Some 126 owners of the Tesla Model S sedan’s P85D performance version are seeking unspecified reimbursements after the model only reached 469hp instead of a pledged 700 hp, said Kaspar N. Thommessen, an attorney at Wikborg Rein law firm representing the plaintiffs.
The car “has too low horsepower,” the lawyer said Wednesday in an e-mailed response to questions. “And of course, it affects the car’s performance, according to the consumers.”
Tesla rejected the claims. The car meets requirements “according to the measurement method required by the authorities,” said Even Sandvold Roland, a spokesman for the automaker. Oslo District Court said it has scheduled hearings in the case for mid-December.
Norway is one of the biggest markets for the Model S, in part because of state subsidies to encourage electric-car purchases. Tesla no longer sells the P85D variant there, while the successor P90D costs 801,000 kroner (RM497,000). The earlier model was known for its “insane mode” acceleration option after it came out two years ago.
Norway’s Consumer Disputes Commission ruled in June that five P85D buyers who complained of inadequate acceleration should be reimbursed as much as 50,000 kroner (RM31,000) apiece. Tesla’s own tests and independent checks showed the P85D can accelerate from 0 to 100kph in 3.1 to 3.3 seconds. That indicates the performance figures “have always been accurate,” Sandvold Roland said in an e-mail.
Dagens Naeringsliv newspaper reported on the lawsuit earlier Wednesday.
In a related development, Tesla said Wednesday that it had fixed a software vulnerability in its luxury electric Model S sedan after a Chinese security team hacked a car’s systems and remotely controlled it.
The newest hacking case of remote manipulation of a car served to underscore the potential dangers of vehicles that are heavily connected via wireless technologies. ”Tesla has already deployed an over-the-air software update that addresses the potential security issues” of the hack, the company said in a statement.
Keen Security Lab, a unit of Chinese internet giant Tencent, announced on Monday that after a months-long effort it had discovered “multiple security vulnerabilities” in the Model S and had been able to remotely control a car in both parking and driving mode. Keen posted a video showing its ability to manipulate an unmodified Tesla remotely.
Keen said that after the hack it informed Tesla Motors and the two companies were cooperating on the issue.
