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Comment by inopinatus | Hacker News Reader

IANAL but I suspect it would be a violation of consumer laws in some jurisdictions where Tesla does business. E.g. Australia where limited/conditional warranty clauses are overridden by statutory consumer rights.

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Statutory rights are also superior to warranty disclaimers in every state of the USA, although such rights vary from state to state, and there are federal statutes as well.

Australia's statutory rights extends for 12 months/20k kms. Most factory warranties are way longer than that.

What you are talking about is the "dealer guarantee" provision, which requires car dealers to repair or make good, at their own expense, any defective vehicles they sell within that time period. This is in addition to the manufacturer's warranty period or the manufacturer's responsibility under Australian Consumer Law.

Australian Consumer Law covers "reasonable expectations" of fitness for purpose and is generally understood to comfortably exceed the typical three year warranty period.

https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees...

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/consumers/motor_vehicl...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-07/broken-but-out-of-warr...

http://www.caradvice.com.au/345004/what-is-the-australian-co...

Well, seeing how Tesla has a 4 year/50k mile warranty plus an 8 year/∞ mile battery and powertrain warranty, I'd say it's longer than the AU statutory periods, no?

There's no quantitative statutory period on manufacturing defects in the Australian Consumer Law. The language is of a test of the expectations of a "reasonable consumer", which can be (and has been) interpreted generously by the courts.

The dealer warranty for cars is a separate and mandatory guarantee, don't conflate the two.

My favourite summary of the situation is actually Apple's. Read http://www.apple.com/au/legal/statutory-warranty/ and pay attention to the language used for claim periods.

NB: the Australian regulator has teeth and is not afraid to use them, but their enforcement is selective. They tend to go after big fish like supermarkets, major retailers, energy companies.

Do you have a citation for that? (genuinely curious - I tried to find a list of what an 'acceptable period' for lifetime would be but couldn't find one, for any goods). I know Apple products have a 12 month warranty, but are subject to at least a 24 month warranty/guarantee given the 'reasonableness' test. I'd find it hard to believe that a reasonableness test would find that a $500 iPhone is expected to function for 2 years, but a $150,000 luxury vehicle is only expected to function for 12 months.

http://www.mynrma.com.au/motoring-services/buy-sell/buying-a...

The page doesn't really explain what a "reasonable" warranty period is. For example, the $200,000 Model S comes with a shorter warranty (4 years) than a $15,000 Mitsubishi Mirage (5 years). Is that reasonable? Should I expect 10 times longer warranty because the car is 10 times more expensive?

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