![]() ![]() During his tenure, NHTSA oversaw the biggest recall in history - pressuring automakers to replace airbags made by Takata, which went bankrupt - and compelled Fiat Chrysler to buy back vehicles because the agency wasn’t confident in the company’s plans to fix a fuel-tank defect. ![]() ![]() Carlson also focused on climate change and air-pollution law before joining NHTSA early last year.īy contrast, Mark Rosekind, the last permanent administrator before Cliff, specialized in issues related to sleep and fatigue. Cliff has a chemistry doctorate from the University of California, San Diego, and completed a postdoc in atmospheric sciences at the University of California, Davis, before first going to work at CARB in 2008. The ones that generated the most headlines had to do with Tesla, whose controversial driver-assistance system Autopilot is the subject of two defect investigations, one of which the agency escalated in June.īut the backgrounds of NHTSA’s leaders are in climate policy rather than fields more squarely linked to safety. Another part of its job is enforcement activity, and last year was eventful - there were a record 1,093 vehicle and related-equipment recalls affecting roughly 34.3 million products. This summer, the agency made an $8 million national media buy for a “Speeding Wrecks Lives” ad campaign. NHTSA wasn’t standing idly by as this happened. And this wasn’t just a blip - the number of deaths on US roads has been soaring since the tail end of Donald Trump’s presidency, rising for seven consecutive quarters. Five days after announcing Cliff’s departure, the agency reported some 9,560 traffic fatalities from January through March, the worst first-quarter showing in 20 years. Now is not the time for NHTSA to have another long lapse in permanent leadership. A White House official declined to comment on the timeline for an appointment to replace Cliff, and NHTSA didn’t respond to a request for comment. Cliff was first put forward for the role back in December and had to be re-nominated after Senator Rick Scott, the Florida Republican, held up several of the president’s picks for Transportation Department roles for months. While President Joe Biden plans to nominate another permanent administrator, the process could take a while. Ann Carlson, the agency’s chief counsel, has taken over after Cliff lasted just over three months as full-time head of the regulator. Steven Cliff, who in May became the first confirmed NHTSA administrator since early 2017, bowed out to return to the California Air Resources Board starting Monday. ![]()
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