WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on

Thursday to confirm the top auto safety official along with

dozens of other nominees, including officials overseeing

highways and pipelines.

The Senate voted 51-47 to confirm Jonathan Morrison to head

the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and 47 other

nominees, the first time the NHTSA has had a permanent leader in

three years.

Morrison, a former lawyer at Apple and chief

counsel at the NHTSA during President Donald Trump's first term,

will oversee a series of safety probes at the NHTSA, including

an investigation opened this week into about 174,000 Tesla

Model Y cars from the 2021 model year on reports that

electronic door handles can become inoperative and potentially

trap children inside.

"NHTSA cannot sit back and wait for problems to arise

with such developing technologies, but must demonstrate strong

leadership," Morrison said.

Last month, the NHTSA said

it would investigate Tesla's

delays in submitting crash reports involving advanced

driver-assistance systems or self-driving vehicles.

Since last October, the NHTSA has

been investigating

2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with full self-driving

technology after four reported collisions, including a 2023

fatal crash.

The agency separately opened

an investigation in January

into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over reports of crashes

involving a feature that allows users to move their cars

remotely.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has vowed to take

steps

to speed the deployment of self-driving vehicles

. The NHTSA said this month that it plans to revise several

regulations that assume a human driver is in command.

In August, the

NHTSA certified Amazon.com's self-driving

-unit Zoox vehicles for demonstration use and closed a probe

into whether they had complied with federal requirements.

Automakers,

lawmakers and safety advocates

have criticized the NHTSA on a number of fronts, including

slow action on regulations

or impeding progress.

"The auto industry wants - and needs - a strong NHTSA

and is committed to a partnership that achieves our shared

goals: saving lives, reducing crashes and deploying the

cleanest, safest and smartest vehicles ever," said the Alliance

for Automotive Innovation, which represents major automakers.