Tesla is one of the buzziest car companies on the planet. Between its unique products and Elon Musk’s antics, there’s always a new Tesla rumor online. Because the automaker has no PR department, there’s rarely an official statement to counter conspiracies. Here are four rumors about Tesla that the internet still believes, despite being disproven.

Tesla cars can see ghosts

Every Halloween, the same Tesla video makes the rounds online. A TikToker drives their Tesla through a cemetery, and the screen shows pedestrian warnings — vague outlines of humans standing next to the avatar of the car. Then the camera pans to the window: a deserted cemetery full of gravestones.

One such video has millions of views, with commenters claiming Tesla’s hazard system is so good it’s detecting ghosts. But the truth is much more boring. Fact-checkers at Snopes point out that Tesla’s collision avoidance system uses cameras and can throw “false positives.” A vaguely human-shaped gravestone can trigger the warning.

Studies prove Teslas have the highest fatality rate

This claim pops up constantly. The problem? It cites a study that isn’t peer reviewed.

The iSeeCars website released a ranking of the most fatal vehicle brands, placing Tesla at number one with a rate of 5.6 occupant deaths per billion miles. The fatality numbers come from the NHTSA. The mileage numbers do not. iSeeCars “estimated” total miles based on registration data and average driving habits. No odometer readings. No insurance data. Snopes contacted iSeeCars for comment but received no response.

Tesla laid off U.S. workers and hired foreigners instead

Tesla often tops “most American-made car” lists. Its star-spangled reputation took a hit in 2024 when social media posts claimed the automaker replaced laid-off U.S. workers with foreign hires. The truth is more complicated.

Tesla did lay off 6,600 U.S. workers. It also filed 1,300 H-1B visas. But two-thirds of those visas were renewals, not new hires. Tesla wasn’t flying in thousands of foreign workers to replace American ones. That said, Musk has repeatedly faced accusations of illegally fighting Tesla workers’ attempts to unionize, and Tesla still relies heavily on Chinese-sourced batteries.

President Trump’s DOD signed $400m ‘armored Tesla contract’

This rumor exploded online: the Department of Defense ordered $400 million worth of Cybertrucks while Musk was serving as President Trump’s advisor.

There’s a grain of truth. The State Department published a procurement plan for $400 million worth of “armored Tesla.” After public outcry, it changed the listing to “armored electric vehicles.” Then it deleted it entirely.

The real kicker? The DOD’s plan to test armored EVs began under the Biden administration as a $483,000 project. The budget ballooned while Musk was a special government employee, then vanished.