Consumer Protection Service director Konstantinos Karagiorgis has revealed oversight failures in the handling of defective Takata airbags linked to dozens of deaths and injuries worldwide, according to testimony given to an investigative committee on Friday.
Karagiorgis told the committee that the first notification about Takata airbag problems was registered in the European Safety Gate – RAPEX system on April 17, 2013, by Portuguese authorities. By 2025, a total of 73 notifications directly or indirectly related to these airbags have been submitted.
The Consumer Protection Service forwarded 4,966 RAPEX notifications to the Road Transport Department (RTD) between 2011 and 2025, but Karagiorgis stated the RTD never responded to 21 Takata airbag notifications sent through the Safety Business Gateway since 2019.
The RTD never responded to these notifications, Karagiorgis testified.
The investigation has entered a critical phase, with six witnesses appearing before the committee on Thursday, including four former permanent secretaries of the Ministry of Transport.
Former RTD director Yiannis Nicolaides, who served from 2020 to 2022, admitted he had heard about Takata airbags during his tenure, telling the committee: “Around 2020-2021, distributors asked us to block technical inspections. That’s when the word TAKATA was heard more.”
Nicolaides maintained that manufacturers bear responsibility for recalls and insisted the department would have taken stronger measures had it been aware of the dangers. He claimed the RTD was never informed about a serious 2017 accident involving Alexandros Loungou or that the vehicle driven by Kyriakos Oxinos, who died in 2023, was under recall.
The committee, chaired by former Supreme Court President Michalakis Christodoulou, is investigating delays in implementing vehicle recalls for dangerous Takata airbags in Cyprus since 2004.
Current Transport Ministry Permanent Secretary Marina Ioannou-Hasapi, who took office in 2024, told the committee she could not determine whether proper oversight of the RTD was exercised before her appointment.
Her predecessor, Stavros Michael, who served from 2018 to 2022, said he first heard about the Takata case in 2023 and was never informed about the 2017 accident.
The investigation continues with family members of victims, including Maria Loui, mother of Kyriakos Oxinos, and Yiannos Yiorgallis, father of Styliani Yiorgalli, who died in 2024, are attending the hearings.
The Takata airbag defect, caused by a chemical component that can deteriorate in hot conditions, risks explosive deployment that could project metal fragments into vehicle cabins, potentially causing serious injury to occupants.
It is estimated that at least 27 deaths and hundreds of injuries worldwide have been attributed to the defective Takata airbags.
In Cyprus, at least three deaths have been linked to the faulty Takata airbags.
