{"id":886074,"date":"2026-01-18T18:28:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/california-judge-rules-that-tesla-engaged-in-deceptive-marketing-around-autopilot\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T18:28:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:28:00","slug":"california-judge-rules-that-tesla-engaged-in-deceptive-marketing-around-autopilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/18\/california-judge-rules-that-tesla-engaged-in-deceptive-marketing-around-autopilot\/","title":{"rendered":"California judge rules that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing around Autopilot"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tesla electric vehicles (EV) in front of the company’s store in Colma, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. <\/p>\n

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A California administrative law judge has ruled that Tesla’s<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> marketing around its “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” systems was deceptive, and that the company should face a 30-day suspension of each of its licenses to sell and manufacture cars in the state, according the California Department of Motor Vehicles.<\/p>\n

The California DMV made formal accusations of false advertising against Tesla in 2022<\/a>. Steve Gordon, the agency’s director, said in a press conference on Tuesday that his agency has adopted the judge’s order with a modified penalty, and will now give Elon Musk’s<\/a> automaker a chance to fix any deceptive or confusing claims about its Autopilot and FSD systems. <\/p>\n

If the marketing issues aren’t resolved within a 60-day window, the DMV will move ahead with a 30-day suspension of Tesla’s license to sell cars in the state, the agency said in a statement.<\/a> However, Gordon said, the DMV will stay the judge’s order for a suspension of Tesla’s manufacturing license, so there will be no interruption to the company’s factory operations in the state.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the DMV said that Tesla’s marketing of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems had suggested its cars could be operated autonomously, though they actually required an attentive driver at the wheel, ready to steer or brake at any time. <\/p>\n

Since that time, Tesla has changed the name of its premium, driver assistance option to Full Self-Driving (Supervised). <\/p>\n

“A reasonable consumer likely would believe that a vehicle with Full Self-Driving Capability can travel safely without a human driver’s constant, undivided attention,” the judge wrote in the proposed order<\/a>. “This belief is wrong \u2014 both as a technological matter and as a legal matter \u2014 which makes the name Full Self-Driving Capability misleading,” a violation of both civil and vehicle codes in California.<\/p>\n

Public relations firm FGS Global said in an emailed statement from Tesla that, “<\/em>This was a ‘consumer protection’ order about the use of the term ‘Autopilot’ in a case where not one single customer came\u00a0forward to say there’s a problem. Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”<\/p>\n

The California DMV did not cite consumer complaints in its accusations. However, Tesla is facing a class action lawsuit in California’s Northern District from drivers who say that the company misled them for years regarding the self-driving capabilities of their Tesla electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

Tesla’s stock price closed at a record<\/a> on Tuesday, largely due to increased enthusiasm on Wall Street surrounding the company’s plans for its Robotaxis and driverless technology.<\/p>\n

WATCH:<\/strong> Why EVs have worse depreciation rates<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Why<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tesla electric vehicles (EV) in front of the company’s store in Colma, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images A California administrative law judge has ruled that Tesla’s marketing around its “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” systems was deceptive, and that the company should face a 30-day suspension<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":886075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[921,559],"tags":[5229,5610],"class_list":{"0":"post-886074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"category-judge","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-judge"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}