Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team recently eliminated jobs from the same agency that is investigating crashes related to Tesla’s autonomous and remote features.

According to multiple reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration laid off 4% of its employees following direction from the Department of Government Efficiency. The agency called the job cuts “modest,” saying that the department remains “considerably larger” than it was four years ago.

NHTSA reiterated that the action will not affect the agency’s investigations into Tesla, which is owned and directed by Musk.

“We have retained positions critical to the mission of saving lives, preventing injuries and reducing economic costs due to road traffic crashes,” NHTSA said in a statement. “We will continue to enforce the law on all manufacturers of motor vehicles and equipment, in accordance with the Vehicle Safety Act and our data-driven, risk-based investigative process.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during his confirmation hearing last month that Musk’s connection to the White House would not prevent NHTSA from investigating Tesla. Steven Bradbury, the nominee to be the Department of Transportation’s deputy secretary, echoed that sentiment during his confirmation hearing last week.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump nominated Jonathan Morrison to lead NHTSA. Morrison worked as the agency’s chief counsel during Trump’s first term as president.

Tesla investigations

In October 2024, NHTSA launched an investigation looking into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature, which allows the vehicle to take control of driving functions in limited conditions. The probe into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles was prompted by four reports of crashes involving the Tesla feature, including one fatality.

NHTSA launched a separate investigation in January. That investigation is looking into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over reports of crashes related to a feature that allows the cars to be moved remotely.

“Smart Summon and Actually Smart Summon are features on certain Tesla vehicles that allow a user to remotely move the vehicle to the user or to another designated location, through use of a phone app,” NHTSA wrote when it announced its investigation on Jan. 6. “The Office of Defects Investigation has received one complaint alleging that an Actually Smart Summon session resulted in a crash and has reviewed at least three media reports of apparently similar crashes. All four incidents involve the subject Tesla vehicles operating in Actually Smart Summon failing to detect posts or parked vehicles, resulting in a crash.”

NHTSA said that Tesla had not reported any Smart Summon or Actually Smart Summon crashes involving autonomous driving systems, which is required when a crash occurs on a publicly accessible road.