Tesla has been hit with a lawsuit from an owner who claims that the car manufacturer has intentionally limited the battery range of older vehicles in a bid to avoid a costly recall.
Reuters reports that the lawsuit filed on Wednesday in North California’s federal court alleges fraud and seeks class-action status for possibly thousands of Model S and Model X owners whose older-generation batteries had their range slashed by as much as 40 miles (64 km).
Many Model S and Model X owners, on forums such as the Tesla Motors Club, claim that a software update resulted in their vehicles losing range. For example, the owner of a 2014 Model S 85 claims that he lost the equivalent of 8 kWh from his battery and was told by the company that the degradation was normal.
Also Read: Tesla Model X Battery Reignited Days After Fatal Crash
Tesla has acknowledged that it did indeed cut the capacity of the batteries of some vehicles to improve their longevity.
“A very small percentage of owners of older Model S and Model X vehicles may have noticed a small reduction in range when charging to a maximum state of charge following a software update designed to improve battery longevity,” the company said.
The issue started in May after a Model S caught fire and exploded during a fire in Hong Kong. Tesla soon rolled out a software update that revised the charge and thermal management settings of the Model S and Model X to protect the battery and “improve battery longevity.”
The lawsuit claims that Tesla did so “to avoid its duties and legal obligations to customers to fix, repair, or replace the batteries of the Class Vehicles, all of which Tesla knew were defective, yet failed to inform its customers of the defects.”
