7 days ago
Judge Orders Tesla to Buy Back Model S Plaid Over Track Braking Failure
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A Tesla Model S Plaid owner took the electric automaker to court and won after his EV cooked its brakes on the first turn of a track day. He sued Tesla for misleading advertising as it marketed the car specifically for track use, though in his experience, that was far from the case. The judge has even ordered Tesla to buy back the 1,020-horsepower sedan as a result.
The ruling was issued in Oslo District Court, citing violation of Norway's Consumer Protection Act. Vilhelm Dybwad, the Model S Plaid owner who initiated the suit against Tesla, reached out to The Drive about his misfortune. 'The stock brakes are horrible, inadequate, and downright dangerous for any type of track driving,' he wrote in an email. 'We got the error message that the bakes were too hot while under braking for the first corner (after the warmup lap) at Rudskogen Motorcenter.'
That circuit is a serious one, designed by F1 track specialist Hermann Tilke. At a touch over two miles, the main course features 14 turns with long, high-speed straights and roughly 140 feet of elevation change. Turn One, where Dybwad's Model S Plaid brakes overheated, is a slightly uphill lefthander that requires heavy stoppage before rolling into Turn Two. Just after that is a half-circle that leads to another straight where high-powered cars hit triple-digit speeds. What I'm getting at is: Even if the Tesla's brakes hung on through the first corner, they wouldn't have long to recover before another high-intensity event that could spell disaster. That's Turn One on the far righthand side, following the long start/finish straight. Rudskogen
Dybwad belongs to a car enthusiast organization in Norway called Amcar. The club's technical committee prepared a statement regarding his EV's failure and provided witness accounts as well as independent testing to prove the Model S Plaid didn't work as advertised. When they put an experienced track driver in a similar but different Plaid at Rudskogen, it also malfunctioned after making the first turn. This evidence held up in court, leading legal officials to observe Tesla's marketing materials.
The district court agreed that Tesla advertised the Model S Plaid as being track capable, even showing it on a race circuit in several videos while claiming it can 'continuously lap the track without performance degradation.' Tesla supposedly argued that Dybwad could have optioned his car with carbon ceramic brakes, which perform far better in high-heat situations, though those weren't offered until 10 months after he purchased it. Normally, this is where The Drive would reach out to the automaker's PR department for a comment, but Tesla doesn't have one of those.
Having determined the issue was significant enough to fall under the Consumer Protection Act, the court ordered Tesla to pay Dybwad the equivalent of $122,972 USD plus interest, as well as his legal costs totaling $26,869 USD. This effectively canceled his purchase of the car. Tesla can appeal the decision, but as Dybwad's legal representation told Nettavisen , they aren't worried. Dybwad and his Model S Plaid. Amcar
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