Tesla Owner Upgrades HW3 to HW4 With Zip Ties
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- Michal Gapinski, a Tesla owner in Poland, retrofitted his 2022 Model 3 from HW3 to HW4 using "light ECU hacking," epoxy, and zip ties — undercutting Tesla's claim that the swap requires costly camera upgrades and specialized facilities.
- Tesla sold cars starting in late 2016 on the now-deleted promise that "All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware," yet has not delivered level 5 autonomy in any vehicle to date.
- Tesla charged up to $15,000 upfront for FSD but has since moved to monthly subscriptions only and eliminated license transfers to new vehicles, while still not delivering the promised capability.
- Tesla proposed building "microfactories" in major cities in April to handle millions of HW upgrades but has announced nothing further; some owners are charged $1,000 for HW3 upgrades they already paid for.
- Multiple class action lawsuits and small claims cases over Tesla's false advertising could cost the company tens of billions, with courts in multiple territories already finding Tesla liable to refund owners.
- The HW3-to-HW4 swap is more involved than the earlier HW2-to-HW3 swap because it requires new cameras, but Gapinski believes Tesla "could have done it ages ago" and could scale the process.
Why it matters: Tesla faces mounting legal exposure as courts find its Full Self-Driving marketing amounted to false advertising, with class actions potentially costing tens of billions of dollars. Gapinski's one-man zip-tie retrofit directly undercuts Tesla's claim that hardware upgrades are too complex to perform at scale, intensifying pressure on the company as more owners seek legal remedies.
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