Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades on Tuesday moved to reassure motorists that despite Monday’s mass recall, the risk of people driving cars with dangerous airbags is “very low”.
“Implementing the recall is the only measure which will remove the risk from owners. Not all airbags are defective. The reason manufacturers do not immediately immobilise these vehicles is because the risk is very low. This is verified when the airbag is removed and deployed, and it is determined whether it was defective or not,” he told CyBC radio.
“This does not mean all airbags manufactured by Takata are dangerous.”
He had on Monday decreed the recall of over 80,000 cars which are fitted with potentially fatal Takata airbags, all of which are to be replaced over a period of eight months. Exactly 276 vehicles were immobilised immediately, and as such have had their road tax and MOT certificates rescinded.
Owners of recalled vehicles not on the list of 276 are entitled to use them without restrictions but are required to make an appointment with their car’s manufacturer’s Cyprus-based distributor within eight months to have their airbags replaced. Their road tax and MOT certificates remain valid.
Some of these drivers have received a text message commanding them to “contact a representative”.
The transport ministry “recommends” that those with recalled vehicles do not use them and use other vehicles and other methods of transport. However, there is no obligation for people to follow this recommendation, and motorists are not at risk of paying a fine for using their vehicles.
Motorists can check whether their vehicles have been subject to vehicles on the transport ministry’s website.
A special advisory was put out for Saab owners whose cars are subject to recalls, with the Swedish car manufacturer having gone bust in 2016. They have been advised to “contact an automotive electrician”
Meanwhile, a proposal to allow the owners of the 276 immobilised vehicles free bus travel is set to be put before cabinet on Wednesday.
The replacement of all 80,000 cars’ airbags will be paid for by the cars’ manufacturers, even if the car was imported privately from abroad.
Vafeades said those who have had their vehicles’ airbags changed should contact the road transport department on [email protected], “so that we can remove them from the list”.
He went on to say that the aim of having all the airbags replaced is “ambitious”, but that “it has to be done”.
“We are immediately starting contacts with all distributors to draw up a plan for the recalls, to see their capabilities, to see how they can help, what margin they have for ordering spare parts, how much spare human resources they have at their disposal, what the state can do, for example,” he said.
He added that the government “wants to help”, and that what it can do will “become clear from the meetings we will have”.
Consumers’ association chairman Marios Drousiotis later in the day expressed his general satisfaction with the state of the recalls so far.
“Under the circumstances, and where we have come from, we are pleased with [Vafeades’] actions and we have no doubt that other decisions and other decrees will be issued to correct the gaps and difficulties which will arise from the implementation of these decrees,” he said.
He added that anyone in Vafeades’ position “could not do anything different”, and that “there are no actions which would fully satisfy the situation”.
He went on to say that “human life must be preserved at all costs”.
“One cannot put the financial difficulties that consumers or vehicle owners will have above the safety and preservation of human life.”
However, he did note that the matter should have been dealt with earlier, saying, “we have let things go for so many years”.
“If we had acted 10 years ago, we would not have had the current problems,” he said.
He also expressed concerns over the problems which may arise for those whose cars have been immobilised, saying “public transport will not solve the problem”.
“The gaps and the problems which will arise – and there will be many – will be addressed with other actions which solve the individual problems,” he said.
He then added that companies “will have difficulties” with the eight-month timeframe set out by Vafeades, saying he has “no doubt” that “the eight months will become 18 before the problem is solved”.
Takata airbags suffer a fault related to exposure to high levels of heat or humidity, with which means they have a tendency to explode when released under such circumstances.
This explosion shoots the airbag’s metal inflator outwards and in the direction of the person it was designed to protect, potentially causing further injuries or, in some cases, death.
The issue of faulty Takata airbags has been ongoing for over two years, with it believed that the death of 24-year-old Kyriakos Oxynos in January 2023 was caused in part by a faulty airbag.
More recently, it is now believed that the death of 19-year-old Styliani Giorgalli in October may have been caused by a faulty Takata airbag.
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