The family of 19-year-old Styliani Giorgalli, who died in a road crash caused by a defective Takata airbag on 21 October 2024, has received a second SMS requesting replacement of the fatal airbag system.
The message, sent by the vehicle dealership rather than the Road Transport Department, requested €149.94 for airbag replacement in the officially immobilised vehicle on the Avgorou-Frenaros road.
Styliani’s father, Giannos Giorgallis, contacted AKEL MP Costas Costas about the incident. The MP posted on social media calling for respect for grieving families.
“Leave these people to their grief. Respect what they are going through,” Costas wrote, describing the dealership’s request as asking the father “to pay 150 euros to change the airbag that killed his daughter.”
This marks the second such incident. Four months earlier, a similar message was sent by the Road Transport Department to both Giorgallis and Maria Loui, mother of Kyriakos Oxinos, another victim of defective Takata airbags.
The MP described the airbags as “murderous Takata airbags” and criticised what he termed insensitive treatment of bereaved families.
The vehicle remains immobilised following the fatal crash that claimed Styliani’s life.
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.
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