Tesla speeds up odometers to avoid warranty repairs, US lawsuit claims | Hacker News Reader

Tesla speeds up odometers to avoid warranty repairs, US lawsuit claims

reuters.com

The actual complaint :

https://www.classaction.org/media/hinton-v-tesla-inc-et-al.p...

https://archive.is/2025.04.17-223338/https://www.reuters.com...

If this is true, it means that the battery wear numbers at 100k miles are incorrect as well.

Tesla gives you access to precise trip data, surely this would be blatantly obvious when matched with gps on something like teslafi.com. Sounds like just a silly lawsuit.

Why do you say silly? Have you looked at the plaintiffs' teslafi data?

Plaintiff’s Arguments

Misleading Odometer System:

Tesla’s odometer system uses predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers, rather than direct distance measurements, resulting in inflated mileage readings (Complaint ¶¶ 3-4, 62-65).

These readings deviate from traditional odometers, over-registering mileage by 15% to 117% compared to industry standards (¶ 71).

Tesla intentionally designed, manufactured, or tolerated this system to manipulate mileage, violating California Vehicle Code § 28050 (¶¶ 69-73, 133-136).

Only thing silly is to trust Tesla.

Their own patent explains the odometer does not rely on distance travelled:https://patents.google.com/patent/US8054038B2/en

Multiple Tesla users confirm the same as far back as 2 or 3 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModelY/comments/106m2dz/tesla_odome...

Edit: I researched this further. See my other post in this thread.

>Their own patent explains the odometer does not rely on distance travelled:https://patents.google.com/patent/US8054038B2/en

Where does it say that? There's 0 matches for "odometer".

The word odometer is not there. Tesla legal dept is not entirely dumb. There are strong implications throughout the patent that distance estimation, trip planning, and battery charge planning are heavily software-driven, and that mileage to be driven or driven is calculated through software, based on user input and various external conditions.

>There are strong implications throughout the patent that distance estimation, trip planning, and battery charge planning are heavily software-driven, and that mileage to be driven or driven is calculated through software, based on user input and various external conditions.

So you're saying because they're doing so much smart stuff to estimate trip distances, they must be using the same smart stuff to fudge the odometer?

If Tesla is actually fudging the odometer numbers, that also means that all of the other trip data collected by the car is suspect. You couldn't rely on it for this purpose.

It would be interesting if someone installed an independent odometer, though, to provide a trustworthy data source for verification.

A lot of research by the plaintiff: https://nyreehinton.com/pages/tesla/tesla-research-dashboard

We have that already, it's called GPS...people know how far things are.

GPS-derived data can also underestimate the distance if the recording frequency is too low. Probably not a big effect though. It can also overestimate distance travelled if there's a lot of jitter.

Ok this one was an interesting rabbit hole...But I hope plaintiff is not spending his own money, or is being well advised. The sad truth is that this Tesla Odometer Lawsuit exposes a regulatory gray area, both in the US and in the EU...

- Existing laws focus on tampering, not manufacturer accuracy.

Both the US and EU have strict laws against odometer tampering (e.g., CA Vehicle Code §28050 [1], EU Directive 2014/45/EU [2]), but they are focused on resale fraud, not manufacturer calibration. Accuracy standards are largely voluntary (e.g., SAE allows ±4% variance) [3], and terms like "manufacturer’s tolerance" are undefined in law. This lets companies like Tesla exploit algorithmic wiggle room.

- There is a precedent: Honda had a 2006 settlement.

Honda settled a class action for speedometers overreporting by 2–4% [4]. Tesla alleged 15–117% overcount (via energy-based algorithms) is far more extreme [5], but the legal framework hasn’t evolved to address software-driven discrepancies.

- The Lawsuit - https://www.classaction.org/media/hinton-v-tesla-inc-et-al.p...

The plaintiff alleges Tesla’s odometers inflate mileage to void warranties prematurely, citing a Tesla patent [6] confirming mileage is derived from energy use, not physical distance.

Data showing his Model Y logged 117% more miles than his driving history [5]. Claims include violations of CA odometer law, UCL/FAL false advertising, and breach of contract.

- This is a longstanding complaint from Tesla owners.

Tesla drivers have noted odometer discrepancies for years [7]. The patent admits the system uses "dynamic multipliers" (e.g., penalizing aggressive driving with higher mileage counts), a far cry from traditional odometers.

- Also journalists noted the same before.

"...Besides the disappointing result in the range test, the Tesla Model 3 had quite an unusual issue–its onboard trip meter was way off and essentially lied about the distance covered..." - [8]

- Tech bros should think about the Ethical implications of their code.

This will likely settle quietly, but it should go to trial. The engineers who designed this system prioritized warranty cost savings over transparency. Naming them might deter similar "creative accounting" in the industry.

- I judge they have low odds of success.

Tesla’s defense will lean on:

- Software ≠ a "device" under tampering laws.

- No legal definition of "tolerance" for algorithmic odometers.

- EU lawsuits would face the same regulatory voids (and lower payouts).

Concluding: Yet another reason...( nr:128th ?? ) to avoid Tesla. If you own one, expect accelerated depreciation, and pray your warranty isn’t voided by phantom miles.

[1] - https://www.defend-me.com/california-vehicle-code/california...

[2] - https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/45/oj/eng

[3] - https://standardsworks.sae.org/standards-committees/odometer...

[4] - Honda Speedometer Litigation Settlement - https://blog.goosmannlaw.com/risk-manager-on-your-side/how-a...

[5] - Hinton Research Dashboard - https://nyreehinton.com/pages/tesla/tesla-research-dashboard

[6] - Tesla Patent US8054038B2 - https://patents.google.com/patent/US8054038B2/en

[7] - "Tesla odometer mileage vs actual miles discrepancy" - https://www.reddit.com/r/ModelY/comments/106m2dz/tesla_odome...

[8] - https://insideevs.com/news/747548/ev-winter-range-test-norwa...

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