Electric vehicle giant Tesla (TSLA) has been pushing its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system like nobody’s business, and it turns out that customers are all in favor of it as well. But some may be taking this notion to dangerous extremes, as revealed by one registered nurse who put a lot of faith in FSD. The news gave Tesla investors pause, and sent shares down modestly in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
Claim 50% Off TipRanks Premium and Invest with Confidence
- Unlock hedge-fund level data and powerful investing tools designed to help you make smarter, sharper decisions
- Stay ahead of the market with the latest news and analysis so your portfolio is always positioned for maximum potential
We know that FSD needs to be supervised. But the thing we know in our heads and the experiences we live often say two different things. That dichotomy is where registered nurse Vanessa Lim lives, based on her recent post to TikTok. Lim drove home after a long night shift that left her exhausted, and she essentially turned the driving over to her Tesla, filming herself seemingly asleep behind the wheel.
The reaction was swift and varied. Some called the video a fake, noting Lim was “blinking” during the video. Others took issue with the recklessness of it, insisting that Lim was “…play(ing) with peoples lives.” And while failsafes are supposedly in place to prevent such behavior, the failsafes have been circumvented in the past, reports note. Sometimes the failsafes even generate false positives, alerting about distraction even while being “fully focused on their surroundings.”
Watch Those Batteries
Meanwhile, the Powerwall battery system is also coming under attack, as a new class-action lawsuit goes after the Powerwall 2 system. Arthur Brown filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court, which alleges that Powerwall 2 systems are sold with “…a defect that can cause them to overheat, emit smoke or catch fire.”
The suit alleges that Tesla knew about this defect, but sold the systems anyway. The fact that Tesla staged a recall of the Powerwall 2 back in 2023 was brushed aside as “inadequate.” Brown concludes the suit by noting that Tesla is “…guilty of breach of warranty, unjust enrichment and violations of Florida’s consumer protection laws.”
Is Tesla a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 12 Buys, 12 Holds, and 10 Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 7.98% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $383.54 per share implies 14.07% downside risk.
