Tesla shareholders filed a complaint on Monday, February 27, 2023 against the automaker and its CEO Elon Musk for having “oversold the safety of self-driving technologies built into their electric vehicles”.
In the context of a class action filed with the Federal Court of San Francisco, these shareholders indicate that Tesla’s speech harmed them for more than four years, by seeking to persuade them of the perfect reliability of the systems which, however, could be involved in several fatal accidents. What they say created “a serious risk of accident and injury”.
They refer in particular to the falls in Tesla’s stock price which, at times, may have been detrimental to them. In particular, the investigation by the US road authority (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) into the dangerousness of Tesla’s autonomous driving technologies, and the period when the police of the Stock Exchange (Securities and Exchange Commission) was pointed out interested in Elon Musk’s statements regarding Autopilot. Latest episode, security software updates were required on more than 360,000 Tesla a few weeks ago, which caused Tesla shares to fall by 5.7% on the stock market.
“Due to the wrongful acts and omissions of the defendants and the precipitous decline in the market value of the company’s common stock, the plaintiff and the other members of the class suffered substantial losses and damages”can we read in the complaint.
Thomas Lamontagne, the shareholder behind this class action, did not specify the amount of damages he hopes to obtain in this case, leaving justice to move forward and waiting to know the reaction of Tesla. While Tesla stock ended yesterday up 5.5% on the stock market, its value remains nearly half its peak reached in November 2021.
This lawsuit falls just as Tesla is due to hold Investor Day on March 1. An event during which the manufacturer should present its innovations in the field of artificial intelligence, and perhaps also address the future of its range of vehicles.