‘I’ve been waiting seven years!’: Tesla owners in Europe demand $7,500 in refunds as full self-driving is locked out of older vehicles

Full Self-Driving was recently legalized in the Netherlands
Furious Dutch Model 3 owner feels many are being left behind
Thousands of participants have joined a growing petition against Tesla

Pressure is mounting on Tesla to compensate buyers after a Dutch Model 3 owner took to X to vent his anger at the company for not recognizing customers who had already paid for Full Self-Driving (FSD) but cannot use it due to owning older hardware.

Mischa Sigtermans, a self-confessed owner of one of the first Model 3 vehicles in the Netherlands, says he paid for full self-driving back in 2019 when Tesla was prepared to take €6,800 (about $7,500) of his money on the promise that highly autonomous driving technology would be available sometime in the near future.

14 April 2026

Back in 2019, when Sigtermans bought the Model 3, Tesla publicly announced that “every Tesla is equipped with the hardware needed in the future to make the vehicle fully self-driving in almost any situation”.

Seven years later, and despite the technology finally being approved by the Dutch vehicle authority RDW, only those vehicles running the latest AI4 chip will be capable of full self-driving.

What’s more, Elon Musk has just announced an AI5 chip that is said to be far more powerful than existing technology and will ultimately continue to support future iterations of FSD.

The collective demand already has around 2,939 verified participants, with many owners in other European countries eager to participate as they know their vehicles are unlikely to be compatible if and when FSD rolls out to wider European markets.

“The more people who sign up, the more weight it has when we sit down with Tesla. Or appear in court,” the collective claim states.

Analysis: Legal pressure mounts on Tesla

(Image credit: Tesla)

The alleged false advertising claims regarding fully autonomous driving are not just limited to Europe, then Electrek reports that there is an estimated $100m-$500m class action lawsuit currently underway surrounding the technology.

This is a drop in the bucket compared to the $14.5 billion in lawsuits that Electrek cites when you consider phantom braking, autopilot/FSD crashes, wage and hour, odometer manipulation, range claim inflation, and many more cases that have been widely reported in recent years.

However, a staggering four million vehicles have been sold on the promise that they have “all the necessary hardware” for full self-driving, which is quickly proving to be untrue.

Now, with a growing number of Europeans feeling let down, Tesla may have a new front to fight on. Not good timing as it plans to roll out FSD to the wider European markets.

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