Consumer anxiety grows as Tesla skips FSD certification and BYD transfers data to China

Tesla and BYD have come under fire over consumer protection issues. At a National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee audit on the 8th, Tesla was pressed for failing to apply for government verification of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance feature, while BYD Korea was called to account for transferring customer personal data to China. According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA), Tesla's new registrations in Korea from January to September this year reached 89,148 units, up 104.4% from the same period last year. BYD registered 20,137 units, a 578.7% increase. During the same period, the two companies' combined share of the imported passenger car market stood at about 39.1%.

Seo Young-deok, CEO of Tesla Korea, who testified as a witness, said the company had sold about 89,000 vehicles in Korea by the end of September, roughly 90% of which were Model Y vehicles. Of the approximately 230,000 Tesla vehicles in Korea, only about 45,000 are capable of using the FSD feature, he said. Seo admitted the company had never formally requested FSD (Full Self-Driving) verification from the government. "Tesla Korea has never requested any testing from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport or related agencies," he said. Park Jun-hyung, director of the ministry's Mobility and Automobile Bureau, explained that no international standards exist for FSD, and that Tesla's driver-responsibility policy has kept the feature from being covered by international standards.

BYD faced pointed questions over its privacy practices. Representative Kim Eun-hye of the People Power Party cited BYD Korea's privacy policy, noting that customers' names, email addresses, vehicle identification numbers, and license plate numbers are transferred to the company's headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Cho In-chul, head of BYD Korea's passenger car division, responded, "We are strictly complying with Korea's Personal Information Protection Act and related laws."

However, the hearing yielded no concrete timeline for either Tesla's verification application or improvements to BYD's consent procedures for overseas data transfers. Seo said Tesla would actively cooperate and seek FSD verification once the ministry establishes a relevant framework.