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HW3 Owners Feel Betrayed After Years of Waiting

HW3 Owners Feel Betrayed After Years of Waiting

Tesla FSD Europe Launch Sparks Backlash as HW3 Owners Launch Collective Claim Site

Tesla’s long-awaited Full Self-Driving (FSD) launch across Europe has ignited fresh controversy, with owners of older hardware (HW3) models organizing legal action over unfulfilled promises. A Dutch Model 3 owner who paid €6,400 for FSD in 2019 has launched a dedicated website to rally affected customers across the EU—echoing similar backlash that erupted in Australia last year.

As Tesla begins rolling out its controversial “no-camera” FSD v12.5 system in select European markets, many customers who invested heavily in earlier FSD packages are questioning whether they’ve been left behind. With Tesla recently acknowledging in court filings that FSD cannot be delivered as originally promised—and that upgrades may require new hardware—the timing could not be worse for driver-assist optimism across the continent.

HW3 Owners Feel Betrayed After Years of Waiting

The core of the dispute centers around Tesla’s shifting narrative on Full Self-Driving capability. When FSD launched in 2019, Tesla marketed it as a “full self-driving” system that would eventually deliver end-to-end autonomous driving with no human intervention.

  • Customers were charged €6,400 (or ~$7,000 USD at the time) for FSD
  • Tesla’s early宣传 materials included animations of fully autonomous trips
  • In 2021, Elon Musk claimed “over 95% of the functionality” would be ready by end of 2021
  • Today, Tesla still does not offer truly driverless driving anywhere in the world

According to court documents cited in last year’s Australian class-action filing, Tesla internally acknowledged that FSD v12.5—and even future versions—will likely require new hardware (HW4) to achieve full autonomy. That admission has reignited anger among HW3 owners who paid for a promise they now believe is unfulfillable on their current vehicles.

Collective Action Gaining Momentum Across the EU

The latest flashpoint comes from Jeroen van Dijk, a Model 3 owner from Eindhoven, Netherlands. After purchasing FSD in 2019 and paying €6,400 over the base price, he has launched TSLA-FSD-EU.com, a platform designed to help EU-based HW3 + FSD owners join a collective legal claim.

“We were told we’d have full self-driving by 2021. Now it’s 2026 and even Tesla admits we might need new hardware. That’s not just misleading—it may be fraudulent,” van Dijk told Electrek.

The site includes:

  • A pre-filled complaint template in multiple EU languages
  • Eligibility checklist for HW3 owners with active FSD subscriptions or purchases
  • Timeline of Tesla’s FSD promises vs. reality
  • Links to recent court filings and expert analyses on hardware limitations

[Image: Screenshot of the TSLA-FSD-EU.com homepage showing a timeline of broken FSD milestones]

Global Ripple Effect: From Australia to Europe

The EU’s legal challenge follows a similar movement in Australia, where a class-action lawsuit against Tesla was filed in 2025 after the company admitted that FSD v12.5 cannot operate without human supervision—and may never achieve full autonomy on current hardware.

Tesla’s pivot from “Full Self-Driving” to “Advanced Driver-Assistance System (ADAS)” has drawn criticism from consumer groups across Europe, including EuroConsumers, which argues that Tesla’s marketing may have violated EU consumer protection laws.

What Tesla Has Said—and What It Owes You

In internal documents released during the Australian litigation, Tesla engineers reportedly conceded that:

  • FSD v12.5 relies heavily on neural net inference that exceeds HW3’s GPU capacity
  • Real-time path planning for complex urban environments requires >10x more compute power than HW3 delivers
  • HW4 (introduced in late 2025) includes a new AI chip with sufficient throughput—but costs €2,500 extra

Tesla has offered discounted FSD subscription upgrades to HW3 owners, but critics say that doesn’t rectify the original misrepresentation. In Germany, consumer advocacy group Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband is now reviewing whether Tesla’s pricing structure constitutes unjust enrichment under § 812 BGB (German Civil Code).

The Road Ahead: Legal Uncertainty and Consumer Pressure

With over 30,000 HW3 + FSD owners registered in the EU—and more joining weekly—the collective claim could grow into one of the largest tech-related consumer actions in Europe this decade.

In the meantime:

  • Tesla continues to sell FSD subscriptions at €169/month (€1,608/year)
  • Software updates are increasingly delayed, with v12.5.3 expected only in Q3 2026
  • The EU’s new AI Act may classify FSD as “high-risk” technology—triggering stricter liability rules

Van Dijk remains hopeful—but firm: “We’re not asking for perfection. We’re asking for honesty. If Tesla can’t deliver full self-driving on HW3, they shouldn’t have sold it as such.”

Stay tuned to Electrek’s Tesla coverage for ongoing updates on this developing story.