Tesla restores autopilot features it remotely disabled in second-hand car

[midian182]

A hot potato: Never underestimate the power of bad publicity. After Tesla removed driver assistance features from a second-hand Model S 75D following its purchase from a dealer, the company has restored the Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self Driving, blaming the incident on a “miscommunication.”

Last week brought news of an anonymous consumer who bought a 2017 Tesla on December 20 last year from a third-party dealer. Sold at auction, the car was listed with the driver assistance features, which cost around $8,000 when adding them to a new vehicle.

What the buyer didn’t know was that three days after Tesla sold the car to the dealer, it performed a remote audit and flagged the features for removal. It was only after the car was sold that Tesla pushed out a software update that disabled them. When the buyer contacted Tesla, they were told the car was “incorrectly configured for Autopilot versions that they did not pay for.” The company even offered to re-add the features for a price.

While there have been reports of similar incidents in the past, Tesla dealers insist that features wouldn’t be removed if they were listed as part of a second-hand car’s specs. Now, the buyer in this case has had them reinstated.

Writing on Tesla Motors Club forum (spotted by TNW), the buyer said they were contacted by a Tesla rep who “apologized for my troubles, told me that Tesla has restored all missed options.” The reason the features were disabled? A miscommunication, apparently.

While this case was resolved, other people who don’t get any media exposure could be experiencing the same problem. Hopefully, Tesla will learn from this incident.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/84021-tesla-restores-autopilot-features-remotely-disabled-second-hand.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

When I heard this story, I specifically stated that Tesla had no right to take away features in the car when the person purchased it.

That is a breech of private contract.

Now they totally could tell him he has to pay for updates in my opinion. That's 100% different.

But no feature on that car during purchase should in any way be tampered with or removed by anyone else post-sale.

And that's one reason I can't bring myself to trust these computerized cars that auto-update over the air without user cosent. God knows what they could push through. God knows who could push through what.

Too much of Tesla's business model has been smoke & mirrors for me.

I've been with them as a shareholder since 2012 when I was invited to drive the original P85. They promised me I'd be able to buy a $60,000 Model S with a 45Kwh battery and then quickly cancelled it. I held onto the shares, but I went elswhere for cars.

 

[seeprime]

Tesla, the Windows 10 of cool cars.

 

[ShagnWagn]

Damn. I was hoping there would be one less self-wrecking car. He will regret it when it drives him head-on into a highway divider. That or he will file a lawsuit when he gets decapitated by a semi trailer. Oh, wait...

Have fun with your cars when they enable/disable/break anything from random updates. One mistake and it will brick every car out there. Wouldn't that be hilarious? LOL

 

[Scshadow]

But isn't that worse though? They're saying no, no, no... we're not ***holes, we're just inept and incapable of managing our customer's assets properly. I'd be more comfortable with ***holes. You can at least pay ***holes off and make the problem go away.

 

[wiyosaya]

But isn't that worse though? They're saying no, no, no... we're not ***holes, we're just inept and incapable of managing our customer's assets properly.

Pure Tesla/Musk marketing BS, IMO.

I'd be more comfortable with ***holes. You can at least pay ***holes off and make the problem go away.

The trouble with a$$holes is that everyone has one.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Damn. I was hoping there would be one less self-wrecking car. He will regret it when it drives him head-on into a highway divider. That or he will file a lawsuit when he gets decapitated by a semi trailer. Oh, wait...

Have fun with your cars when they enable/disable/break anything from random updates. One mistake and it will brick every car out there. Wouldn't that be hilarious? LOL

I’ve owned my Tesla for almost five years and the actual experience is nothing like you describe. It really seems like you’re passionate about hating these cars though, so keep up the good work but try not to get too carried away!

 

[Rock Dirty]

"The reason the features were disabled? A miscommunication, apparently."

____a please.

 

[ShagnWagn]

I’ve owned my Tesla for almost five years and the actual experience is nothing like you describe. It really seems like you’re passionate about hating these cars though, so keep up the good work but try not to get too carried away!

You're right, as you are still alive! At least for today. Tomorrow you could be like any of those people that don't exist any more.

You are incorrect in me hating these cars. I hate the self-wrecking features. I almost bought one until I heard about that. I owned stock at one time, but sold it to not support a company that does this. Sorry (not really), but I am passionate about people, including myself, being killed by computers. I have been a professional administrating computers for 25+ years and also a mechanic and a family of mechanics. This scares the crap out of all of us. And the articles across the internet to prove it. It could happen to any of us at any moment. To say "it won't happen to me" is negligent. Ask anyone of the people from these needless deaths what they think. Oh, wait...

 

[Uncle Al]

Certainly sounds like a basic extortion scheme on the part of Tesla doesn't it?

 

[Evernessince]

Looks like media pressure was effective this time but what about all the people who's stories don't top the social media charts?

 

[Nobina]

Looks like media pressure was effective this time but what about all the people who's stories don't top the social media charts?

My thoughts pretty much. If this guy didn't give a **** much this wouldn't be a story and Tesla would get away with it. I'd be far more interested in a Tesla if I could actually own the car not having to worry about tier bullshit software.

 

[ShagnWagn]

You're right, as you are still alive! At least for today. Tomorrow you could be like any of those people that don't exist any more.

You are incorrect in me hating these cars. I hate the self-wrecking features. I almost bought one until I heard about that. I owned stock at one time, but sold it to not support a company that does this. Sorry (not really), but I am passionate about people, including myself, being killed by computers. I have been a professional administrating computers for 25+ years and also a mechanic and a family of mechanics. This scares the crap out of all of us. And the articles across the internet to prove it. It could happen to any of us at any moment. To say "it won't happen to me" is negligent. Ask anyone of the people from these needless deaths what they think. Oh, wait...

I honestly hope you don't end up on this report. "It won't ever happen to me"
https://www.tesladeaths.com/

 

[captaincranky]

I’ve owned my Tesla for almost five years and the actual experience is nothing like you describe. It really seems like you’re passionate about hating these cars though, so keep up the good work but try not to get too carried away!

If the floorboards hadn't rotted out, and the car been irreparably sideswiped, I'd still be driving my 1979 Firebird. Not a stinking computer chip to be found anywhere.

Especially obnoxious are these insurance companies who want you to plug a rat box into your car's OBD port. But then again, at least you can say NO to that. With today's cars, you can't avoid being watched every minute you're behind the wheel.