this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
1166 points (99.0% liked)

Technology

69109 readers
3133 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
L4s@hackingne.ws
1166
Tesla odometer uses “predictive algorithms” to void warranty, lawsuit claims (arstechnica.com)
submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by Washedupcynic@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world
139 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The lead plaintiff in the case, Nyree Hinton, bought a used Model Y with less than 37,000 miles (59,546 km) on the odometer. Within six months, it had pushed past the 50,000-mile (80,467 km) mark, at which point the car's bumper-to-bumper warranty expired. (Like virtually all EVs, Tesla powertrains have a separate warranty that lasts much longer.)

For this six-month period, Hinton says his Model Y odometer gained 13,228 miles (21,288 km). By comparison, averages of his three previous vehicles showed that with the same commute, he was only driving 6,086 miles (9,794 km) per 6 months.

Edit: I just want to point out that I just learned that changing your tires to ones of a different diameter can also affect how your spedometer clocks. So yeah, this issue is full of nuance and plausible things as to why this could not be true.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Auntievenim@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

The important bit in the article was that he had bought it used. I'm sure its not a standard feature for brand new Tesla, but I would absolutely believe that some kind of fuckery to keep pre-owned buyers from taking advantage of the warranty is SOP. It's counting double the miles, there's no possible way for that to happen on accident unless the odometer is completely independent of the cars systems.

I'm pretty sure old odometers literally spun according to the wheels turning as you drove. If Tesla is "calculating" mileage then they would absolutely be able to just inject commands to ignore the correct algorithm and make it hit 50k as fast as possible. I'm sure most of the people they did this to weren't keen eyed enough to notice.

Certainly not all Tesla, just the ones they think they can get away with. 38k miles is not very far from 50k, they assumed he would be a rube and just suck it up when they told him his warranty was invalid.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It would absolutely not surprise me if Teslas calculate miles driven via GPS instead of tire rotation or some other mechanical means.

It's the kind of "reinventing the wheel, only worse and more expensive" that Musk would do.

[–] xthexder@l.sw0.com 4 points 4 days ago

Oh perfect, that means I can resell this Tesla I've been using and abusing for dyno testing and other stationary things as having 0 miles driven! /s

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I really doubt it, a lot of people would notice their odometer doing twice the work it should be doing.

I think the most likely explanation is someone wrote down the wrong value.

[–] Auntievenim@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

You would think, but this guy didn't lmao

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

One person sure, but then they found lawyers who almost certainly asked for more information. So maybe your explanation is not the most likely.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 2 points 4 days ago

If it's his lawyers, they'll take your money on the most ridiculous things.