The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to confirm the top auto safety official along with dozens of other nominees, including officials overseeing highways and pipelines.
The Senate voted 51-47 to confirm Jonathan Morrison to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and 47 other nominees, the first time the NHTSA has had a permanent leader in three years.
Morrison, a former lawyer at Apple AAPL.O and chief counsel at the NHTSA during President Donald Trump’s first term, will oversee a series of safety probes at the NHTSA, including an investigation opened this week into about 174,000 Tesla Model Y cars from the 2021 model year on reports that electronic door handles can become inoperative and potentially trap children inside.
“NHTSA cannot sit back and wait for problems to arise with such developing technologies, but must demonstrate strong leadership,” Morrison said.
Last month, the NHTSA said it would investigate Tesla’s delays in submitting crash reports involving advanced driver-assistance systems or self-driving vehicles.
Since last October, the NHTSA has been investigating 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with full self-driving technology after four reported collisions, including a 2023 fatal crash.
The agency separately opened an investigation in January into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over reports of crashes involving a feature that allows users to move their cars remotely.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has vowed to take steps to speed the deployment of self-driving vehicles. The NHTSA said this month that it plans to revise several regulations that assume a human driver is in command.
In August, the NHTSA certified Amazon.com’s AMZN.O self-driving-unit Zoox vehicles for demonstration use and closed a probe into whether they had complied with federal requirements.
Automakers, lawmakers and safety advocates have criticized the NHTSA on a number of fronts, including slow action on regulations or impeding progress.
“The auto industry wants – and needs – a strong NHTSA and is committed to a partnership that achieves our shared goals: saving lives, reducing crashes and deploying the cleanest, safest and smartest vehicles ever,” said the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major automakers.
By Agencies
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