Yonhap reported on October 27, 2026, that Seoul police apprehended more than 80 people and referred them to prosecutors over alleged unauthorized activation of Tesla’s supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) system in South Korea. A referral sends a case from police to prosecutors; it is not a court judgment.
A prosecutor referral is a procedural step, not a verdict.
Tesla Korea reportedly disabled unauthorized activations
The alleged activations involved vehicles that were not authorized to use FSD in South Korea. Police warned that unauthorized activation could make a vehicle misread driving conditions or act contrary to the driver’s intentions.
Yonhap also reported that Tesla Korea remotely disabled unauthorized FSD activations, while some attempts continued.
The reported legal maximum
Yonhap said the alleged software alteration could carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million South Korean won under the country’s Motor Vehicle Management Act. Those are reported statutory limits, not sentences imposed on the people referred to prosecutors.
