The transport ministry has never stopped working on the airbag recall issue, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said on Thursday, adding that he was saddened by the fact that Yiannos Oxinos, father of Kyriakos who was killed in a road accident in 2023 when his Takata airbag exploded, felt otherwise.

Everyone will be judged by their decisions, right or wrong, Vafeades said on the sidelines of the House transport committee meeting, stressing that for the time being the priority was to fulfil all recalls.

The Takata airbag issue, he said, was known since 2000 and not 2023 when Yiannos Oxinos went to see the minister.

Vafeades said the ministry looked into the issue, a plan was agreed on with the dealerships on how to inform the owners of recalls and it was only recently implemented.

He said the road transport department was the supervisory authority and was not responsible for making recalls, unlike the manufacturers, distributors and importers.

“We never stopped working on this issue and it truly saddens me that Kyriakos Oxinos’ father, who is a personal friend of mine, feels that we haven’t done enough,” Vafeades added.

Asked if there were any criminal responsibilities, Vafeades said the aim was to find out what had been done since 2010 and indeed what had not.

“With the completion of the first administrative investigation, we have found an issue regarding the vehicles that were imported without a European approval. We want to know, the cabinet wants to know, and we will move in this direction,” he said.