A South Korean court has thrown out a lawsuit by Tesla owners who wanted their money back for the Full Self-Driving option. The 30th Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Kim Seok-beom, rejected all of the owners' claims against Tesla Korea in a first-instance ruling on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, according to SBS, Reuters and ChosunBiz. Reuters put the number of plaintiffs at 88; SBS said 89.

What the owners argued

The plaintiffs bought FSD between 2019 and 2022 and sued in December 2024. They argued that FSD meant fully driverless operation, that Tesla had not delivered it in about nine years, and that renaming it "FSD (Supervised)" and selling it as a subscription showed Tesla had effectively given up, ChosunBiz reported. They also said the full feature was impossible on older Hardware 3 (HW3) computers.

What the court decided

  • No Level 5 promise: the court called the FSD purchase an "indefinite-term contract" to provide features once regulatory approval and technology allow, covering partial automation that still needs a driver, SBS and ChosunBiz reported.
  • Features delivered: owners already got Autopilot and Enhanced Autopilot features such as lane keeping, auto parking and Summon. A recent update, which ChosunBiz identified as "FSD v14 Lite," added traffic light and sign recognition and city driving to HW3 cars, Reuters said.
  • HW3 vs. HW4: not getting the exact same FSD version as HW4 cars is not a failure to perform, the court said, per SBS.
  • Delays: buyers knew features could take a long time, and the delays were to comply with domestic and international rules, so Tesla Korea is not at fault, the court found.

Why it matters

This is a first-instance ruling, so the owners may still appeal. Reuters noted Tesla faces similar suits in other countries over delayed self-driving features. In Korea, FSD is still limited to U.S.-built cars; see Tesla Korea's new exemption request and our report on owners booked for illegal FSD unlock devices.