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Contents11
  1. Consumer impact summary
  2. Incidents
  3. Heated rear seats behind paywall (2020 - Present)
  4. Horsepower behind paywall (2019 - Present)
  5. Disabling of radar hardware (2023 - Present)
  6. Battery range behind paywall (2024 - Present)
  7. Wrongful legal threats
  8. Resale restrictions
  9. Full Self-Driving switching to subscription only (2026)
  10. See also
  11. References

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Tesla
Basic information
Founded 2003
Legal Structure Public
Industry Automotive
Also known as
Official website https://tesla.com/

Tesla, Inc. (formerly Tesla Motors) is a company founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. In 2008, it was funded and taken over by Elon Musk, when both original founders left their positions.[1][2]

Consumer impact summary

Artificially disabling functionality

Tesla was among the early automakers to implement feature gating through software updates. They is currently shipping several cars with disabled functionalities, which are physically built into the car. These features can only be used with a one-time payment or monthly fee and include horsepower, battery range, and heated rear seats.[3][4]

Enshittification

Teslas widespread features on demand practices are a concern for enshittification. It has allowed them to start eliminating one-time purchase options in place of monthly subscriptions, such as full self driving abilities.[5]

Privacy

Tesla employees have allegedly viewed and shared embarrassing, disturbing, and potentially explicit recordings of Tesla through internal messaging systems. There didn't seem to be effective measures in place to prevent those videos from being accessed by employees. It has also been reported that the recordings have been used to train artificial intelligence.[6]

Incidents

After the company was bought by Elon Musk it has been involved in a number of controversies such as requiring subscriptions or requiring a Tesla technician to fix 2012's Model S,[7] With cases such as being the most prominent automaker to refuse to support Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, despite the feature being available in over 90% of new vehicles sold in the U.S.[8], limiting Standard Connectivity features to 8 years for vehicles ordered after July 20, 2022, after which owners have to pay for basic navigation and other connected services that were previously free for the life of the vehicle,[9] and selling a utility vehicle (the Cybertruck, starting around $80,000 USD) whose owner's manual states that damage caused by car washes is not covered by the warranty.[10][11]

Heated rear seats behind paywall (2020 - Present)

Main article: Tesla locks heated rear seats behind paywall

Tesla introduced a $300 paywall for heated seats in Model 3 Standard Range variants where the heating hardware was already installed but software-disabled.[12]

Horsepower behind paywall (2019 - Present)

Main article: Tesla locks horsepower behind paywall

The company introduced an "acceleration boost" for certain vehicles that increased acceleration performance once the software feature was purchased, despite the necessary hardware already being present in the car.[3][4]

Disabling of radar hardware (2023 - Present)

Tesla initially promoted the inclusion of radar hardware in its Model 3 vehicles. In 2023 Tesla issued an over-the-air (OTA) software update that disabled the radar hardware in existing Model 3 vehicles equipped with it.[13][14][15] As a result, these vehicles saw changes such as a reduced range of following distance options in Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC), from 1-7 to 2-7. Reports also indicated degraded performance in driver assistance systems, including instances of unexpected braking behavior.[16]

Battery range behind paywall (2024 - Present)

Main article: Tesla locks battery range behind paywall

All rear-wheel-drive (RWD) Tesla Model Y vehicles are equipped with battery hardware capable of approximately 320 miles. To get use functionality, customers have to pay for a software update that costs $1,600, or be stuck with the default 260 mile range.[17]

In 2022, Swedish car repair company Grufman Bil AB, based in Järfälla, published a video on their YouTube channel showing a 2016 Tesla Model S with a broken rear suspension link arm (länkarm), a safety-critical component that had failed while driving, causing the wheel to fold under the vehicle. In the video, they demonstrated the weakness of the material by hammering on the other (intact) link arm, which also broke after several strikes. The video ended with a direct message to Tesla to fix the defect before someone got killed. The same suspension defect had previously led Chinese authorities to force Tesla to recall 30,000 Model S and Model X vehicles.[18]

Shortly after the video went viral, Tesla's law firm sent a letter to Grufman Bil claiming the video was damaging to Tesla's reputation and that Grufman Bil was using Tesla's brand to promote their own business. The letter demanded the video be removed. Grufman Bil's own lawyer said the video could legally stay up, but the company chose to take it down anyway, not wanting to risk a legal fight with a much larger corporation. Fredrik Grufman, the company's owner, stated that the goal of the video, raising awareness of a dangerous defect, had been achieved, and that authorities were already looking into it.[19][20][21]

Resale restrictions

Tesla has recently started prohibiting the resale of its vehicles within one year of purchase, imposing fines of up to $50,000 on owners who violate the policy.[22] This is done without regard for situations that may necessitate a resale, and appears to align with practices adopted by other companies.[23]

Full Self-Driving switching to subscription only (2026)

Main article: Tesla switches full self-driving to subscription only

On 14 January, 2026, Elon Musk announced that Tesla will stop selling their "Full Self-Driving" (or "FSD") feature as a one-time purchase for $8,000 USD, instead offering only a subscription option for $99 USD per month. This policy is set to take effect on 14 February, 2026.[24][25]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schreiber, Barbara A.; Gregersen, Erik; Ashburn, Doug (21 Mar 2025). "Tesla, Inc". Britannica. Archived from the original on 19 Nov 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  2. ↑ Qai group (29 Sep 2022). "Tesla: A History Of Innovation (and Headaches)". Forbes. Archived from the original on 4 Sep 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Agatie, Cristian (20 Nov 2024). "Refreshed Tesla Model 3 Gets Acceleration Boost in Certain Markets, US Still Waiting". autoevolution. Archived from the original on 23 Mar 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ali, Iqtidar (22 November 2024). "Tesla starts offering Acceleration Boost for the Model 3 Highland Long Range variant". Tesla Oracle. Archived from the original on 6 Nov 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  5. ↑ Palmer, Annie (2026-01-14). "Musk says Tesla is moving Full Self-Driving to a monthly subscription". CNBC. Archived from the original on 4 Feb 2026. Retrieved 2026-02-20.
  6. ↑ "Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customer cars". The Business Standard. 6 Apr 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-06-21. Retrieved 7 Apr 2026.
  7. ↑ "2012 Tesla Model s problems". SlotCar Today. Archived from the original on 8 Jul 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  8. ↑ "The Real Reason Teslas Don't Have Apple CarPlay And Android Auto". TopSpeed. 14 Apr 2024. Archived from the original on 24 Feb 2026. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  9. ↑ "Connectivity". Tesla Support. Archived from the original on 19 Sep 2025. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  10. ↑ "Cybertruck Owner's Manual: Cleaning". Tesla. Archived from the original on 4 Jun 2025. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  11. ↑ "Cybertruck Turns Into Large Metal Brick After Going Through Car Wash". Futurism. 18 Apr 2024. Archived from the original on 2 Jan 2026. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  12. ↑ Loveday, Steven (18 Feb 2020). "Tesla Model 3 Heated Rear Seats: Simple, Fast & Inexpensive Process". InsideEVs. Archived from the original on 2025-08-30. Retrieved 24 Mar 2026.
  13. ↑ Dnistran, Iulian (22 Mar 2023). "Elon Musk Overruled Tesla Engineers Who Said Removing Radar Would Be Problematic: Report". InsideEVs. Archived from the original on 6 Aug 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  14. ↑ "Tesla's Relationship With Radar". Edge AI and Vision Alliance. 31 Jan 2024. Archived from the original on 9 Nov 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  15. ↑ Klender, Joey (10 Jun 2023). "Tesla owners claim their radar was disabled during service visits". Teslarati. Archived from the original on 7 Nov 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  16. ↑ rwiegand (22 Jul 2024). "Unfortunate new panic braking behavior from TACC". Archived from the original on 7 Apr 2026. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025 – via Tesla Motors Club.
  17. ↑ Ali, Iqtidar (18 Jul 2024). "Tesla Model Y RWD owners can unlock 50 miles of extra range for $1,600 via an OTA update". teslaoracle.com. Archived from the original on 18 Jul 2024. Retrieved 24 Mar 2026.
  18. ↑ Kolodny, Lora (23 Oct 2020). "Tesla recalls nearly 50,000 Model S and X cars in China over faulty suspension". CNBC. Archived from the original on 3 Jan 2026. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  19. ↑ "Slog larm om farligt fel – Teslas advokater stoppar filmen". Carup.se (in svenska). 15 Jul 2022. Archived from the original on 12 Nov 2025. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  20. ↑ "Teslas advokater hotar svensk bilverkstad för filmpublicering". Ny Teknik (in svenska). 12 Jul 2022. Archived from the original on 9 Oct 2024. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  21. ↑ "Verkstad tar bort kritisk video efter brev från Teslas advokater". Elbilen (in svenska). 9 Jan 2024. Archived from the original on 8 Oct 2025. Retrieved 22 Feb 2026.
  22. ↑ Hood, Bryan (4 June 2024). "A Man Says Tesla Won't Let Him Sell His Cybertruck—Even Though It's Too Big for His Parking Spot". Robb Report. Archived from the original on 25 Jul 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  23. ↑ Foote, Brett (7 Jan 2022). "2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Will Come With One Year No-Sale Provision". Ford Authority. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  24. ↑ "Full Self-Driving (Supervised) Subscriptions". Tesla Support. Archived from the original on 23 Jan 2026. Retrieved 22 Jan 2026.
  25. ↑ Musk, Elon (14 Jan 2026). "Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14". X. Archived from the original on 7 Apr 2026. Retrieved 22 Jan 2026.
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