{"id":304976,"date":"2025-12-16T18:33:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/?page_id=304976"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:33:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:33:21","slug":"dmv-finds-tesla-violated-california-state-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/es\/news-and-media\/news-releases\/dmv-finds-tesla-violated-california-state-law\/","title":{"rendered":"DMV Finds Tesla Violated California State Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Contact: \u00a0Office of Public Affairs<br>2415 First Avenue<br>Sacramento, CA 95818<br>(916) 657\u20136437 |\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:dmvpublicaffairs@dmv.ca.gov\">dmvpublicaffairs@dmv.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PARA PUBLICACI\u00d3N INMEDIATA<br>December 16, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lo que necesita saber: <\/strong>The California DMV finds Tesla Motors in violation of state law for misleadingly using the terms \u201cautopilot\u201d and \u201cFull Self-Driving Capability\u201d in the marketing of their electric vehicles and provides an opportunity for Tesla to address issues prior to an imposition of a penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sacramento&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014 The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) today issued its decision in the Tesla administrative case (Case Nos. 21-02188 and 21-02189), adopting the administrative law judge\u2019s (ALJ) proposed decision, which concludes that Tesla\u2019s use of the terms \u201cautopilot\u201d and \u201cFull Self-Driving Capability\u201d to describe its vehicles\u2019 Advanced Driving Assistance Features (ADAS) is misleading and violates state law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe DMV is committed to safety on California\u2019s roadways,\u201d said DMV Director Steve Gordon. \u201cThe DMV\u2019s decision today confirms that the department will hold every vehicle manufacturer to the highest safety standards to keep California\u2019s drivers, passengers and pedestrians protected. Tesla can take simple steps to pause this decision and permanently resolve this issue \u2014 steps autonomous vehicle companies and other automakers have been able to achieve in California&#8217;s nation-leading and supportive innovation marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The administrative law judge\u2019s proposed decision ordered suspensions of Tesla\u2019s manufacturing license and its dealer license for 30 days. Upon review, the DMV\u2019s decision adopts the ALJ\u2019s findings regarding violations, but reduces the penalties, immediately imposing a permanent stay of the suspension of Tesla\u2019s manufacturer\u2019s license and giving Tesla 60 days to take action regarding its use of the term \u201cautopilot.\u201d If Tesla fails to address the issue, after 60 days it will be subject to the 30-day suspension of its dealer license.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Contexto:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DMV alleged that Tesla made and disseminated statements that were misleading in advertising their vehicles as equipped, or potentially equipped, with features tantamount to autonomous driving capability. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beginning in May 2021, Tesla advertised advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features in written marketing materials primarily on Tesla&#8217;s website using the product label and descriptions &#8220;Autopilot&#8221; and &#8220;Full Self-Driving Capability,&#8221; and the phrase &#8220;The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long-distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver&#8217;s seat.&#8221; However, vehicles equipped with those ADAS features could not at the time of those advertisements, and cannot now, operate as autonomous vehicles. Based on these false advertisements, DMV filed accusations against Tesla\u2019s manufacturer and dealer licenses in November 2023. Tesla subsequently discontinued use of the term \u201cFull Self-Driving Capability,\u201d instead specifying that the system requires driver supervision by using the term \u201cFull Self-Driving (Supervised).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The California Office of Administrative Hearings held a hearing before an ALJ in this case on July 21\u201325, 2025, and the ALJ issued a proposed decision on November 20, 2025. By statute, that proposed decision is subject to review by DMV and today\u2019s decision adopts the ALJ\u2019s decision, with the modified penalty described above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Antes de ir a una oficina- Primero intente en l\u00ednea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">La mayor\u00eda de los tr\u00e1mites del DMV no requieren visitar una oficina. El DMV anima a los clientes a utilizar los <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/es\/dmv-online\/\" target=\"_self\">servicios en l\u00ednea<\/a> y otros medios de servicio para completar transacciones, como pueden ser renovaciones elegibles de licencias de manejo y registro de veh\u00edculos. Los clientes tambi\u00e9n pueden usar el <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/es\/make-an-appointment\/service-advisor\/\" target=\"_self\">Asesor de Servicios<\/a> en el sitio web del DMV para conocer sus opciones y completar tr\u00e1mites del DMV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"translation-block\">Elige lo digital \u2014 Para recibir notificaciones electr\u00f3nicas sobre renovaciones de registro de veh\u00edculos y licencias de manejo, acceda o crea una cuenta segura en l\u00ednea en <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/es\/mydmv\/\" target=\"_self\">dmv.ca.gov<\/a> y suscr\u00edbase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center translation-block\">Sign up to receive the latest DMV News Alerts:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/es\/dmv-news-alerts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DMV NEWS ALERTS \u2013 California DMV<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDecember 16, 2025 What you need to know: The California DMV finds Tesla Motors in violation of state law for misleadingly using the terms \u201cautopilot\u201d and \u201cFull Self-Driving Capability\u201d in the marketing of their electric vehicles and provides an opportunity for Tesla to address issues prior to an imposition of a penalty. Sacramento&nbsp;\u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2591,"featured_media":0,"parent":44932,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"dmv_page_popups":[],"dmv_ribbon_color":"","dmv_top_illustration":"","dmv_page_title":"","dmv_page_subtitle":"","dmv_exclude_from_search_results":false,"dmv_allowed_editors":[],"dmv_display_translate_button":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1627],"tags":[],"dmv_task":[86],"dmv_functional_page_type":[3],"dmv_content_type":[],"class_list":["post-304976","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-news-media","dmv_task-location","dmv_functional_page_type-press-release"],"featured_image_src":null,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DMV Finds Tesla Violated California State Law - California DMV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dmv.ca.gov\/portal\/es\/news-and-media\/news-releases\/dmv-finds-tesla-violated-california-state-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DMV Finds Tesla Violated California State Law - California DMV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDecember 16, 2025 What you need to know: The California DMV finds Tesla Motors in violation of state law for misleadingly using the terms \u201cautopilot\u201d and \u201cFull Self-Driving Capability\u201d in the marketing of their electric vehicles and provides an opportunity for Tesla to address issues prior to an imposition of a penalty. 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