Assuming this is real, I don't see how this is legal? There's no way Tesla would win in court under any sane judge. If they bought the car outright and fully own it (i.e. didn't lease it from Tesla), then that is the car owner's property.

I'm fairly certain that it won't go before a judge. If Tesla doesn't have a forced arbitration clause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitration_clause in their contracts I would be truly surprised.

The manufacturer can't, effectively, sabotage your property without consequence.

I don't own a Tesla and dont have access to a US contract, but it wouldnt be far fetched that there's something in there about Tesla reserving the right to use a kill switch at their discretion.

I truly hope this is not real,

You and me both. But we live in a stupid timeline, and I can no longer tell what's outrageously real and what's rage bait.

I don’t see how this is legal?

Oh, sweet summer child. This is the USA we're talking about. Potus shows every day that him being pissed off about something basically makes it illegal unless you have more money than him. It only follows that his subjects take his example.

There’s no way Tesla would win in court under any sane judge.

And more than half the legal system has been either replaced or intimidated into submission.

Sorry if I sound terminally pessimistic here. In January I still might have held out some hope for a peaceful solution, but by now it's clear: this country will collapse, one way or another. This is not sustainable, and there will be no peaceful transition of power. I mean they're already putting all sorts of measures in place to make sure they "win" the next elections. And even if Democrats could win somehow - what then? The country is already fucked up. IMO, beyond repair. It needs to be replaced.

You're assuming the court judges aren't just paid schills for corporate interests.

The loophole is that while you own the car, you only license the software that allows it to run. They didn't take the car away, "just" terminated the license 🤬

I mean... It depends on the terms you sign while purchasing.

I dunno if they still do this, but over a decade ago, Apple used to put in their Terms of Service that (paraphrasing) you are only paying for the service associated with an iPhone. The physical hardware is on loan to you and still belongs to the company, and they have the right to do whatever they want with it as their property. Deactivate it remotely, recall it, wipe it, etc.

During tech expo's, Apple would remotely disable features of any iPhone in the area so you couldn't take photos, record video, connect to the Internet, etc. while you were on the show floor. You had to leave the event before your phone's capabilities returned.

Tesla, dealing in an electronic vehicle that is connected remotely to their services, could absolutely do one of these legal contracts during the sale. And if you sign it, you have no legal leg to stand on when they disable and/or recall your vehicle.