had purchased the 2.0 version of Autopilot and “had to wait longer than we expected” for the driving features to become active.
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With that in mind this seems like a reasonable outcome for all involved. Customers got compensation for the time they had to wait for the advertised features.
 
viper1152012 said:
Everyone involved should have the feature disabled permanetly.

They should rebrand it an lane assist and require a eula to engage it.
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No way, they should disable all vehicles, even the ones in motion.

Disable by overheating the battery.

Corporations are always right! :depressed::vomit:
 
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