A quiet change to Tesla’s support page is costing some Cybertruck buyers more than they bargained fo
Owners of Tesla’s most affordable Cybertruck trim are pushing back against the company after discovering they cannot transfer their Full Self-Driving software licenses to their new vehicles. The issue has led some buyers to cancel their orders entirely and prompted broader criticism that Tesla shifted its terms after customers had already committed to purchases based on different information.
The vehicles at the center of the dispute are base Cybertruck AWD models, briefly available to order in February at $59,990 before the price was raised to $69,990 within ten days. Deliveries of those February-ordered trucks began arriving in June, and that is when the problem surfaced.
What the FSD transfer was supposed to offer
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving transfer program was designed to allow owners to carry their software license from one Tesla vehicle to another when upgrading, avoiding the cost of paying for the feature a second time. For Cybertruck buyers, this was a meaningful consideration. The base Cybertruck does not include Autosteer without FSD, making the software a functional necessity rather than an optional add-on.
In February, around the same time Tesla opened orders for the base Cybertruck, the company also reminded owners that the window to transfer FSD to a new vehicle would soon be closing. Elon Musk had simultaneously flagged that the $59,990 price was only available for ten days, creating a sense of urgency that pushed customers to order quickly.
How the terms shifted
On February 27, Tesla quietly updated the language on its FSD transfer support page. The original text had described eligibility as applying to customers who placed an order for a new Tesla vehicle by a March deadline. The updated version changed the key word from ‘order’ to ‘delivery.’ Since base Cybertruck deliveries did not begin until June, months after the March deadline, buyers who had ordered in February were effectively excluded before their vehicles even arrived.
The support page also included the word ‘may’ in its eligibility language, which gave Tesla a technical basis for denying transfers regardless of customer expectations. That qualifier, buried in the original text, has become a point of contention for buyers who argue the overall framing of Tesla’s communications suggested the transfer would be honored.
What buyers are being told now
Owners who have contacted Tesla report being told they have two options. They can upgrade to a higher Cybertruck trim at an additional cost of at least $20,000, which would make them eligible for the FSD transfer. Or they can pay $99 per month for software they hold a perpetual license for on their existing vehicle. For buyers who chose the base trim specifically as a cost-conscious purchase, neither option is satisfying.
Tesla has offered to refund the $250 order deposit for customers who choose to cancel. Several owners have taken that route, while others have gone public with their frustrations on social media and in Tesla-focused forums. The sentiment among affected buyers generally characterizes the situation as a bait and switch, a term Tesla has not acknowledged.
The broader context
Tesla moved away from one-time FSD purchases entirely in February, transitioning to a monthly subscription model at $99 per month. One of the performance targets in Musk’s compensation package is reaching ten million FSD subscribers, giving the company a financial incentive to push more owners onto the subscription model rather than honoring perpetual license transfers.
The base Cybertruck AWD starts at $59,990 following the February price increase. The entry-level Ram 1500, by comparison, starts at $40,275. Despite the higher purchase price, the Cybertruck’s operating costs are significantly lower. At an average of $6.97 per 100 miles to charge versus $13.42 per 100 miles to fuel a Ram 1500, a driver covering 15,000 miles annually would spend roughly $87 per month charging the Cybertruck compared to roughly $168 per month fueling the Ram. That cost advantage is part of what makes the software dispute particularly frustrating for buyers who chose the vehicle partly on the basis of long-term savings.
Tesla has not issued a public statement addressing the FSD transfer situation directly.