Ben Gawiser shelled out $10,000 for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software back in August 2021. He bought a Model 3, expecting the car to handle long trips without his hands on the wheel. Five years later, nothing. The software still demands constant attention. Frustrated, he sued in small claims court. And won.
A Travis County, Texas, justice of the peace handed him a default judgment of $10,672.88 on April 1, 2026—his purchase price plus taxes and fees. Tesla didn’t show up to the video hearing. Gawiser laid out the evidence: payment receipts, logs of FSD glitches like abrupt stops in traffic and ignoring school zones, Elon Musk’s own words promising autonomy by 2021. No response from the automaker. Judgment entered. But Tesla’s fighting the payout, requesting extensions. As of early May, no cash.
Gawiser isn’t backing down. He fired back at Tesla’s April 27 extension bid, quoting case law. “Tesla, Inc. does not have ‘meritorious defense’ for this action as their CEO as recently as April 22nd, 2026 said that Tesla could not deliver a working version of ‘Full Self-Driving’ for the vehicle that the Plaintiff purchased required by the contract,” he wrote, citing Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines. On May 1, he filed a writ of execution. If Tesla stalls more, sheriffs could seize company assets. Cameras ready, he says.
This fight sits amid Tesla’s tangled FSD history. Musk hyped it hard. In January 2021, he claimed vehicles would drive themselves “with reliability exceeding a human” that year. Every car shipped with the hardware, he insisted. Prices swung wildly: $5,000 early on, peaking at $15,000 in 2022, dropping to $8,000 by April 2024. Then, in February 2026, Tesla killed one-time buys altogether. Now it’s subscription only—$99 a month for supervised FSD. Early buyers like Gawiser? Stuck with outdated Hardware 3 (HW3), no path to true autonomy.
Musk’s recent admission seals it. During Tesla’s Q1 2026 earnings call on April 22, he conceded HW3 can’t cut it. “Unfortunately, Hardware 3 simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD,” he said. “It has only ⅛ the memory bandwidth of Hardware 4.” About 4 million vehicles affected. Millions paid up front. No free upgrades promised yet, though trade-ins or retrofits float as possibilities. For Gawiser’s Model 3? No dice without major work Tesla won’t commit to. (TechCrunch)
Gawiser’s win is small potatoes. But rare. Most owners hit arbitration clauses. Still, cracks show. A Washington owner, arbitration lawyer Marc Dobin, forced a $10,600 refund plus costs in 2025 after Tesla withheld FSD over a secret “Safety Score.” A UK Model 3 buyer settled for about $9,860 in 2023 small claims, citing undelivered features. German courts ordered reimbursements too. Tesla’s lost bids to kill cases. (Electrek)
Bigger storms brew. Class actions pile up. A California federal judge certified one in August 2025 for buyers since 2016, eyeing full refunds under false advertising laws—potentially $100 million to $500 million. Lead plaintiff Tom LoSavio paid $8,000 extra in 2017. Appeal pending. Europe erupts: Thousands demand €6,400-€7,500 back via petitions like hw3claim.nl, locked out post-FSD launch. Tesla faces up to $14.5 billion in total liabilities across crashes, ads, wages. California DMV ruled in December 2025 that “Autopilot” and FSD marketing misled—terms tantamount to autonomy. Tesla sued to overturn it in February 2026. (Electrek, CNBC)
FSD today? Level 2. Requires eyes on road. NHTSA probes crashes. Tesla touts safety stats, but regulators see overpromising. Subscriptions shift revenue—recurring cash beats one-offs. Yet early payers feel baited. Gawiser’s car stops mid-road. Needs takeover every few minutes. That’s not full self-driving.
So what now? Court rules on Tesla’s extension soon. Writ looms. Gawiser eyes enforcement. For industry watchers, this tests small claims against giants. Arbitration walls most out. But public dockets? Transparent. No lawyers needed. Tesla’s HQ in Austin helps—local jurisdiction. Others watch closely.
Broader fallout. HW3 owners fume. Petitions grow. Class fights drag. Tesla pivots to robotaxis, Optimus. But legacy promises haunt. Musk talks upgrades, factories. Details scarce. Investors shrug—stock hit earnings highs. Owners? Not so much.
Gawiser’s saga spotlights the gap. Hype sold billions. Delivery lags. One man, $10k. Tesla fights on. Watch Travis County.
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