theme. this is an important end, talented agency, but it is in disrepair. it needs a huge infusion of cash, and more staff. it does not have some of the expertise that it needs for example electronic engineers and so on. reporter: nhtsa has a staff of 635 employees with 57 working for the office of defects investigation and says it reviews more than 30,000 consumer complaints a year. its budget is $856 million with roughly 70% given to states for highway traffic safety grants. compare that to the faa which has a budget of $17 billion. the agency only got authority by congress in 2000 to hire more staff after ford ordered a massive recall of firestone tires. some of the same issues raised by nhtsa today were raised eight years ago after the ford firestone recall. in 2002, the office of inspector general here at the department of transportation had issued this report, and it was critical