By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration laid off 4% of its staff as part of a government-wide trimming of probationary employees, a spokesperson said Monday.
The agency has pending investigations into Tesla, which is headed by Elon Musk, the CEO of the automaker and President Donald Trump’s senior adviser leading efforts to shrink the government.
NHTSA said under President Joe Biden the agency grew by 30% and is still considerably larger after the job cuts earlier this month. Its workforce was about 800 before the job cuts.
“We have retained positions critical to the mission of saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing economic costs due to road traffic crashes,” NHTSA said, adding it “will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment.”
Last week, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the second highest ranking official at USDOT vowed the government will take a fair and objective approach to overseeing auto safety probes into Tesla.
NHTSA in October opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) software after four reported collisions, including a fatal 2023 crash, among other open safety probes.
In January, NHTSA opened a separate probe into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over reports of crashes involving a feature that allows users to move their cars remotely.
Tesla in December 2023 recalled more than two million U.S. vehicles to install new safeguards in its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system. The agency is still investigating whether that recall is adequate to address concerns that drivers are not paying attention.
Earlier this month, Trump nominated Apple lawyer Jonathan Morrison to head NHTSA. He served as chief counsel of NHTSA during the first Trump administration.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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