Tesla Remotely Disables Autopilot On A Used Model S

A new report claims that US electric vehicle maker Tesla remotely disabled the autopilot feature of the Tesla Model S after it was sold by its owner. The Model S was purchased by a third-party dealership through an auction last Nov. 15, 2019. On Dec. 20, 2019, a customer bought it.

When the new owner purchased the Tesla Model S, it features the Enhanced Autopilot as well as Full Self Driving Capability. Based on the Monroney sticker reported by Jalopnik, the features were listed on the vehicle both when it was sold to the third-party dealer and the final owner. The new owner reached out to Tesla for a possible explanation of the issue.

According to the US electric vehicle maker, it has recently identified instances where customers incorrectly configured for Autopilot versions that they did not actually pay for. There was an audit done to correct this kind of situation, Tesla says. The company also said the vehicle the new owner purchased was incorrectly configured for autopilot.

[[nid:2915853]]

Tesla further said that, upon checking the purchase history, they discovered that the Full-Self Driving feature was not the feature the previous owner paid for. The US vehicle maker apologized for the confusion and suggested that the new owner could purchase the additional feature if he is interested in upgrading.

It appears that this is not an isolated case. On the company’s forum, several owners are airing the same issue. In fact, some complaints about losing their Full Self Driving Capability feature was reported on the forum since 2018. Tesla has not yet released any statement about the recent report.

The Enhanced Autopilot feature in Tesla enables owners to summon their vehicles in a remote way. Meanwhile, the Full Self Driving feature allows the Tesla vehicle to drive itself on a designated location. These features collectively amount to $8,000.

The US electric vehicle maker remotely rolls out software to its vehicles. At times, the software is released to upgrade features and other times to fix issues. In some instances, the company’s over the air update has caused anxiety and stress to some Tesla vehicle owners.