Broken drive shafts, thumping in the chassis, malfunctioning car kit, long waiting times on the phone: these are just a few of the complaints with which the Tesla Claim Foundation wants to hold Tesla accountable on behalf of dissatisfied customers. But the judge has ruled against the complainants.
Last year, three dissatisfied Tesla drivers set up a foundation with which they want to file damage claims with Tesla on behalf of other disappointed people. If the foundation wins, he will receive 35 percent of the compensation and 65 percent will go to the rider. In the event of a loss, the driver pays € 500 to the foundation for costs incurred. Tesla was sentenced in absentia in April last year to compensate two of the founders, but still filed a protest, and with success: the earlier verdict was overturned by the court in Amsterdam last week.
The founders’ complaints are numerous. For example, the drive shafts were replaced several times. Tesla compared the trip data from both of their Model SP 100 Ds with twelve random comparable models and concluded that the complainers accelerated at full throttle five times more often. According to the importer, Tesla warns that frequent use of the Ludicrous function can lead to excessive wear. Nevertheless, they always replaced the axles free of charge out of leniency. The judge agreed.
The ADAS systems, called at Tesla Autopilot, are also not satisfactory, according to the complainants. They claim to have expected their cars to drive independently. In addition, they experience uncontrolled steering and braking movements. Tesla states that Autopilot is only intended to be supportive and the judge agreed with that.
Tesla promised stress-free, low-maintenance cars in its communications and, according to the complainants, it has not met. Tesla itself states that it has always helped its customers properly, making a replacement car available if necessary. According to the court, it has done what could be expected of Tesla.
The other complaints, including a stuck backrest, malfunction in the car kit, discolored touchscreen, a rattling door and loose decorative strips, Tesla resolved free of charge, after which it no longer received complaints from the drivers. Tesla Motors Netherlands says it has resolved all complaints free of charge, even where they were not attributable to the car, but to the driving behavior of the drivers.
Insofar as the defects are not covered by the warranty (4 years or 80,000 km), the complainants invoke the conformity principle, but the judge also rejected that. Only private buyers enjoy this protection and these cars have been sold to ING through a lease construction, so that the complainants are not consumers according to the letter of the law.
The judge ordered the complainants to repay the previously awarded damages and the costs of the proceedings. Chairman Wouter van Waning of the Tesla Claim Foundation is one of the drivers in this judgment. He calls it a ‘nice lesson’ to Techzle: “It would have been nice if the judge had ruled us right on a number of points. Look, that the cars meet the RDW standards and that Tesla has repaired the defects, we have never But Tesla has portrayed its cars as super-fast and hassle-free. There was an enormous amount of money in return. It would have been worth it if the cars had lived up to expectations, but they don’t with all those flaws, damage on delivery and waiting periods of three months. “
You would assume that this ruling means the end for the Tesla Claim Foundation, which according to Van Waning has three hundred registrations. But nothing could be further from the truth, he assures us: “We are at the beginning. Two people against Tesla, that’s Tom Thumb against the big giant. Had we been in the right, it would have had enormous consequences for countless drivers and Tesla itself. Perhaps the judge has taken this into account. We are considering the possibilities. An appeal seems the most logical to us. But then we have to substantiate it better. “
When asked, a Tesla spokesperson told us that he did not want to add anything further: “The verdict is clear.”