Tesla mileage discrepancies.

[NoraBatty]

A new class action lawsuit accuses Tesla of intentionally manipulating the mileage shown on its electric vehicles' odometers to more quickly void its warranties. Other Tesla drivers not involved in the litigation have told Business Insider they believe they've experienced the same phenomenon.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-l ... oid-2025-4

[Mart]

I can't read that article, but have seen others on the subject. I recall the claimant saying that the car is clocking up 72 miles on a 20 mile trip, and this is because of the predictive algorithm used by Tesla for estimating range covered .........

[MikeNovack]

Interesting. The discussion mainly focused on potential CIVIL wrongs with tregar5d to warrany, but in most (if not all) US states odometer "tampering"is CRIMINAL. Of course that more usually a matter of turning back the number (fraud -- increase value of used car). Odometer reading is supposed to be absolute, not "calculated"/"estimated". Thus on some trucks you will see a device on the hub of some wheel.

Sorry, unclear to me why Teslas couldn't have odometers counting revs of some wheel (the accuracy of that affected by tire wear, but accurate to a few percent).

But back to how inaccurate (too high) odometer readings would be fraud in most (if not all) US states consider LEASES. At the settling up at the end of the lease (and the various options) ONE factor would be mileage. Generally an auto lease contract allows up to a certain amount of mileage included but if not buying the car (giving it up) would have to pay X amount per mile over. And yes, at least over here, Teslas can be leased as well as bought.

[NoraBatty]

Fraud is a very high bar to set, and my understanding of the case is that no official investigation has been undertaken?

Granted it helps a bit when you sack the people who would investigate, but you would expect the civil case to be filed after an official complaint to those who can do something about it.
That doesnt mean it was, but certainly that would be the normal course of events over here, and civil precedings would only be started after such a report had been filed, and you had heard back.

Odometers are normally mechanical or digital, reading revolutions of the wheels. Allowed tolerance over here is +/-2.5%.
Seems stupid to over engineer and reinvent something that 1, is already digital, and 2, is already tried, tested and proven if thats what has occurred.
It may be that they are using a digital odometer but have retained the ability to clock a car by remotely changing the digital reading. Why you would need to have this ability is beyond me.

Reading between the lines, it seems as though the vast majority of owners dont have an issue, or at least havent noticed one.
The complaint seems to allege the "tampering" occurs when a vehicle is either showing signs of a fault that would require free servicing, or nearing a mileage that would exempt it from free servicing, and seemingly not any other time.
i.e. once approaching a mileage milestone, help it get over the mileage line a bit quicker so Tesla is not on the hook.

This may be nothing or it may be another dieselgate thing.
Either way I thought it interesting enough that the suit had made progression, not been outright dismissed and had actually been moved from state court to federal court by tesla.

[Oliver90owner]

I can't read that article, but have seen others on the subject. I recall the claimant saying that the car is clocking up 72 miles on a 20 mile trip, and this is because of the predictive algorithm used by Tesla for estimating range covered .........

That should equate to about three and a half times the energy efficiency, too? Leads on to questioning the real reported miles/kWh for Teslas?

[Mart]

I can't read that article, but have seen others on the subject. I recall the claimant saying that the car is clocking up 72 miles on a 20 mile trip, and this is because of the predictive algorithm used by Tesla for estimating range covered .........

That should equate to about three and a half times the energy efficiency, too? Leads on to questioning the real reported miles/kWh for Teslas?

Yep, it's all pretty silly tbh. Maybe there's an issue with this person's car, but testing by others, when this news(?) broke, doesn't seem to show any difference between Tesla's (including the particular year and model), and any other car.

[Yuff]

Sounds like click bait to me.
We have had a Tesla for 5 years and the cars have been flawless so far

[Stinsy]

This "story" really does seem rather silly. Here is what I imagine has happened:

- A crazy person imagines a milage discrepancy in their Tesla.
- A journalist who is desperate to bash Tesla and Musk runs with the story without bothering to do any due diligence.
- Large numbers of people who dislike Musk's political opinions spread the story far and wide.

However, unfortunately for all of the above, there is no substance whatsoever it seems.

[NoraBatty]

Its a class action.

The named person on the filing is just the named plaintiff.
From what i gather for a class action to be filed there has to be at least 40 people signed up.
The filing states it is representing all owners of a tesla in the state of California.

[dan_b]

https://electrek.co/2025/04/18/tesla-od ... ng-burger/

Quite the story. Not sure I believe it's true.
You can read the suit in this article