Filenews 19 November 2024
The Minister of Transport said that the responsibility for the problematic airbags lies with car importers and the responsibility lies with the Department of Road Transport (TUM). It has been occupying, as he said, the world since the 1990s. Since 2010, the state has been concerned about the issue of recalls. The manufacturer has the knowledge whether vehicles can be recalled and how their equipment is affected, Vafeadis added during the discussion of the issue in the parliamentary Trade Committee.
He spoke of a peculiar situation in Cyprus. He explained that the responsibility lies with the manufacturing company, which must inform the distributor and then the distributor the citizen as agreed in 2022. If the dealer noted that he does not identify the owner of the vehicle, he will inform the TFT which will put a barrier through the roadworthiness test, which can be done even after two years. He added that the owner must then present the car to the dealership for replacement of the faulty airbag.
According to Alexis Vafeadis, measures are needed to close the gaps that have been identified and be applicable.
He pointed out that there is a problem with so-called grey vehicles imported from third countries. Once a vehicle leaves Japan, he noted, the overseas manufacturer does not know where the vehicle is. On the other hand, he noted, the distributor may not have anything to do with cars imported from a third country.
To date, he said, 60% of car registrations in Cyprus are imported from third countries. The update chain has been interrupted and needs to be restored. The TFT identified a problem of informing citizens, delay in informing citizens and lack of spare parts.
TFT actions: Asked distributors to share official internet links that enable citizens to know if there is a recall. It does not solve the problem, he said, but it will close the gap.
At the same time, lists of all vehicles of the same manufacturer that dealers cooperate with have been shared and they were asked to inform citizens if a recall is pending. It was reported that 50% of companies did not respond to TFT's call within a week.
The Minister said that as soon as the distributor is informed of a recall, the TFT will immediately send an information message to all owners included in the recall. During the roadworthiness test, the citizen will be informed to update his data.
The TFT will determine how long the distributor must respond to complete the audit.
Also, the TFT is studying an amendment to the legislation in order to provide a certificate that there are no pending recalls for the vehicle registered in Cyprus.
It is studying the amendment of the law on technical inspection centers for any upcoming roadworthiness tests. Possibly, he said, for imports from third countries they may find it difficult to produce the relevant certificate. He added that the information chain for vehicles from third countries, new and used, must be restored.
If citizens are not constantly informed, the TFT has two options: a) Import of vehicles from third countries to be allowed under conditions that safeguard the information chain. b) All those who own a car in Cyprus from third countries should be informed about the risks they run since the information chain does not exist.
