Tesla has been granted an extension to prepare for a lawsuit filed by a customer on behalf of drivers in eleven U.S. states claiming the company overcharged for insurance.
Last year, a Tesla customer sued the automaker, stating the company utilized “false” crash warnings to inflate insurance premiums instead of collecting actual driving behavior.
Tesla Insurance uses real-time driving metrics measured by a Safety Score to determine premiums. The factors it uses to determine your safety score are:
- Forward Collision Warnings per 1,000 non-Autopilot Miles
- Hard Braking
- Aggressive Turning
- Unsafe Following
- Excessive Speeding
- Late-Night Driving
- Forced Autopilot Disengagement
- Unbuckled Driving
However, the lawsuit claims that Tesla used a series of “false” forward collision warnings to inflate insurance premiums. The suit also said the automaker violated California’s unfair competition law.
In court earlier this week, a lawyer for Tesla said it was taking “a lot longer” than expected to gather information to defend against the case because of the number of states involved. They also said the departure of a Tesla employee, who was working with its outside attorneys, made things more complicated.
Tesla revises late-night driving and its affect on Safety Score
Min Kang, the lawyer representing Tesla, stated the departure “complicated things.” Tesla tried twice last year to have this lawsuit thrown out, but judges declined the request on both occasions.
The states involved in the case are Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Virginia, according to Reuters.
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