Tesla now offers an extended warranty in some regions
Not a Tesla App
Tesla has begun offering an extended warranty called Extended Service Agreement (ESA) in the U.S. The service provides further coverage for eligible vehicles following an accidental leak last year on their mobile app.
You may recall Tesla unintentionally revealed a new extended warranties program when version 4.11.0 of the mobile app went live in July 2022. A new item appeared in the Upgrades section titled Tesla ESA, priced at $7,700.
The description was unclear, with several grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and poor formatting, suggesting that it was not ready for public consumption. It was unknown whether the ESA was being prepared for all models or if the price was a placeholder.
Fast forward to today, Tesla's Vehicle Extended Service Agreement (Vehicle ESA) is now officially available for eligible Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y owners. The Vehicle ESA commences when the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires and ends upon reaching the selected time or mileage threshold, whichever comes first.
Eligibility and Coverage
To be eligible, the new vehicle must be purchased directly from Tesla, and the Vehicle ESA must be purchased no later than when the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires.
Pricing
The pricing for the Vehicle Extended Service Agreement (in USD) is:
Model S (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $3,100.00
Model X (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $3,500.00
Model 3 (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $1,800.00
Model Y (2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever occurs first): $2,000.00
These prices are notably lower than the previously leaked $7,700 price tag. The Vehicle ESA purchase price does not include applicable state and local taxes.
The new ESA covers Model S built between 2012 and 2020, and Model X built between 2015 and 2020. There are no similar production date limitations for Model 3 and Model Y.
Unfortunately, there is no grace period. The ESA must be purchased before the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires (4 years or 50,000 miles). This means 2018 and some early 2019 Model 3 sedans are not eligible.
Exclusions and Deductible
The ESA covers the repair or replacement necessary to correct defects in the materials or workmanship of most parts manufactured or supplied by Tesla during the coverage period. However, it does not include the high-voltage battery or drive unit, which have their own standard 8-year warranty.
Tesla clarifies that the ESA is not a Maintenance Plan and will not cover wear and tear items like brake pad replacements.
The deductible for Model 3 and Model Y is $100 per visit, and it's believed it will be $200 for Model S and Model X.
How to Get ESA
To purchase the ESA, open the Tesla mobile app, go to the 'Upgrades' tab, and select the 'Extended Service Agreement' option. Follow the prompts to complete the purchase, and the ESA will be added to your account. It's important to note that the ESA only takes effect after your Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty expires. It can be transferred to the next owner, which the company says can improve aftermarket value.
Tesla's Vehicle Extended Service Agreement has evolved from last year's accidental leak to its current official offering. This additional protection aims to provide greater peace of mind and an improved ownership experience for Tesla customers.
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest Tesla news, upcoming features and software updates.
While most automakers are adding basic and un-integrated AI assistants to their vehicles, Tesla appears to be working hand-in-hand with xAI to build out an entire cast of characters for in-vehicle Grok. In the latest dive into Tesla’s firmware, Tesla hacker @greentheonly uncovered a few new details about the upcoming Grok feature.
This discovery, part of a larger batch of changes found in Tesla update 2025.20, also offers a hint at the hardware required for Grok.
A Dozen Groks
While we knew from previous firmware teardowns that Tesla was adding various Grok personalities to the vehicle UI, this update introduces a new one called Language Tutor, which may allow users to learn and practice a new language.
These are the different personas that will be included in Grok:
Argumentative
Assistant
Conspiracy
Doctor
Kids’ Stories
Kids’ Trivia Games
Meditation
Motivation
Romantic
Sexy
Storyteller
Therapist
Language Tutor
and the Grok Classic - Unhinged Mode
Release Date
Icons for these personalities have been added to the firmware for the first time, leading us to think Tesla is getting close to releasing the feature. However, even after the feature is developed and included in vehicle software, Tesla may only enable it selectively — such as for select employees for testing.
Grok is expected to be one of the largest vehicle features added via a software update, so it’ll be a big deal when it’s finally released. While we know more or less what to expect from Grok, what we don’t know is about vehicle requirements or whether it’ll require a subscription beyond Premium Connectivity.
Grok Requirements
While subscriptions required are anyone’s guess, vehicle requirements may be a little clearer now, thanks to Green’s discovery that Grok is only being added to AMD-based vehicle software builds.
Unfortunately, this likely means that older, Intel-based vehicles will not receive Grok support, at least for the time being. When Tesla introduced a voice assistant in China, they also started off with AMD-only support but later added Intel support, so it’s possible that the same could happen with Grok.
Energy Saving
Green also found a new undocumented navigation feature in 2025.20.3. This one focuses on leveraging Tesla’s vast amounts of data in an interesting way and offers drivers proactive advice to save energy on a well-traveled route.
In the Energy App, your vehicle will display, “This route is typically driven at X mph. Slow down by Y mph to save Z% for the rest of this trip.’
As you can see in the photo below, Tesla recognizes that vehicles typically drive at 66 mph on the route being driven and offers the driver the option to go five mph slower to save 1% of range. While this example doesn’t provide much incentive to slow down, it could be useful for someone with a low state of charge or if the savings are more significant.
In the future, Tesla could even use this, alongside the road surface data they’re gathering, to help plan routes for Robotaxi and Unsupervised FSD.
In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.
The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.
Reducing Approvals From Years to Months
Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.
Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.
The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years.
Accelerating the Cybercab
This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.
Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.
According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.
![Tesla Launches 'TeslaVision' Contest With Big Prizes — See Last Year’s Winner [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2025/tesla-vision.webp/0458df1c6ed085c427608f0cf762de64/tesla-vision.jpg)
![Tesla Officially Unveils New Model S and Model X: All the Changes [Photos]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2025/refresh_s_x_1.jpg/31a01e933ae496b97965b27db360f11b/refresh_s_x_1.jpg)
![Driverless Tesla Robotaxi Spotted on Camera in Austin [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/robotaxi/robotaxi-public.webp/5ffd9ed0c2c7f9dbfee05decb1c19a2f/robotaxi-public.jpg)
