Tesla Model S Plaid Lemon Law

Yes, if your Model S Plaid can no longer deliver its advertised 1,020 horsepower due to a hardware defect, this constitutes a failure to conform to the manufacturer's express warranty under the Song-Beverly Act. Tesla marketed the Plaid specifically for its performance capabilities, making reduced power output a substantial impairment of value and use. Have the power output independently tested and documented at a dynamometer facility.

Yes, failure of turn signal and horn controls on the yoke steering wheel constitutes a serious safety defect under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act. The safety defect threshold requires only two unsuccessful repair attempts rather than the standard four. Since these are federally mandated vehicle controls, their intermittent failure poses an imminent hazard and gives you a strong expedited lemon law claim.

If the range loss exceeds what Tesla's warranty specifies as normal degradation (typically Tesla warrants 70% capacity retention over 8 years or 150,000 miles), the excess degradation is a covered warranty defect. A 15-20% range reduction within the first few years goes beyond normal degradation and suggests a cell balancing or battery management defect. Under the Song-Beverly Act, you are entitled to a vehicle that conforms to its express warranty, including range specifications.

The purchase price directly impacts your potential recovery under the Song-Beverly Act because the refund is based on the actual price paid, including all options, taxes, and fees. Additionally, for high-value vehicles like the Model S Plaid, courts may be more inclined to find that defects substantially impair the vehicle's value given the premium expectations of a luxury purchase. If Tesla willfully violated the Act, you could recover a civil penalty of up to two times your actual damages, potentially exceeding $260,000.