Seoul Court Rejects Tesla Owners Refund Suit Over Full Self-Driving

On October 29, 2026, Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 30, with Presiding Judge Kim Seok-beom, dismissed all claims by Tesla owners seeking refunds for the Full Self-Driving option. The defendant was Tesla Korea, the local subsidiary. The owners had purchased FSD between 2019 and 2022 and filed suit in December 2024. The court found the purchase was an indefinite-term contract dependent on regulatory approval and technological progress. It held FSD did not promise Level 5 autonomy without human intervention. It said buyers had already received Autopilot functions such as lane keeping and distance control, and Enhanced Autopilot functions such as automatic parking and summon. It also cited a recent FSD v14 Lite update adding traffic-light and sign recognition and city driving to HW3 vehicles. The court rejected the claim that delay justified cancellation. Contested: multiple reports put the plaintiff count at 98; one report said 89, unconfirmed. Owners had argued Tesla failed to deliver full self-driving, that it was impossible on older HW3 hardware, and that Tesla effectively abandoned full autonomy by renaming the product FSD (Supervised) and selling it as a subscription. Whether the owners will appeal is not stated in the record.