Several Tesla customers have complained about the placement of the horn function on their 2022 Model S (including the Plaid model) or Model X vehicles. Customers may have claims for defective design, and for damages arising from situations exacerbated by the horn’s placement.

In early March 2022, Tesla announced that it would be pushing out a firmware update to enable the conventional center-push horn feature in its 2022 Model S and Model X models. According to Musk, all Tesla vehicles manufactured after November 2021 have the center-push horn hardware, and Elon Musk has announced that a firmware update will enable the functionality on those vehicles, though Tesla has not squarely acknowledged any problems with the initial design and it is unclear whether the push-center horn feature has indeed been enabled at this point, as it is not detailed in any public update logs from this year.

Tesla’s service plan includes a mandatory binding arbitration provision, but no class action waiver, and Tesla’s Full Self-Driving subscription (a feature available on the 2022 models) and the “Premium Connectivity Subscription Agreement” include mandatory binding arbitration provisions and class action waivers, but do not appear to apply to customers who are subscribed to neither service.

A similar individual lawsuit against Chrysler was recently allowed to go forward by the Arizona Supreme Court in March 2022, alleging that if the vehicle had installed automatic braking, a safety feature, that a tragic collision would not have occurred.