WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is withdrawing the nomination of Ann Carlson, the acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) since September 2022, to become the agency's administrator.
The White House gave no reason for Biden's decision to withdraw Carlson's nomination. Prior to being named acting head, Carlson had been the agency's chief counsel since 2021.
With the exception of 78 days in 2022 when Steven Cliff was NHTSA administrator, the agency has been without a full-time director since 2017.
Carlson will continue to serve at NHTSA, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said.
"Ann's service has helped advance NHTSA's mission to save lives and reduce the economic costs of roadway crashes," Buttigieg said in a statement. U.S. traffic deaths jumped 10.5 percent in 2021 to 42,915, the highest number killed on American roads in a single year since 2005, but fell 0.3 percent in 2022.
Before joining NHTSA, Carlson focused on climate change and air pollution law and policy at the UCLA School of Law, where she was the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and the faculty co-director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
A part of the Department of Transportation, NHTSA sets vehicle safety standards, identifies safety defects and oversees recalls, including those for tires.
Automotive News contributed to this report.
