The mistake
The public option-code lists name a family of codes after Full Self-Driving. A checker that treats any of them as “FSD purchased” will tell a buyer the car owns FSD when what the record actually says is basic Autopilot and no FSD. Add up the asking-price premium for FSD and that is the most expensive mistake a VIN tool can make.
The three codes
APPF is the Full Self-Driving Capability package: the purchase, as ordered. APF2 says the FSD software is active on the car. APFB is what Tesla itself calls the “Base Autopilot Package”: basic Autopilot and no FSD. Only the first two mean the car has FSD. The third is the one that gets misread, because the public code lists call it “Full Self-Driving Hardware”.
The transfer signature
From mid-2023 to March 2026 Tesla at times let an owner move a purchased FSD to a new Tesla, and it has removed FSD from some cars it resold. Either way the car left behind can keep the package code, APPF, because the package was bought for it, and show APFB, basic Autopilot, because the software is gone. A checker that stops at APPF calls that car an FSD car. The honest reading is: bought, no longer active. Assume FSD is gone unless the car's own Software screen shows it.
Hardware is not software
Autopilot hardware codes say which computer the car has. Hardware 3.0, the FSD computer, was not fitted new before spring 2019 (about March on Model S and X, April on Model 3), so on an older car it was fitted later, which Tesla does free for cars with FSD bought; subscribers have paid for it. That is a strong hint about the car's history and no proof about its present. A tool that reads the FSD computer as FSD itself is guessing. The hardware generations are also easy to mislabel: the codes run APH2 for hardware 2.0, APH3 for 2.5, APH4 for 3.0 and AP04 for 4.0.
What a correct answer looks like
One tile that says which of these the record holds: software active, the package on the record, package on the record but no longer active, Enhanced Autopilot, Basic Autopilot, or not on the record. When a code is one nobody has pinned down, the honest tool says so rather than guessing. And every answer carries the same caveat: the record is the record, the car today is the car today, and a subscription ends with the seller.
Check it yourself
On the touchscreen, open Controls, then Software. The packages the car has now are listed there with the Autopilot computer. Ask the seller to show you that screen. If Full Self-Driving is not on it, the car does not have FSD today, whatever a listing or a VIN tool says.
Common questions
Which codes mean a Tesla has Full Self-Driving?
APPF is the Full Self-Driving Capability package, the purchase as ordered, and APF2 says the FSD software is active on the car. The car's own Software screen shows whether it has FSD today.
Does APFB mean a Tesla has Full Self-Driving?
No. APFB is what Tesla itself calls the “Base Autopilot Package”: basic Autopilot and no FSD. It gets misread because the public code lists call it “Full Self-Driving Hardware”.
Does the Full Self-Driving computer mean a car has Full Self-Driving?
No. Autopilot hardware codes say which computer the car has, and on an older car the FSD computer is a strong hint about the car's history and no proof about its present.