Australian judge floats giving court-appointed expert access to Tesla’s engineering systems– www.channelnewsasia.com

SYDNEY: An Australian judge said he may order Tesla to give an independent expert access to its internal engineering platforms as part of a class action against the Elon Musk-led carmaker, a move designed to bypass a drawn-out discovery process that has dogged the case.

The lawsuit, filed in February 2025, alleges Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y vehicles suffer from “phantom braking” and that the advertised self-driving capability and battery range were overstated.

Federal Court judge Tom Thawley suggested appointing an independent expert after lawyers for the applicants, representing some 10,000 Tesla owners, complained the documents Tesla had turned over failed to capture crucial technical information they needed to run the case.

Bringing in an independent expert who was endorsed by both sides “would eliminate the discovery issue because they would have, if they needed access to something, the power to get access”, Thawley told the court on Tuesday (Sep 1).

He added that he would not necessarily keep the court-appointed expert away from certain material “just because one of the parties doesn’t like that idea”.

The matter is yet to go to trial as the parties clash over the discovery process.