Filenews 29 June 2025
About 45 percent of vehicle recalls for problematic Takata airbags have been implemented, said Department of Road Transport (TOM) Director George Loukas.
Specifically, Mr. Louka said that of the 81,060 vehicles to be recalled for the problematic Takata airbags that were announced on February 3, 2025, at the moment – according to the latest available data – 45,734 vehicles are pending implementation.
He said, however, that of the 45,734 vehicles, 5,000 are immobilized and 3,000 have been deleted.
So in essence, there are about 37,000 vehicles left to replace their airbags, as the remaining 8,000 are off-road, he added.
Mr. Louka said that the delegations are progressing with the work and "have increased pace in the last two months", due to the arrival of the appropriate components.
The Director of the TOM called on the public, who have not addressed the delegations so far, to proceed to immediately book the appointment in order to get in line for the replacement of their problematic airbag.
He said that in some vehicle brands there is a high interest from the public to book an appointment and in others it is low, regardless of whether the public will pay for the replacement of the airbag or not.
He noted that the time frame set for the replacement of the airbag expires on October 3, 2025, eight months from the day the Minister of Transport issued the relevant decrees.
"With the pace we are going, we are close to achieving a very big goal, with a lot of effort, continuing at the same pace," he underlined.
Asked whether the summer holidays will affect the effort made by the companies, Mr. Louka said that "the companies will make their efforts so that the whole work is not significantly affected".
Asked if the companies are still adding vehicles to the recall list, Mr. Lucas said that the companies that add vehicles to the recall list are for "new recalls that come from time to time from the various factories," adding that the TOM announces these recalls according to developments.
He said that various other brands have been added to the TOM website, as well as additional vehicles, which, depending on the day they will be posted and their recall will be announced, from that day they are given eight months to implement the replacement of the airbag.
The Takata recall, and recalls in general, is not something horizontal but a dynamic issue, he said, adding that "at any time, new recalls are issued or vehicles are added on top of existing recalls."
Regarding the call center that operates for this purpose, Mr. Louka said that in the beginning the center received "a large volume of phone calls".
"I think we answered most of the phone calls and gave directions to the people," he added.
To this end, according to the Director of TOM, "the frequent questions and answers that we posted on our website, which answered frequently asked questions that the citizen had, also helped".
Our call center works to give directions and answers to questions to the people, he concluded.
