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Tesla owner, ACLU win injunction against DMV in ‘offensive’ vanity plate dispute

(Credit: @fk_gas/Twitter)

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A Tesla Model 3 owner won a preliminary injunction on Friday against the Rhode Island DMV in a dispute involving the use of a vanity plate displaying the message “FKGAS.” In response to an anonymous complaint earlier this year, the agency belatedly determined the messaging was offensive and that the plate must be returned. However, a lawsuit was filed in partnership with the state’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) branch contesting the decision on constitutional grounds.

The “very essence of vanity plates is personal expression,” wrote U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in the decision granting the injunction, agreeing that the lawsuit’s case was likely to succeed on the merits. “The revocation of the license plate, which would prohibit Mr. Carroll from expressing his views on fossil fuel propulsion of motor vehicles, would stifle him in an irreparable way.” The judge also suggested the overall authority of DMVs to reject “offensive” vanity plates was unconstitutional, according to a report on the case in the publication The Providence Journal.

This initial victory ensures that the owner, Sean Carroll, may continue displaying the vanity tag until a full case decision is made. “I am thrilled with Judge McElroy’s decision on my First Amendment right allowing me to express my views through my vanity plate,” Carroll said in a statement published by the Rhode Island ACLU. The Model 3 owner also acknowledged that, while the plate’s full translation was intended as “fake gas,” it could also be perceived as conveying the message “fuck gas,” a meaning he supported as well.

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In the lawsuit, Carroll’s motivation for obtaining the vanity plate was “because he wished to convey, through the license plate, a personal philosophical and political message concerning his views about gasoline-powered automobiles and the environment.” He previously explained that the idea came after a conversation with his daughter during which he described how the all-electric vehicle was powered by their home’s solar panels. His daughter remarked that the car runs on “fake gas,” and thereby the “FKGAS” vanity plate was born.

“‘FKGAS’ is my personal statement challenging everyone to look at the world differently. Gas isn’t the only option when it comes to powering your vehicle,” Carroll said in a statement to The Providence Journal. “My choice for a vanity plate has already brought more attention to alternative fuel sources and electric vehicles.”

As another important part of Carroll’s case, the DMV already issued the Model 3’s plate twice before deciding to recall it, citing “inappropriate language.” The Tesla owner had driven with the message on his vehicle for at least five months before the agency reneged in response to an anonymous complaint. A key point of the arguments of the case filed with the ACLU was the arbitrary nature of the DMVs decision making process on vanity plates, ultimately pitting those decisions against first amendment protections such as Carroll’s views.

“[T]he DMV has prohibited such combinations as AIDS, CHRIST, GAY, JESUS, LESBIAN, REDNECK and YANKEE. But it has issued plates that read CHRIST, JEWISH, REDNEC, and REDNEK. It has prohibited words that are typically denigrating, such as CHUBBY and SLOB, but allowed FATT and OLDFRT,” Judge McElroy detailed in her decision.

The full lawsuit will be reviewed and decided in the coming months.

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Tesla adds useful Model 3/Y feature home chargers will love

Tesla has made it easier for Model 3 and Y owners to unlock the charging cable with certain adapters, chargers, and home chargers.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla has recently added a small, albeit useful feature for owners who charge their electric vehicles (EVs) at home, and specifically for those who use third-party chargers.

Although Tesla’s first-party home chargers include a physical latch and unlatch button, many third-party chargers do not. As such, in Tesla’s software update 2025.20 that began rolling out this week, the automaker added a subtle shortcut for the Model 3 and Model Y that allows users to stop charging sessions on third-party charging handles and adapters without the unlatch button (via Not a Tesla App).

To unlock the pin that locks the charging cable in place, Tesla Model 3 and Model Y owners will now be able to pull and hold the rear left door handle near the charging port for three seconds, at which it will unlatch. Owners would previously have had to crawl into the trunk to do this from inside the vehicle, and the addition will simply add another option to open the door.

The feature requires owners to have the vehicle be either unlocked or have the key nearby, and is especially of benefit to owners who regularly use home or other chargers with NACS adapters such as the J1772, which often don’t necessarily unlatch even when pressing the cable’s button or don’t include a button at all.

READ MORE ON TESLA CHARGING FEATURES: Tesla exec shares unique Supercharger team rule that accelerates EV adoption

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You can see a short video of the feature at work below, as posted on Thursday by X user Max Bracco.

It’s not clear as of yet whether or not the feature will be added to Tesla’s other vehicles, though it wouldn’t be surprising to see down the road. Tesla writes the following on the Model 3 and Model Y feature in its 2025.20 release notes:

Charging can now be stopped and the charge cable released by pulling and holding the rear left door handle for 3 seconds, provided the vehicle is unlocked or a recognized key is nearby. This is especially useful when the charge cable doesn’t have an unlatch button. You can still release the cable using the vehicle touchscreen or the Tesla app.

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SpaceX to decommission Dragon spacecraft in response to Pres. Trump war of words with Elon Musk

Elon Musk says SpaceX will decommission Dragon as a result of President Trump’s threat to end his subsidies and government contracts.

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SpaceX will decommission its Dragon spacecraft in response to the intense war of words that President Trump and CEO Elon Musk have entered on various social media platforms today.

President Trump and Musk, who was once considered a right-hand man to Trump, have entered a vicious war of words on Thursday. The issues stem from Musk’s disagreement with the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which will increase the U.S. federal deficit, the Tesla and SpaceX frontman says.

How Tesla could benefit from the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that axes EV subsidies

The insults and threats have been brutal, as Trump has said he doesn’t know if he’ll respect Musk again, and Musk has even stated that the President would not have won the election in November if it were not for him.

President Trump then said later in the day that:

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“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Government Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

Musk’s response was simple: he will decommission the SpaceX capsule responsible for transporting crew and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS): Dragon.

Dragon has completed 51 missions, 46 of which have been to the ISS. It is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth’s orbit. It is the only spacecraft that is capable of returning vast amounts of cargo to Earth. It is also the first private spacecraft to take humans to the ISS.

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The most notable mission Dragon completed is one of its most recent, as SpaceX brought NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth after being stranded at the ISS by a Boeing Starliner capsule.

SpaceX’s reluctance to participate in federally funded projects may put the government in a strange position. It will look to bring Boeing back in to take a majority of these projects, but there might be some reluctance based on the Starliner mishap with Wilmore and Williams.

SpaceX bails out Boeing and employees are reportedly ‘humiliated’

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Tesla cites competitive harm in attempt to keep certain crash data private

Tesla wants some data to be kept from the public because competitors could use it for their own benefit.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is citing competitive harm as it is attempting to keep certain crash data private from the public in relation to a lawsuit against it and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) from the Washington Post.

In a federal court filing seen by Reuters, Tesla said it wanted some of the crash information the Post was attempting to obtain to be kept confidential because it could be used by rivals to assess the company’s self-driving tech.

Tesla touts its self-driving suite as one of the most robust on the market, and those who have used it believe it to be one of the best around. However, accidents do happen, and while Tesla still has not reached full autonomy and tells drivers to continue paying attention to be prepared to take over, the company still seems to take a lot of the blame for them.

There are also some things that could be revealed about Tesla’s self-driving strategy if it were to release the data, the company says. The efficacy of each version of its FSD suite could allow competitors to calculate how many crashes occurred on each release.

Attorneys for the Washington Post said that Tesla’s versions of both software and hardware are not kept private from owners themselves, so the information should be made public.

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The NHTSA has been investigating accidents involving Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite since it opened an investigation last October.

The company is used to dealing with attempts to hinder the progress or capabilities of the FSD suite. When used correctly, it can be a widely beneficial suite that helps make driving less stressful, but Tesla has always been more than vocal that it cannot be used as a replacement for human drivers, at least not yet.

Currently, Tesla Full Self-Driving still requires owners to pay attention and be aware of road conditions, as they may have to take over unexpectedly.

Tesla is hoping to launch its Robotaxi platform in Austin next week on Thursday, as it has reportedly landed on June 12 as its launch date.

Tesla lands on date for Robotaxi launch in Austin: report

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However, media skepticism regarding the suite’s capabilities has conveniently started to ramp up as the Robotaxi platform launch nears.

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