Tesla forces another class action from customers to go to arbitration
Tesla has successfully managed to kill another class action lawsuit from customers by forcing them to go to arbitration.
It’s the second time in a few months that Tesla has managed to weasel its way out of a class-action lawsuit with its sneaky arbitration clause.
It’s not widely known among Tesla owners, but most of them are giving up their right to sue Tesla if an issue arises.
In the US, everyone who bought a Tesla vehicle through Tesla has to agree to a purchase agreement that includes a section about an “agreement to arbitrate”:
In the event of a concern or dispute between us, please send Tesla written notice to resolutions@tesla.com describing the nature of the dispute and the relief sought. If it is not resolved within 60 days, Tesla and you agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to any aspect of the relationship between us will not be decided by a judge or jury but instead by a single arbitrator in an arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). This includes claims arising before this Agreement, including claims related to statements about our products. Alternatively, you may opt out of arbitration as described below.
This is becoming a common practice used by companies to avoid customers banding together and be more efficient in litigation through class action lawsuits. Instead, they have to go through arbitration one-on-one against Tesla individually, which is a bigger task as Tesla is lawyered up to the gills.
It shifts the advantage to the company.
Last year, Tesla already managed to shut down a class action lawsuit from its customers over its Full Self-Driving claims.
Now, Tesla has done it again.
Last year, following a report from Reuters that highlighted some questionable practices by Tesla related to overstating its advertised range, customers filed a class action lawsuit against Tesla.
The report showed how Tesla “gamed” the system to boost its EPA range, while Tesla owners have difficulty achieving that advertised range in their vehicles.
It also went as far as claiming that Tesla had developed a special algorithm that showed drivers a more optimistic range at first and then turned more precise once the vehicle’s state of charge dipped below 50%.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, released her judgment siding with Tesla on Thursday. The judge didn’t address the merit of the claims, but she agreed with Tesla that the customers agreed to let go of their right to sue Tesla and go through arbitration instead when they signed their order agreement.
The class action is thrown out, and customers have to go through arbitration.
Electrek’s Take
I don’t know about the merit of the lawsuit. The Reuters report that launched this was not the most convincing to me.
Some of the claims were simply Tesla taking advantage of loopholes in the EPA’s rules to be more optimistic about the range Tesla is allowed to advertise. You can argue whether or not that’s the right thing to do, but ultimately, it’s the EPA’s rules that need changing if you don’t want that to happen.
The other claims in the report were based on Reuters’ sources and those have been hit or miss when it comes to Tesla.
But regardless of that, I think that customers should have the right to bring the issue to court. It would have been figured out through the discovery process.
It’s hard to believe that the courts are leaving those customers on their own.
Elon said that Tesla would always strive to do the right thing, but those arbitration clauses are not the right thing. Do the right thing.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
LiveWire, the electric motorcycle brand spun out of Harley-Davidson, has just announced its latest electric motorcycle model. The new LiveWire S2 Alpanista is built on the same platform as the brand’s last two models, leveraging the Arrow platform as a versatile foundation for several diverse bikes.
The Arrow platform first received its debut with the LiveWire S2 Del Mar, which was then followed by the S2 Mulholland.
LiveWire announced that a high-performance electric maxi-scooter would be produced on the Arrow platform, but not before the company rolled out the S2 Alpinista. “The Alpinista is LiveWire’s first sport standard,” explained the company, “equipped with 17” wheels and tires, blending the best of street, sport, and hyper-tourer characteristics.”
The recently unveiled S2 Alpinista is mechanically quite similar to the two previous models sharing the platform. The 10.5 kWh battery that serves as the main structure of the bike will offer a maximum range of 120 miles (193 km) per charge under city riding conditions. It can be recharged with a Level 2 charger from 20-80% in just 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The 433 lb (196 kg) bike can achieve a 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) time of just 3.0 seconds, thanks to its powerful 63 kW (84 hp) motor. The S2 Alpinista can also reach an electronically limited top speed of 99 mph (159 km/h).
Priced at US $15,999 and already available at LiveWire dealerships in North America and Europe, the S2 Alpinista officially becomes the most affordable LiveWire electric motorcycle available to date, undercutting the $16,249 S2 Del Mar electric street tracker and the $16,499 Mulholland electric sport cruiser.
“Alpinista reimagines the S2 by combining the urban agility of a supermoto with the do-it-all nature of a touring bike, creating a practical and thrilling sport standard,” explained the brand.
The smaller 17″ wheels help reduce the seat height of the bike, and combined with the Dunlop Roadsmart IV tires, the street-optimized bike is ideal for “both daily commutes and spirited rides through winding roads.”
The S2 Alpinista comes with 6-axis IMU from Bosch providing cornering-enhanced antilock braking and cornering-enhanced traction control systems, in addition to four preset ride modes and two custom modes.
Now the third model launched on the Arrow platform, the S2 Alpanista underscores the versatility of LiveWire’s workhorse. The approach was intended to allow the e-motorcycle offshoot to quickly innovate with multiple styles of motorcycles all sharing key structural and drivetrain components. The move has largely been seen as an engineering success, with three models hitting the road in under three years. However, sales have yet to reach targets set by LiveWire as the more premium electric motorcycle industry has experienced a rocky few years.
As a LiveWire S2 Del Mar owner myself, I can attest to both the performance and enjoyable experience of bikes built on the platform, though I do find myself in a somewhat smaller community than LiveWire had likely hoped for. With the backing of its powerful older brother H-D, which retains a controlling stake in the company, LiveWire has enjoyed the relative freedom to cruise for its first few years and focus on motorcycle development and rollouts, with profitability hopefully coming over the horizon in due time.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports10 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway