Seoul court rejects Tesla owners’ refund claim over delayed self-driving features

A court in Seoul has rejected a refund claim from Tesla owners who said they paid for Full Self-Driving (FSD) but never got the fully driverless car they expected. On 29 October, Civil Division 30 of the Seoul Central District Court dismissed all of the owners’ claims against Tesla Korea.

The case was brought by 89 owners who bought the FSD option for about 9 million won each between 2019 and 2022. They argued Tesla had failed to deliver the promised full self-driving function, nine years after the company began selling the option in South Korea in 2017. They also said Tesla’s decision to rename the feature “FSD (Supervised)” showed it had given up on full self-driving, and that the Hardware 3.0 computers in their cars could not run the promised features.

The court, presided over by Chief Judge Kim Seok-beom, disagreed. It ruled that the FSD agreement was not a contract guaranteeing Level 5 full automation, in which a car drives itself in all conditions without a driver. Instead, it said the contract covered partly automated features that still need a driver, such as traffic light recognition and automatic steering in towns and cities, with further features to follow as technology advanced and regulators gave approval.

The judges also found that the owners had already received Autopilot and Enhanced Autopilot features, and that a recent lite version of FSD v14 had added traffic light recognition and automated city driving to cars running Hardware 3.0. Not receiving a version identical to the one on newer Hardware 4.0 cars did not, on its own, mean Tesla had failed to perform the contract, and delays caused by complying with regulation could not be blamed on Tesla Korea.

Why it matters

The ruling draws a clear line between what Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” name suggests and what buyers actually agreed to. For owners, it means paying for the option did not guarantee a car that can drive itself with no human at all. For Tesla, it is a first-instance win that could shape similar refund claims elsewhere, since the court treated the deal as open-ended, with features arriving as technology and regulation allow.

What happens next

The ruling is a first-instance decision, so the owners can appeal. The reports reviewed did not say whether they plan to do so. If the decision stands, it is expected to serve as a key precedent in other disputes over Tesla’s self-driving software.

Sources

• https://en.sedaily.com/society/2026/10/31/court-rejects-tesla-owners-refund-suit-over-self-driving (Seoul Economic Daily, 31 October 2026)
• https://www.starnewskorea.com/en/business-life/2026/10/29/2026102915452143373 (Star News Korea, 29 October 2026)
• https://seekingalpha.com/news/4659863-tesla-wins-court-battle-over-delayed-fsd-features-in-south-korea (Seeking Alpha, citing Yonhap News Agency, 29 October 2026)

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.