Paying 9,043,000 won for software is one thing. Paying it for software your car is legally barred from running is worse. In South Korea, nearly every new Tesla buyer from last year falls into that second group, and Tesla’s own numbers say so.
Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty, a Seoul advocacy group that has gone after Tesla before, plans to file a complaint with the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) on November 5. The draft complaint accuses Tesla Korea of deceptive marketing. Its claim is that Tesla sold Full Self-Driving (Supervised) to owners of Shanghai-built cars that cannot legally switch it on. It wants FSD marketing halted for ineligible cars while the case runs, and it wants Tesla fined and referred to state investigators. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
The numbers come from Tesla
The 99% figure comes from data Tesla gave South Korea’s National Assembly. It says 99% of the new Teslas sold in Korea in 2025 couldn’t legally use FSD. The same data shows Tesla has sold more than 170,000 Shanghai-built cars there since 2023. The complaint says Tesla promoted FSD as “coming soon” last year and posted a demo video shot on Korean roads, without making clear that only a small share of the cars it was selling could ever run it.
What decides eligibility: where the car was built
The cars don’t differ much in hardware. What differs is how they got certified. Under the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, cars built in America to U.S. federal safety standards don’t need Korean safety certification. That’s why the Model S, Model X, Cybertruck and U.S.-built Model 3 and Model Y can run supervised FSD in Korea. Shanghai-built cars get no such exemption. They have to meet Korean rules directly, and the transport ministry has said FSD doesn’t meet them, partly because Korean rules require hands on the wheel. FSD watches the driver with a cabin camera instead.
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Two Model Ys with the same computer can end up on opposite sides of the law because of the plant that built them.
Tesla only recently asked for approval
At an October 8 parliamentary audit, Tesla Korea country manager Seo Young-deuk told lawmakers that the company had never formally asked the transport ministry or the Korea Transportation Safety Authority to test FSD. Tesla filed for approval on October 22. That was more than three years after Shanghai-built Model Ys started arriving in volume.
Tesla’s likely defense is already on its website. Tesla Korea’s subscription page says future features depend on development and regulatory approval. Whether that fine print is enough to cover a 9-million-won option is exactly what the KFTC will have to decide.
Why losing in court doesn’t sink this complaint
On October 29, a Seoul court rejected a refund suit brought by dozens of FSD buyers. The court found Tesla hadn’t breached its contract. That ruling turned on contract law, meaning what Tesla actually promised. The KFTC complaint falls under the Fair Labeling and Advertising Act, which asks a different question: whether the advertising was likely to mislead a reasonable buyer. That law allows temporary suspension orders and fines of up to 2% of the related sales.
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The KFTC has been here before. In January 2023 it fined Tesla 2.852 billion won for overstating driving range. In the same case it decided Tesla’s autonomy claims weren’t illegal, partly because the software was still a beta. That reasoning doesn’t fit this complaint well. Nobody disputes what FSD can do. The question is whether most buyers were ever allowed to use it at all. A KFTC official has said the agency opened its own probe into Tesla’s FSD advertising earlier this year and has received written answers from the company.
What owners and buyers should know
Don’t jailbreak it. Seoul police booked 80 drivers in October for using unauthorized devices to unlock FSD. The transport ministry says an illegally activated car doesn’t comply with the Motor Vehicle Management Act and can’t be driven on public roads. The penalty is up to two years in prison or a 20-million-won fine. There’s also an insurance problem. Tesla already puts the driver in charge of anything that happens while FSD is running, and an illegal software modification hands your insurer an easy reason to fight a claim after a crash.
Check the VIN before you pay extra. Used Teslas built in Shanghai have VINs starting with “LRW.” If a seller wants a premium because the car comes with FSD, that premium is a bet on a regulator, not a feature you can use. For now, the 150,000-won monthly subscription Tesla introduced in August is the cheaper way to wait, because you can cancel it.
Keep your paperwork. If the KFTC rules against Tesla, if you already paid, hang on to the contract and your ad screenshots. If the KFTC rules against Tesla, those are your claim.
The KFTC now has to decide whether “coming soon” was a promise or a sales line. What would FSD have to cost before you’d pay up front for software that still needs a regulator’s yes?