- The agency responsible for regulating vehicle safety has cut 4% of its workforce.
- The NHTSA has multiple investigations into Tesla including two about its self-driving tech.
- The firings come as Elon Musk's DOGE makes sweeping cuts across the federal government.
The agency responsible for regulating vehicle safety and is investigating Tesla has cut staff as Elon Musk's DOGE continues to make sweeping changes to the federal workforce.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fired 4% of its workers on February 14, an individual with knowledge of the cuts told Business Insider.
The agency, which is responsible for ensuring vehicle safety in the US, has three active investigations into Tesla.
These include an investigation into Tesla's Actually Smart Summon (ASS) feature, which allows drivers to fetch their cars remotely using their smartphone, and investigations into the Full-Self Driving and Autopilot technology.
Cuts to the NHTSA, which is part of the Department of Transportation, come as the Trump administration continues efforts to slash the federal workforce, with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency leading the charge.
The new administration fired thousands of probationary federal employees, who have typically been in their roles for less than two years, across multiple agencies on February 13.
Musk's DOGE, meanwhile, has made broad cuts across multiple departments as it seeks to eliminate what it says is government waste.
On Saturday, Musk sent out an email to federal employees asking them to list what work they accomplished in the past week, with the Tesla CEO posting on X that failure to respond would be taken as a resignation.
It is not clear whether the NHTSA layoffs affected teams specifically involved in regulating Tesla. A review of LinkedIn profiles by BI suggests that some of the federal workers let go by the NHTSA had been in their roles for less than a year.
An NHTSA spokesperson told BI that despite the job cuts, the agency remained larger than it was at the start of Joe Biden's presidency and had grown 30% during his administration.
"We have retained positions critical to the mission of saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing economic costs due to road traffic crashes. We will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment," the spokesperson said.
NHTSA is responsible for overseeing vehicle recalls for automakers.
It issued 932 safety recalls, affecting almost 31 million vehicles in 2022 per the agency's website. Over the past year, Tesla has issued multiple recalls for its Cybertruck, Model Y, and Model 3 vehicles.
The NHTSA, which has between 500 and 1,000 employees according to its LinkedIn page, also sets rules on autonomous vehicles and robotaxis.
The Washington Post reported that the small team overseeing self-driving vehicles within NHTSA has been cut in half as a result of the layoffs. The agency declined to comment to the outlet about that point.
Tesla is set to enter the robotaxi market this year. Musk told investors that the EV maker plans to launch an autonomous ride-hailing vehicle service in Austin in June.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Do you work at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and have information to share? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or tcarter.41 on Signal.
