NHTSA culls 4% of staff as DOGE cuts hit auto safety agency
Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, told the Free Press in November that he anticipated dramatic changes at NHTSA with the new administration.
“If the first Trump presidency is any indication, we will see NHTSA’s now-active rulemaking division come to a screeching halt. I think we only saw two relatively minor final rules make it across the finish line from 2017-2020 in Trump’s first term, whereas the Biden NHTSA has been far more active in rulemaking efforts,” he said at the time. “There are dozens of rules currently in the active or proposed rulemaking stage. Most of those rulemaking efforts will be hitting wet concrete under the Trump administration, including important rules on impaired driving tech, pedestrian protection, autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems.”
By Jackie Charniga and Eric D. Lawrence
February 24, 2025
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lost 4% of its staff, the agency said Monday, as part of ongoing efforts to cull probationary workers across federal agencies.
The safety agency has three ongoing investigations into electric automaker Tesla, whose CEO Elon Musk is acting as President Donald Trump’s senior adviser in cutting federal employees. Two weeks before Trump took office, NHTSA opened a probe into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over reports of crashes involving a feature that allows users to move their cars remotely.
NHTSA said in a statement emailed to the Detroit Free Press that under President Joe Biden, the agency grew 30% and remains larger than it had in previous administrations despite the cuts. Its workforce was about 800 before the job cuts and in 2023 reportedly had 675 employees.
“We have retained positions critical to the mission of saving lives, preventing injuries and reducing economic costs due to road traffic crashes,” a NHTSA spokesperson said in the statement. “We will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment, in accordance with the Vehicle Safety Act and our data-driven, risk-based investigative process.”
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