Biden withdraws nomination of official to head US auto safety agency

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The White House said Tuesday that President Joe Biden is withdrawing the nomination of the acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to take over the top job permanently.

The White House gave no reason for the move and declined to comment.

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Ann Carlson, the agency’s senior counsel, was named acting chair of NHTSA in September and was officially nominated for the top position in March.

She oversaw Tesla Inc’s safety investigations, airbag rupture, and efforts to reduce traffic fatalities and enhance vehicle fuel economy requirements.

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Carlson would continue to serve on the NHTSA but did not address the reason for withdrawing the nomination.

“Ann’s service has helped advance NHTSA’s mission to save lives and reduce the economic costs of road accidents,” Buttigieg said in a statement. The number of US traffic fatalities jumped 10.5% in 2021 to 42,915, the highest number of US road fatalities in a single year since 2005, but fell 0.3% in 2022.

Carlson did not respond to a request for comment.

Her nomination faced strong opposition, as the 13 Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month criticized her role in developing fuel economy standards in 2021. They told Carlson that the standards are “in line with your long career as an environmental expert with no traffic safety experience.” “

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NHTSA is set to soon propose new fuel economy standards for 2027 and beyond.

Jonathan Adkins, president of the nonprofit Conservative Highway Safety Association that represents highway safety offices in states and territories, said the group was very disappointed in Carlson’s nomination being withdrawn.

“GHSA urges the Biden Administration to nominate an individual with a strong security background who can be quickly confirmed,” Adkins wrote on Twitter.

Carlson took over the NHTSA after Stephen Cliff left in September 2022. Cliff was named deputy director of NHTSA in February 2021 and ran the agency on an acting basis until confirmed in May 2022.

For most of the past six years, NHTSA has been without a Senate-approved official.

During the Trump administration, no candidate for the NHTSA presidency was confirmed and there was no candidate for most of the four-year term. The Biden administration has struggled to win approval of several major transportation candidates in a closely divided US Senate. (Reporting by David Shepherdson in Washington Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)