Gov't warns Korean Tesla owners that illegally enabling FSD is a criminal offense

The government warned Tesla owners in Korea against illegally enabling the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature, as the move would constitute a criminal offense.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on Tuesday that Tesla Korea identified a software vulnerability tied to unauthorized attempts to activate FSD and reported it as a cybersecurity threat.

Cases have recently been identified overseas in which Tesla’s built-in FSD function was arbitrarily activated using unofficial external devices, according to the ministry. As a result, concerns are growing that owners in Korea may also try to use such devices or publicly available source code to enable FSD in vehicles that are not permitted to use the feature.

In Korea, Tesla’s FSD function is currently available only in U.S.-made Model S and Model X vehicles and the Cybertruck.

That is because under the Korea-U.S. FTA, U.S.-made vehicles that meet the U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards are exempt from certification under the Korea Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

However, models imported from China, such as the Model Y, are not certified under the local safety standards and therefore cannot use FSD.

The ministry said that if Tesla’s FSD feature is activated without authorization, the vehicle would be considered noncompliant with Article 29 of the Motor Vehicle Management Act and therefore could not be operated.

It added that unauthorized activation of Tesla FSD would be regarded under Article 35 of the same law as arbitrarily altering, installing, adding or deleting software that could affect the safe operation of a motor vehicle.

“Violators may face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won [$13,000],” the ministry said. “There must not be cases in which Tesla owners in Korea, without fully recognizing the issue, activate FSD without authorization.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]