長，率いる of office that 調査（する）s 自動車 safety trouble leaves 機関 after audit finds 管理／経営 problems
DETROIT (AP) - The 長，率いる of the U.S. 政府's office that 調査／捜査するs automobile safety problems has 辞職するd from his 地位，任命する just days after the 解放（する） of a 厳しい audit 非難するing how the office was managed.
Stephen Ridella stepped 負かす／撃墜する as director of the Office of Defects 調査 at the 国家の 主要道路 Traffic Safety 行政 on June 3, Veronica 意気込み／士気s, a NHTSA spokeswoman, 確認するd this week.
Ridella, who started at the 機関 in 2006 after a long career in the 自動車 産業, wrote in a LinkedIn 地位，任命するing that he has taken a new 職業 as director of safety planning and regulatory 報告（する）／憶測ing at Zoox, an 自治権のある 乗り物 company owned by アマゾン.com Inc. He 拒絶する／低下するd その上の comment when reached Thursday by The Associated 圧力（をかける）.
On June 1, the 視察官 general for the Department of Transportation, which 含むs NHTSA, 解放（する）d an audit 説 the defects 調査 office is slow to 調査／捜査する safety problems, 限界ing its ability to 答える／応じる quickly to 厳しい 危険s to automobile safety. Auditors 設立する that the defects office often 行方不明になるd its own goals for speedier 調査s, it doesn't have （疑いを）晴らす 必要物／必要条件s for 文書ing 調査（する）s, and it failed to adequately 監督する 捜査官／調査官s.
NHTSA said last week that it already has finished most of the 改良s recommended by the 視察官 general.
Ridella was in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the defects office as it began trying to 軍隊 ARC 自動推進の Inc. of Tennessee 解任する 67 million 空気／公表する 捕らえる、獲得する inflators that can 爆発する with too much 軍隊 and hurl shrapnel. NHTSA says the inflators have 原因（となる）d two deaths in the U.S. and Canada and 負傷させるd seven others. The 機関 sent a 解任する request letter to ARC in April after an 調査 that was started eight years ago.
The Office o f Defects 調査 began 調査／捜査するing ARC´s inflators in 2015, but it took nearly eight years for the 機関 to 捜し出す the 解任する. In 2021, a 40-year-old mother of 10 was killed in Michigan´s Upper 半島 after an ARC inflator 爆発するd in a 比較して minor 衝突，墜落.
NHTSA made a 試験的な 決意 that ARC´s inflators are 欠陥のある, and it has ordered the company to say whether it 推定する／予想するs more inflators to 決裂. ARC has until June 14 to 答える／応じる. The next step in the 過程 would be for NHTSA to 持つ／拘留する a public 審理，公聴会, and then かもしれない take the company to 法廷，裁判所 to get a 解任する order.
ARC 持続するs that no safety defect 存在するs and that NHTSA´s 需要・要求する is based on a hypothesis rather than technical 結論s.
In his LinkedIn 地位，任命するing, Ridella wrote that he's thrilled to join Zoox as it develops a robotaxi. "Safety has been the 焦点（を合わせる） of my entire career, and I am excited to continue this 旅行 with my new team at Zoox," he wrote.
Zoox is under 調査 by NHTSA. In March the defects office began looking into the company's 2022 certification that its 乗り物 met 連邦の safety 基準s for モーター 乗り物s. The 機関 said at the time that it would look into whether Zoox used its own 実験（する） 手続きs to 決定する that 確かな 連邦の 基準s weren't applicable because of the robotaxi's unique configuration.
Ridella's 出発 creates another vacancy in 最高の，を越す leadership at the 機関, which has been without a 上院-確認するd 行政官／管理者, its 最高の，を越す position, since Steven Cliff left last September to run the California 空気／公表する 資源s Board, which 規制するs 汚染. Last month 大統領 Joe Biden withdrew his 指名／任命 of Ann Carlson, NHTSA's 長，指導者 counsel, to be N HTSA 行政官／管理者.
意気込み／士気s, the NHTSA spokeswoman, said Cem Hatipoglu, associate 行政官／管理者 for 乗り物 safety 研究, will run the Office of Defects 調査 while the 機関 searches for Ridella's 交替／補充.
In the audit of the Office of Defects 調査, the 視察官 general 設立する that it may 行方不明になる 批判的な （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） for 開始する，打ち上げるing 調査s because it didn't follow 手続きs needed to 評価する 危険 from 可能性のある 自動車 safety defects.
The 機関 also doesn´t have an 統合するd computer system for its 調査（する）s, and doesn´t 終始一貫して follow its own 手続きs for making safety problems a high 優先, the audit 設立する.
It also 設立する that the office doesn't always 記録，記録的な／記録する 重要な documentation in its investigative とじ込み／提出するs. In 22 of 24 調査s in 2018 and 2019, とじ込み／提出するs were 行方不明の documentation, the audit 設立する.
The 機関 始める，決めるs timeliness 的s for 調査s, but the audit 設立する that the 的s were 行方不明になるd in 33 of 35 調査（する）s 見本d over three years.
The defects office 始める，決めるs a goal of finishing 予選 調査s in 120 days. When it 昇格s those to an 工学 分析, the goal is to finish in a year. But auditors 設立する that 予選 調査（する）s in a 2018 and 2019 見本 took an 普通の／平均（する） of 617 days to finish. The 工学 分析 were open for another 1,001 days on 普通の／平均（する）, almost three times the goal.
NHTSA´s 声明 said it finished the first 段階 of a multiyear （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） 科学（工学）技術 update by 2020, 改善するing data 貯蔵 and 分析. Since then, it´s continually introduced 科学（工学）技術 updates.
"NHTSA believes it is 井戸／弁護士席 positioned to build upon its successful 実施 of 標準化するd operating 手続きs, 含むing rigorous documentation and 危険-based escalation 過程s," the st atement said.
The 機関 said 改良s have positioned it to 監督する a growing number of 解任するs that are 演説（する）／住所ing safety 危険s faster than in the past. It said there were a 記録，記録的な／記録する 896 乗り物 and 器具／備品 解任するs in 2021, and 850 in 2022. "NHTSA is continuing its 成果／努力s to その上の 高める its ability to identify safety 問題／発行するs more quickly while engaging 製造業者s earlier in the 過程 to 行為／行う more timely 解任するs," the 声明 said.
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AP 商売／仕事 Writer David Hamilton in San Francisco and News 研究員 Rhonda Shafner in New York 与える／捧げるd to this story.
