Back in 2019, Tesla pushed an over-the-air replace to its Model S sedans following an incident whereby the automobile caught hearth in a Hong Kong parking zone. As CNBC notes, it stated on the time that the replace will revise “charge and thermal management settings” on Model S and Model X automobiles to “help further protect the battery and improve battery longevity.” Some Model S house owners claimed, nevertheless, that the replace diminished their most battery voltage, prompting them to take Tesla to courtroom. Now, the automaker has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle the category motion lawsuit filed in opposition to it.

According to Reuters, the courtroom paperwork present that the software program replace affected 1,743 Model S sedans within the US. The voltage limitation was non permanent, however the plaintiffs skilled a ten % battery discount for 3 months and a seven % discount lasting for one more seven months, the plaintiffs’ legal professionals stated. Tesla rolled out the ultimate replace that absolutely corrected the difficulty in March 2020. Among the affected automobiles, 1,552 had their max battery voltage restored, whereas 57 automobiles had battery replacements. The settlement paperwork stated that any automobile nonetheless experiencing battery throttling issues would have their most voltage restored over time.

While the corporate has agreed to pay $1.5 billion, an enormous chunk of that might be used to cowl legal professionals’ charges: Owners are anticipated to get solely $625 every from the settlement. Affected house owners in Norway might get a a lot greater payday after a courtroom within the nation ordered the corporate to pay them $16,000 every to settle a lawsuit over the identical subject. In the US, except for agreeing to pay up, Tesla has additionally agreed to offer battery-related diagnostics and notifications for vehicles below guarantee at any time when battery repairs could also be wanted.