Rempte odometer hacking

real_aurgathor

Tesla is accused of remotely inflating odometer readings of its vehicles to avoid repair responsibilities and warranty agreements.

As The Street reports, a class-action lawsuit filed in February claims that Tesla has been trying to dodge warranty-related obligations by intentionally overstating the distances its vehicles travel.

The plaintiff, a man in California who bought a used 2020 Model Y with 36,772 miles, noticed an “abnormal spike in average daily miles driven” — despite a “consistent driving routine” — while he was taking it to the shop multiple times for suspension repairs.

As a result, his warranty expired after reaching the 50,000-mile threshold “well ahead of schedule,” according to the lawsuit. However, after the expiry, the “reported average daily miles” suddenly dropped off, becoming “more closely aligned with his historical data on his other vehicles,” making him suspicious that the EV maker was fudging the numbers.

“Tesla Inc. employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage traveled by Tesla vehicles,” the lawsuit reads. “In so doing, Defendants can, and do, accelerate the rate of depreciation of the value of Tesla vehicles and also the expiration of Tesla vehicle warranties to reduce or avoid responsibility for contractually required repairs as well as increase the purchase of its extended warranty policy.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/tesla-accused-of-hacking-odometers-to-rip-off-customers/ar-AA1D3hDY

Looks like someone may want to make a hack-proof odometer that can be attached to a wheel.

Andyross

I think hacking is wrong. This seems more like malicious programming by Tesla. I’m surprised it is apparently legal to not have any physical measurement of distance traveled.

Also saw the story here. Probably the same, but it is a tech-oriented site instead of MSN.
https://www.techspot.com/news/107589-tesla-sued-allegedly-faking-odometer-readings-avoid-warranty.html

real_aurgathor

So looks like it’s not hacking, but not properly recording distance traveled. However, at the end the end-result is still the same – incorrect odometer reading.

Obviously, without knowing how exactly Teslas’ odometer work it’s hard to be certain, but this quote is bit suggestive of some malevolent play. Assuming, of course, that his observation was correct or even better, he has records.

After his fifth visit to the shop in June, Hinton noticed that the car seemed to be recording more miles for the same trips. He says that from December 14, 2022, to February 6, 2023, he averaged 55.54 miles per day, but between March 26, 2023, and June 28, 2023, the odometer was recording the exact same journey as 72.53 miles.

egeezer

That’s one kind of scam I hadn’t anticipated. Are Tesla shops company owned or controlled, or are they independently owned and operated? Either way, if Tesla is stingy on warranty reimbursement, the shop could use its software access to accelerate mileage and charge retail.

I can set my Garmin to log all trips, as well as display miles driven in either of the trip odometers. Based on this article, if I buy a car under a mileage warranty, I figure on using that feature to compare to the vehicle’s odometer.

real_aurgathor

egeezer I can set my Garmin to log all trips, as well as display miles driven in either of the trip odometers.

I know that my TomTom can also display miles, though I’m not sure how much, if any, recording it can do.
But in any case, that’s one relatively simple way to check the odometers’ accuracy.