Parliament is considering legislation to immobilise vehicles equipped with defective Takata airbags following two deaths and a serious injury, as the mother of one victim warned the devices are “deadly dangerous”.
The House Commerce Committee heard Tuesday that between 12,000 and 30,000 vehicles in Cyprus may contain faulty airbags, with the higher estimate including cars imported from Japan and Singapore.
“I stand before you because I lost a baby, a swimmer, an educated child with dreams, and in one night they brought him to me in a box”, said Maria Loui, whose 24-year-old son Kyriakos Oxinos died in January 2023. She discovered the Takata airbag issue only after his death.
“When it was proven that Kyriakos had no injuries but had a destroyed face, I discovered the word Takata, which I didn’t know before, I discovered RAPEX. Am I obligated to know about RAPEX? Who protects me as a citizen?” Loui told the parliamentary committee.
The defective airbags are also linked to the death of 19-year-old Styliani Yiorgalli and the severe injury of another young person who had undergone multiple surgeries for shrapnel wounds.
Former Road Transport Department director Petros Xenophontos, speaking as a road safety expert, called for immediate vehicle immobilisation, comparing the airbags to “a gun that could shoot you”. He said importers should bear replacement costs.
Committee chairman Kyriakos Hadjiyiannis described the state as a “spectator” to the crisis, noting there are “tens of thousands of bombs on the roads”. He pledged to pass legislation before Christmas.
The Road Transport Department said it has issued a notice and plans to include the recall information in electricity bills, though lawmakers criticized this response as inadequate.
Several MPs condemned reports that car dealerships were charging between €75-160 for vehicle inspections, insisting that importers should cover all replacement costs.
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