A newly formed three-member committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge Costas Pamballis and including the Assistant Auditor General Kyriakos Kyriakou and Nicosia Bar Association President Stefanos Skordis, is set to investigate longstanding issues with vehicle recalls in Cyprus. This inquiry, initiated by Minister of Transport, Communications, and Works Alexis Vafeadis, will focus on actions (or lack thereof) taken from 2004 through 2025. The primary aim is to understand why tens of thousands of cars—including many without European type approval—have not been properly notified or repaired when subject to recalls, such as those involving defective Takata airbags. 

The shortcomings of the system are even more evident, as Cyprus has already seen fatalities among young individuals in road accidents caused by faulty airbags.

According to Minister Vafeadis, state oversight for vehicles imported from non-EU countries (especially Japan and Singapore) has historically been inadequate. From at least 2010 onward, no effective mechanism existed to ensure owners were informed about recalls and that safety defects—like the dangerous Takata airbags—were addressed. As a result, approximately 81,060 vehicles from 26 manufacturers currently face recall notices, with 276 requiring immediate immobilization for safety reasons. Despite some owners reportedly paying fees of around 150 euros for airbag replacements, they still await confirmation and scheduling from local representatives.

The Cypriot government, the Ministry of Transport, and the much more responsible authority, primarily the Department of Road Transport (TOM), failed to investigate whether the dangerous Takata airbags were present in Cyprus. Despite 57 notifications issued through the Rapex-Safety Gate system regarding Takata airbags, TOM was responsible for conducting an inquiry and updating the system to confirm the issue's presence in Cyprus. However, given the government's absence from all related Rapex-Safety Gate notifications, it is evident that no such investigation was ever carried out by TOM.

More specifically, as Kathimerini Cyprus reported this Sunday, the European Commission’s Rapex-Safety Gate system issued at least 57 warnings on Takata airbags between 2019 and 2024. These alerts indicated that if the defective airbags deploy, shrapnel can injure the vehicle’s occupants.

Various EU member states responded by investigating whether the problematic airbags were present on their territory and providing updates back to Rapex-Safety Gate. However, Cyprus did not feed information back into the system, suggesting that no official follow-up or recall procedures took place for many of these alerts.

In addition, Kathimerini Cyprus cites evidence that Takata was part of a larger cartel with Autoliv and TRW, violating the EU’s antitrust regulations. While Takata received immunity by disclosing the cartel’s existence to the Commission, the other two companies incurred significant fines. This backdrop underscores how serious—and transnational—airbag safety issues have been, placing further urgency on Cyprus’s newly established committee to identify gaps and assign any administrative, criminal, or disciplinary responsibilities.

The failure of the entire process becomes even more glaring as Cyprus has already recorded deaths of young people on the road due to defective airbags.

The committee is expected to convene once its chairperson returns from abroad. It will examine responsibilities among government agencies, vehicle importers, and manufacturers, with recommendations aimed at preventing a repeat of such oversights.