South Korean court rejects Tesla owners' lawsuit seeking Full Self-Driving refunds

A Seoul Central District Court ruling has denied a refund claim brought by Tesla owners who argued that the company failed to deliver the functions they paid for under its Full Self-Driving package.

Court says FSD did not promise fully autonomous driving

The court found that Tesla’s FSD option did not amount to a promise of Level 5 autonomy, which would allow a vehicle to operate without human intervention. It treated the arrangement as an uncertain-term contract in which further capabilities depended on technological progress and regulatory approval.

The decision also noted that buyers had received functions including basic Autopilot and Enhanced Autopilot. Korean reports said the court additionally considered traffic-light and road-sign recognition and urban-driving capabilities supplied through software updates, while noting that the vehicles involved used Tesla’s HW3.0 computer platform.

Different reports give different plaintiff counts

Reuters reported that the Seoul Central District Court ruled against 88 plaintiffs. Reports from Chosun and SBS described the case as a lawsuit by 89 Tesla owners. The Korean reports said the owners bought vehicles with the FSD option between 2019 and 2022 and filed the case in December 2024 seeking contract cancellation and refunds.

The court also rejected the argument that the absence of features available on newer HW4.0 vehicles by itself showed that Tesla had failed to perform its contract. Tesla did not immediately comment to Reuters on the ruling.

Sources

Reuters
The Chosun Daily
SBS News