The California attorney general’s office is investigating Tesla, seeking information from customers and former employees about Autopilot safety issues and false advertising complaints, CNBC has learned.
Greg Wester, the owner of a 2018 Tesla Model 3, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission in August 2022, regarding “phantom braking” — sudden, automatic braking by a car for no apparent reason — that he would experience when using the company’s driver assistance systems, or Autopilot, on the highway.
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Wester also told the FTC that he felt misled by Tesla after paying thousands of dollars for the company’s premium driver assistance option, marketed as Full Self Driving capability (FSD) in the U.S.
By the second quarter of this year, an analyst with California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office left Wester a voicemail seeking to interview him about the issues referenced in the complaint. Wester shared the voice message with CNBC, and provided a copy of the FTC’s automated response acknowledging receipt of his complaint.
CNBC confirmed that the person who called from the California AG’s office works as an analyst there. The government employee did not request confidentiality in the voicemail.
Phantom braking, a known issue that Tesla customers have complained about to federal agencies for years, can leave drivers susceptible to being rear-ended, among other dangers.
Musk has long promised investors and customers that features and functions would be added to Tesla vehicles over time, via over-the-air software updates, that would turn their cars into self-driving or autonomous vehicles. On Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call, Musk called himself “the boy who cried FSD.”
To this day, Tesla has not delivered a self-driving car and sells “level 2” systems, which require an attentive driver behind the wheel who is ready to steer or brake at any time.
“Tesla should offer customers the option to receive a full refund of Autopilot features if…
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