German court orders Tesla to buy back car from customer

Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle company Tesla has been ordered by a court in Germany to buy back a Model 3 vehicle from a customer who filed a complaint over how disappointed he was with the Full Self-Driving (FSD) package -- which includes Autopilot features -- that he felt it was driving like "a drunk first-time driver".

According to the auto-tech website Electrek, the electric vehicle company just lost a case in Darmstadt Regional Court, which ordered Tesla to buy back the plaintiff's Model 3.

"… assistance functions such as automatically overtaking slower vehicles on the freeway did not work. The steering behaviour at entrances and exits or motorway junctions is spongy and resembles that of a 'drunk novice driver'. Traffic lights and stop signs are not recognized," the report said citing Spiegel.

Meanwhile, Tesla said that there is no defect with the car and insists that the features would be delivered in the future through software updates, but it cannot say when, the report said.


"With regard to the process, the US group states that it is not aware of any software or hardware malfunctions on the vehicle that could not have been remedied by a repair," the company was quoted as saying.

"According to Tesla, the necessary upgrade to the latest hardware would have been free of charge. Systems and features worked as intended and in accordance with the current regulations for autonomous driving in Germany," it added. - IANS