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5h ago

Judges Certify Class Actions on Tesla Self-Driving Claims and Musk’s Alleged USAID Role

Both cases now enter discovery, expanding legal risk through potential buyer refunds, marketing limits, plus collective scrutiny of Musk’s alleged role at USAID.

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025.
A Tesla logo is seen at a Tesla showroom in Shanghai, China January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

Overview

  • U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin certified two California classes after finding widespread exposure from October 2016 to August 2024 to Tesla statements that its cars had hardware for full self-driving.
  • The subclasses cover Full Self-Driving purchasers from Oct. 20, 2016 to May 19, 2017, and those who bought from May 19, 2017 to July 31, 2024 and opted out of Tesla’s arbitration agreement; an injunctive-relief class was also approved.
  • Lin declined to certify a class for Enhanced Autopilot buyers, ruling the alleged misstatements were not material to that product’s core attributes.
  • Tesla contests the claims and points to disclosures that FSD required validation and regulatory approval; a Sept. 24 conference will set the discovery and pretrial schedule.
  • In a separate case, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang certified a class action against Elon Musk over alleged efforts to dismantle or defund USAID, allowing collective claims to proceed.