> So sorry, there is no ransoming. Just a bit of old fashioned fraud, and not on the part of Tesla.

Actually, it's just a bit of old fashioned stupidity on the part of Tesla (or, at least, on the part of one of Tesla's employees).

They made the mistake when the car was owned by someone else (in fact, two someone elses ago). It would cost them basically nothing to just leave it alone, and instead they've gained a huge pile of ill will -- not only for the current owner of the car, but an internet's worth of customers and potential customers. And saying they will "fix" what they "fixed" for $4500 just makes them look even more like jerks.

Really bad move on Tesla's part.