OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — The California Department of Motor Vehicles has filed a lawsuit against Tesla, claiming that the electric car manufacturer misled consumers about the self-driving capabilities of its vehicles.

The DMV is pushing to suspend Tesla’s sale and manufacturing of EVs in California for at least 30 days.

On Monday, critics concerned about Tesla’s “fully self-driving function” rallied outside the Office of Administrative Hearings in Oakland.

MORE: Tesla ‘full self-driving’ triggered 8-car crash on Bay Bridge, driver tells police

“These lies have killed 58 people. They’re going to kill a lot more,” said Shua Sanchez, an activist. “Those cars are crashing. People are getting hurt and are dying.”

It’s an issue that the federal government and ABC7 have been investigating since 2018.

That’s when Apple engineer Walter Huang was killed after his Tesla crashed in Mountain View while in Autopilot mode.

After the fact, it was revealed that Huang complained about the reliability of Tesla’s Autopilot before the crash.

Then in 2022, surveillance video captured a white Tesla triggering an 8-car pileup on the Bay Bridge after suddenly braking.

The Tesla driver claimed it happened while his car was in “full self-driving” mode.

Those crashes and many more led to Monday’s hearing to review a suit filed by the California DMV asking for a 30-day suspension on Tesla to prevent it from selling or manufacturing cars in the Golden State.

The DMV maintains that Tesla misled people on the “fully self-driving” function.

“These systems are not ready for being simply a driver assist system– which is what they keep claiming,” said Michelle Merrill, an organizer with Scientists Rebellion.

MORE: Was Mountain View Tesla crash a failure of Autopilot, automatic braking systems?

UC Berkeley Professor Scott Moura is an expert in batteries, EVs, and automated vehicles.

“Tesla has a technology product that they have branded itself as FSD, which is ‘fully self-driving.’ There are levels of automated driving. One-two-three-four-five. But their FSD tech corresponds to Level Three, not Level Five. Thus, one can argue that it is misleading,” said Moura.

Moura explains what Level Three means.

“It does not drive itself completely in all situations and the driver cannot brand it off and not pay attention,” said Moura.

Tesla contends that consumers are smart and regardless of what their advertising says, people know they are not autonomous.

Haas School of Business Professor James Sallee explained how Tesla has marketed itself regarding the fully self-driving feature and what a suspension in sales and manufacturing would do to its brand.

“Tesla has always pushed the envelope on this issue and promoted its capacities and put its toe over the line if nothing else,” said Sallee. “Tesla is already facing a long list of bad news. This is one more piece contributing to that.”