An Austrian court has ruled that a drunk owner who got into his Tesla, pressed the brake and left the car in Park had not put it into operation, and it quashed his €980 fine. For an electric car, the Vorarlberg Regional Administrative Court held, selecting Drive or Reverse is the legal equivalent of starting a combustion engine. Its decision of 14 October 2026 is published in Austria's legal information system, and Heute reported it on 3 November.
What happened
In March 2026 the owner acted in a theatre performance and stayed for food and drinks afterwards. Around midnight he walked back to his parked Tesla carrying the key and his phone with the Tesla app, so the car unlocked as he approached: the doors opened, the lights and the display came on, and music started to play.
He sat in the driver's seat, pressed the brake pedal for 12 seconds and confirmed Park. Knowing he was not fit to drive, he messaged his wife, from whom he lives apart two minutes' walk away, to ask whether he could stay the night. Then he fell asleep. Police woke him by knocking on the window. A breath test showed 0.43 mg/l, above the 0.4 mg/l at which Austrian law treats a person as impaired in any case.
The Feldkirch district authority fined him €980 for putting a vehicle into operation while drunk, withdrew his driving licence for four months and ordered a traffic-coaching course.
What the car's data showed
The official vehicle expert read out the car's logs:
| Time | Logged event |
|---|---|
| 01:18:16 | Key detected inside the car |
| 01:18:17 | Brake pressed for 12 seconds, Park confirmed |
| 01:05 to 01:50 | Speed 0 km/h throughout; Drive or Reverse never selected |
| 01:39:09 | Door unlocked from inside; the owner got out |
Why the court ruled for him
Austria's Road Traffic Act bars anyone impaired by alcohol from driving a vehicle or putting it into operation, with fines of €800 to €3,700. Under the Supreme Administrative Court's case law, starting a combustion engine is enough, whatever the driver intends.
The court took the owner's manual for the 2015–2020 Model X as its technical basis. Opening a door wakes the instrument panel and the touchscreen. Pressing the brake, in Tesla's words, puts the car "in operation and ready to drive", and only then can a drive mode be chosen. The manual also says the car switches itself off after 30 minutes in Park, even with someone in the driver's seat.
Judge Stefanie Sutter accepted that the brake press created the technical possibility of moving off, but a car in Park cannot move. Changing the direction of travel with the gear selector, the court's headnote says, is comparable to starting the engine of a combustion car. Because the owner had selected only Park, there was no offence. The court did not accept that he had pressed the brake in his sleep, but held that this made no difference.
In a second decision the court cut the licence withdrawal to three months and cancelled the coaching. A withdrawal still stood because he had driven on a public road the day after the police provisionally took his licence, which the court called particularly reprehensible.
Not the last word
The court allowed a further appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court, because that court has not yet ruled on when an electric car counts as put into operation. Until it does, this is one regional court's reading of Austrian law. Heute warns that it is no general licence to sit drunk behind the wheel of an electric car.