Tesla has also basically thumbed its nose at the Massachusetts Right to Repair law. Technically they comply in that you can access their service manual online but it's $30 [per hour] or $3,000 per year or something like that.

And, I believe, before that, you had to go to a Tesla dealership to view it. After making an appointment. After paying a fee. And you weren't allowed to make copies of anything or take photos.

Tesla’s popularity is always surprising to me. They seem like a really shitty company to deal with.

They did two things incredibly well-- marketing, and top-notch engineering of core components which pushed both battery management and electric drivetrain tech forward.

Other than that, it's been a mixed bag. Personally I love what Musk has accomplished with SpaceX, but Tesla is more worrisome. The autopilot thing has been handled badly, their treatment of employees is apparently not stellar, and they seem to view their customers similarly to how Apple views theirs, only worse.

Time will tell how it all plays out. I would hesitate to call the odds either way, though; that is one unpredictable CEO.

>>Time will tell how it all plays out.

Bankruptcy most likely, once the big boys get off their ass Telsa is done, at least as a Auto manufacturer.

5 years tops before they are on the verge, 10 years before they are either out of the Automobile Manufacturing market (licensing their name to one of the Big Car Companies who actually make the cars) or are bankrupt

Their Future may be in Technology (battery, Auto Pilot, etc) that they can sell to other companies, unless they refuse to do that in which case Bankruptcy

I think it's most likely one of the conglomerates will buy it up once it's cheap enough. The brand name alone has value.

Bmw will remotely disable a car if you don't use their batteries or have an authorized dealer install it. Would be cool if that sort of thing was covered.

Now that's a class action lawsuit. Find an attorney and collect.

Remotely? On what model year? Mine has the "anti-theft" system that disables all the electronics without a dealer-provided unlock code, but is a few years old (2013).

I wonder what the response would've been if he literally told Tesla to fuck off. Also known as the "I bought it, I own it" rule.

Disconnect the car's free LTE service and refuse vehicle servicing at any service center? Tesla isn't obliged to maintain your Model S any more than Ford are obliged to maintain your Explorer. Breach the terms, lose the perks.

Hope you know a good electrical engineer.

That really is circular logic, and one of the primary reason the Warranty laws were passed

Dealers were pressuring Manufacturers to make rules to prevent owners from allowing 3rd party independent mechanics from serving the cars, dealership (aka stealerships) saw the extreme profit that can be made on servicing thus wanting to have a captive market to ensure high profits with no competition.

They used the same augments "well these are complex machine and you just can have any old moron on the street working on them"

That argument failed decades ago, and it should remain a failure today. Telsa should not be allowed to lock out independent repair shops under the guise of "well these are complex machines and you need to be Electrical Engineer to understand them"

> That argument failed decades ago, and it should remain a failure today. Telsa should not be allowed to lock out independent repair shops under the guise of "well these are complex machines and you need to be Electrical Engineer to understand them"

If only it was just Tesla, manufacturers of consumer electronics have gotten customers to buy this hook, line and sinker. The comments on this story and others related to third party repair services found on /r/Apple are filled with such anti-consumer garbage.

And then they will be sued and lose.

You are correct, that Tesla 'can' just refuse to follow the law. They might even be able to get away with it. In the same way that I can just go kill someone, and I might be able to get away with it too.

> they know who owns each car

Of course, that's an easy one to answer. Tesla owns each car.

Not quite true, even if they sometimes act like it, but a lot of companies do try to make it this way. For instance, CHEP pallets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHEP