This is a federal crime and a crime in (I believe) every state for
obvious reasons.
A good example of how laws and regulations exist, in part, to provide trust in what would otherwise be an untrustworthy market. You'll destroy the used car market - and dealer tradeins - if everyone can pay their mechanic a hundred bucks to roll off 20K from their odometer.
However, Tesla allegedly ”knowingly overstates the distances traveled in Tesla vehicles” by manipulating odometers, allowing the company to dodge repair responsibilities tied to warranties.
...
“Tesla Inc. employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage travelled by Tesla vehicles,” reads the lawsuit. “In so doing, Defendants can, and do, accelerate the rate of depreciation of the value of Tesla vehicles and also the expiration of Tesla vehicle warranties to reduce or avoid responsibility for contractually required repairs as well as increase the purchase of its extended warranty policy.”
This is adding, not subtracting, for an entirely different fraudulent reason, but the laws are about modifying, not just subtraction.
California law:
28050. It is unlawful for any person to advertise for sale, to
sell, to use, or to install on any part of a motor vehicle or on an
odometer in a motor vehicle any device which causes the odometer to
register any mileage other than the true mileage driven. For the
purposes of this section the true mileage driven is that mileage
driven by the car as registered by the odometer within the
manufacturer's designed tolerance.
28050.5. It is unlawful for any person with the intent to defraud
to operate a motor vehicle on any street or highway knowing that the
odometer of such vehicle is disconnected or nonfunctional.
28051. It is unlawful for any person to disconnect, turn back,
advance, or reset the odometer of any motor vehicle with the intent
to alter the number of miles indicated on the odometer gauge.
