Transport authorities are working to address safety concerns over defective Takata airbags, which affect thousands of vehicles on the road and pose serious safety risks.
Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades told the parliamentary commerce committee that whilst distributors and importers bear responsibility for recalls, the Road Transport Department (RTD) maintains oversight.
He acknowledged that the main challenge lies with vehicles imported from non-EU countries – dubbed “grey imports” – which account for 60 per cent of car registrations in Cyprus.
“The information chain is broken for these vehicles”, Vafeades said, explaining that manufacturers are unaware when their vehicles enter Cyprus through third countries.
The minister outlined that recall procedures have been governed by EU regulations since 2010, with additional measures implemented in 2017.
In 2022, following complaints that some owners were not responding to recalls, technical inspection centres were authorised to block inspections for non-compliant vehicles, whilst the RTD began sending SMS notifications to owners.
The department has identified three key issues: lengthy completion times for recalls, delays in customer notification particularly for third-country imports, and parts shortages.
New measures announced include publishing manufacturer recall check links on the RTD website, providing importers with comprehensive vehicle lists, and implementing SMS notifications when recalls begin.
The department will also issue technical guidance to inspection centres and set deadlines for recall completion.
Parliamentary commerce committee chairman Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis criticised the government’s handling of the issue, comparing it to previous public safety failures and calling for ministerial accountability.
He expressed particular concern about the administration’s apparent failure to grasp the magnitude of the problem.
AKEL MP Costas Costa highlighted that only 50 per cent of import companies had responded to RTD information requests, whilst Green Party MP Stavros Papadouris noted the problem extends beyond the 12,000 EU-specification vehicles identified through the Rapex system to include an additional 18,000 used imports.
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