NHTSA To Shed More Than 25 Percent Of Its Employees

Ford has faced its fair share of troubles with initial quality in recent years, which have also landed it in a bit of hot water with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Blue Oval was ordered by the NHTSA to pay a civil penalty of $165 million over its rear-view camera related woes last November, in fact, and that same agency is also investigating a pair of fatal crashes involving BlueCruise. Now, the NHTSA will be moving forward and conducting those efforts with a much lighter staff, however.

According to Reuters, the NHTSA will shed around 25 percent of its current staff, taking that figure from 772 employees as of the end of May to 555. Previously, the NHTSA stated that it had grown its staff by 30 percent under former U.S. President Joe Biden, but his successor – Donald Trump – has worked to trim a number of jobs from the federal workforce since taking office in January. The administration is also looking to cut the NHTSA’s operations and research account by more than $10 million.

In addition to these cuts, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration are also both set to lose over 25 percent of their respective staff. That means that the USDOT is losing around 4,100 employees, going from roughly 57,000 to 52,862, while the Federal Aviation Administration is shedding 2,137 workers, taking its staff from around 46,250 to 44,208. According to Reuters, government resignations and early retirements tallied 260,000 people as of the conclusion of April.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted that none of these cuts involve safety-critical employees, adding that it’s unclear if additional layoffs will follow. “If we have bloat in certain areas we’ll reduce force,” Duffy said, adding the department would rehire in certain areas if needed. “We feel good where we’re at right now, but we’ll continue to assess where we’re at with our staffing needs.”