Harmonizing Recall Governance in Europe: Policy Lessons from the Takata Airbag Crisis

This preprint examines the governance failures exposed by the Takata airbag crisis—the largest automotive safety recall in history—and their implications for European transport policy. While the technical root cause lay in the instability of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate inflators, the uneven fatalities across Europe reflected fragmented enforcement under Regulation (EU) 2018/858.

Through comparative case studies in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Cyprus, the paper shows how disparities in regulatory capacity, recall enforcement, and consumer communication led to inconsistent outcomes. Contrasting this with the U.S. centralized recall model under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the study highlights the weaknesses of Europe’s decentralized framework.

The manuscript proposes institutional reforms including the creation of an EU-level recall authority, cross-border VIN tracking, and an expanded Risk Prioritization Index (RPI) that integrates technical, environmental, and governance factors. By treating recalls as systemic governance challenges rather than isolated technical issues, the paper contributes actionable recommendations for strengthening regulatory coherence, consumer protection, and legitimacy in European transport safety governance.

Keywords: vehicle recalls; transport safety governance; EU regulation; risk communication; Takata; harmonization