Tesla misled South Korean customers about automated-driving tech, consumer group alleges

South Korean consumer advocates claim that Tesla misled thousands of customers about the capabilities of its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software, which the company knows cannot be legally used in most of its vehicles in the country. The advocacy group plans to file a complaint with the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) on Thursday.

Tesla has been marketing the FSD software to prospective buyers in South Korea for years, often collecting payments of 9.043 million won ($6,726). However, the software can only be used on about 20% of Tesla vehicles registered in the country - those manufactured in the US. The remaining vehicles, primarily manufactured in China, cannot legally use FSD due to a lack of free trade agreement.

Despite years of promises from CEO Elon Musk that all Teslas would become fully driverless, FSD is not autonomous and requires active human supervision. Tesla began seeking FSD certification for China-made vehicles recently, despite having been charging customers for the software for over three years.

The consumer group argues that Tesla has been deceptive in its marketing of the FSD system, claiming that the company knew about the limitations but continued to promote the software to all customers. The complaint specifically targets Tesla's marketing of FSD as "coming soon" and a demonstration video filmed in South Korea without clearly disclosing the software's limited compatibility.

South Korean authorities have launched an investigation into Tesla's advertising of its FSD system, although details of the probe have not been disclosed. The KFTC has received written responses from Tesla but has not provided further information.