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Cyprus recalls 138 cars with ‘high risk’ Takata airbags

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Cyprus has issued a recall for 276 vehicles, of which 138 have been identified to carry faulty Takata airbags that have to be urgently replaced.

Their circulation licenses and road worthiness certificates have been suspended and owners are strongly advised to avoid driving these cars.

Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades issued two decrees, for the recall of these cars, the rest being for faulty or dangerous brakes.

In all, about 71,000 vehicles have been identified to have Takata airbags, which Vafeades said should be replaced over the next eight months.

Distributors are expected to contact the Road Transport Department which, in turn, will contact the vehicles owners, while those who register or sell vehicles may also issue an exemption, where vehicles’ airbags do not need replacement.

Alexis Anninos, chairman of the Association of Motor and Electric Vehicles, said that in accordance with international practice, as well as the European regulation that is implemented in Cyprus since 2020, a motor vehicles safety is the responsibility of the importer or national distributor.

However, he expressed reservation about the issue of exemption certificates, as this is a practice that is not implemented anywhere else in the world.

Cyprus also has the problem of parallel and grey imports of used vehicles, by large companies or individual importers, with poor or no records whatsoever.

Takata Corporation was a Japanese automotive parts company which filed for bankruptcy in Japan in 2017, following a series of deaths and injuries associated with defective airbag inflators starting from 2013 that resulted in the company owing more in compensation than was possible for its survival.

As of January 2024, over 100 mln airbag inflators worldwide have been recalled by more than 20 carmakers, with 28 deaths in the US and 35 deaths around the world attributed to the faulty airbag inflators.

The latest list of 71,375 vehicles with a valid circulation license or declared as immobilised in Cyprus, sorted by registration or chassis number, was developed by the University of Cyprus ‘Koios’ research centre and is available here:

https://www.gov.cy/mtcw/airbag-recalls/

Audi: 2,414

BMW: 6,316

Chevrolet: 520

Chrysler: 26

Citroen: 374

Daihatsu: 5

Dodge: 2

Ford: 200

Honda: 10,253

Jaguar/Land Rover/Range Rover: 217

Jeep: 38

Lexus: 133

Mazda: 16,023

Mercedes: 1,697

Mitsubishi: 4,213

Nissan: 6,136

Opel: 1,042

Seat: 308

Skoda: 190

Subaru: 459

Suzuki: 113

Tesla: 26

Toyota: 27,111

Vauxhall: 4

Volkswagen: 2,815