Jonathan Morrison confirmed to lead NHTSA, tackles Tesla safety probes

On the Dash:

• The U.S. Department of Transportation has appointed Jonathan Morrison as the chief of NHTSA, finally filling a three-year leadership void at the agency.
• Morrison inherits ongoing safety investigations, including high-profile probes into Tesla vehicles and emerging automated driving technologies.
• The confirmation signals renewed focus on balancing safety oversight with the deployment of innovative vehicle technologies.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Jonathan Morrison as the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), giving the agency a permanent leader for the first time in three years. Morrison was confirmed in a 51-47 vote alongside 47 other nominees, including officials overseeing highways and pipelines.

Morrison, a former Apple lawyer and NHTSA chief counsel during President Donald Trump’s first term, now leads an agency overseeing a series of high-profile safety investigations, including a probe into approximately 174,000 Tesla Model Y vehicles from the 2021 model year. Reports indicate the electronic door handles on these vehicles can become inoperative, potentially trapping children inside.

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The agency has been scrutinizing Tesla on several fronts, including:

• Since last October, NHTSA has investigated 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with full self-driving technology following four reported collisions, including a fatal crash in 2023.
• In January, the agency opened a separate investigation into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over crashes involving a remote-movement feature.
• Last month, the agency probed Tesla’s delays in submitting crash reports tied to advanced driver-assistance systems and self-driving technology.

Although Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has pledged to accelerate the deployment of self-driving vehicles, the NHTSA plans to revise regulations that assume a human driver is in command, reflecting the growing role of automated technology in the U.S. vehicle fleet.

Automakers and safety advocates have criticized the agency in recent years for slow regulatory action or policies that could impede innovation. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major U.S. automakers, stressed the importance of a strong NHTSA under Morrison’s leadership.