A South Korean consumer group is asking regulators to stop Tesla from marketing “Full Self-Driving” to customers whose cars can’t legally run it. By Tesla’s own numbers, that covers 99% of the Teslas it sold in Korea last year.
Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty plans to file the complaint with the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) on Thursday, according to Reuters, which reviewed it. It comes just a week after a Seoul court threw out a refund lawsuit from Korean owners who paid for FSD.
Most Teslas in Korea can’t run FSD
It all comes down to where the car was built. The Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck come from US factories and enter Korea under the KORUS free trade agreement, which recognizes US safety standards. Those are the only Teslas that got “FSD (Supervised)” when Tesla switched it on in Korea late last year.
The problem is that those don’t represent the vast majority of Tesla vehicles sold in Korea.
The Model 3 and Model Y sold in Korea come from Giga Shanghai. There’s no equivalent deal with China, so those cars need Korean approval that FSD doesn’t have.
And that’s most of the fleet. Tesla Korea country manager Seo Young-deuk told lawmakers last month that FSD works on about 20% of Teslas registered in the country. Tesla has sold more than 170,000 Shanghai-built vehicles in Korea since 2023, per data it handed to the National Assembly, and sales of those China-made cars grew more than fivefold between 2023 and 2025.
Seo’s figure also clears up the conflicting eligibility numbers we flagged when Korean police booked 80 Tesla drivers for using illegal FSD unlock devices last month. A lawmaker’s data from May put it at 2.4%, while a data firm counted 20.7% in August. Tesla’s own testimony matches the higher one.
What the complaint alleges
For years, Tesla charged Korean buyers a one-time 9.043 million won (about $6,726) for FSD. It moved to a 150,000 won ($112) monthly subscription in August.
The complaint points to Tesla’s “coming soon” promotion last year and a demo video shot on Korean roads. Neither made it clear that FSD would only work on a small slice of the cars Tesla was selling. The group says Tesla knew that and kept pitching the package to every buyer anyway.
“Tesla generated substantial revenue by selling an expensive driver-assistance system to mass-market buyers who cannot use it for even a single day,” said Choi Young-suk, who heads automotive issues at the group.
It wants the KFTC to temporarily order Tesla to stop marketing FSD for ineligible cars. It’s also asking for fines and for the case to be sent to state investigators.
The KFTC is already looking at this. An official told Reuters the agency opened a probe into Tesla’s FSD advertising earlier this year and has received written responses from the company. Tesla didn’t respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Tesla only applied for approval last month
Tesla has collected FSD money from buyers of China-made cars in Korea for more than three years. But at an October 8 parliamentary hearing, Seo testified that Tesla had never formally asked the transport ministry to test FSD. Tesla filed for certification about two weeks later.
Approval won’t be a rubber stamp either. The ministry told a lawmaker that FSD doesn’t comply with local safety rules, including the requirement that drivers keep their hands on the wheel. Current FSD versions let drivers go hands-free as long as the cabin camera sees them watching the road.
None of this slowed sales. Tesla passed BMW this year to become Korea’s top imported car brand.
So far, owners haven’t had much luck in court. Last month, a Seoul court dismissed a lawsuit from Tesla owners seeking FSD refunds, with the judge pointing to Korean regulations, not Tesla, as the reason more features never launched.
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