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Vehicle Owners

Automotive Market Surveillance Authority (AMSA)

The roles and responsibilities of AMSA. 

Our role is to carry out market surveillance to ensure that new vehicles and their components meet with type-approval requirements under EU Regulation 2018/858 and was given further effect in Irish law through S.I. No. 556/2020. This applies to health, safety, the environment and any other aspect of public interest protection. For more information, see our type-approval webpage.

Parked cars Since 1 July 2023, the AMSA scope has been expanded to cater for product recalls summary information for category L vehicles alongside vehicle categories M, N and O. Previously the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) provided this information. This  covers the market surveillance of L-Category vehicles under EU Regulation 168/2013 and was given further effect in Irish law through  S.I. No. 340 of 2023.

Vehicle types

As AMSA, we provide recall summary information for vehicle categories L, M, N and O, which includes motorcycles, mopeds, trikes, quads, passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, buses and trailers.

Vehicle safety recalls

If a vehicle safety defect is found anywhere in Europe, we are alerted through the Safety Gate Rapid Alert System , the EU vehicle recall portal, and in turn notify the Irish public by publishing the defect on our vehicle recall section below.  

A vehicle recall occurs when a manufacturer identifies a fault relating to a particular component(s) that poses a serious risk to road safety, public health or the environment and recalls the vehicle to repair the issue. The Automotive Market Surveillance Authority (AMSA) advise that vehicle safety recall campaigns should always be carried out as soon as possible.

The vehicle manufacturer must contact the owner directly to notify them of the following: 

  • why the vehicle is being recalled 
  • what you should do next
  • who you should contact.

Frequently asked questions

This content is for general information only. It does not, and is not intended to, provide legal or technical advice or to represent a legal interpretation of the matters it addresses.

When a vehicle part(s) is found to be dangerous or defective during use, the manufacturer must recall the vehicle to fix the issue.
AMSA is notified of vehicles which are subject to recall through an EU portal called EU Safety Gate Rapid Alert System.
Once the manufacturer has been made aware of the recall issue, they must immediately inform the approval authority and agree a course of action with them to repair the fault(s). The NSAI will be involved with a recall if they were the approval authority that issued the approval in the first instance.
The manufacturer must immediately inform the approval authority who granted approval to the vehicle concerned and propose appropriate remedies. The approval authority must then communicate the proposed measures to all other member states without delay. Note that the approval authority may withdraw an EC vehicle type-approval if the manufacturer does not propose and implement effective remedies.

In addition to the tests for approval, there are many more tests carried out on a vehicle during its design and production.

These are carried out by the vehicle manufacturer. Extensive testing ensures that a vehicle will meet legal requirements and also perform adequately during its useful life.

While a vehicle component may have passed tests to ensure that it performs adequately during its life, it may still fail during use. This is because vehicle testing has difficulty in replicating exactly how a component will behave after many hours of driving or under unexpected or unlikely circumstances.

The recall system ensures that problems encountered during driving are acted on by the manufacturer.

Vehicle recalls dating from 2011 to 2022 are located in this archive.

If you are concerned that your vehicle was subject to a recall and you missed it, you should contact the manufacturer or authorised distributor.

In the case of a second-hand vehicle which was subject to a recall, the previous owner may have had the vehicle checked. Documentation showing this should be with the owner’s manual or vehicle documentation in the storage compartment. You can also check with the authorised distributor quoting the vehicle identification number (VIN).

The manufacturer will endeavour to contact all owners of affected vehicles. They will engage with the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division (DVCSD) in order to attain the contact details of registered owners. Therefore, it is important that the details recorded on the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF), particularly your ownership details are always up to date. If you wish to amend these, you can email them at [email protected] 
Once you have been contacted it is your responsibility to bring the affected vehicle to the nearest dealership for repairs and or adjustments. If this is a safety critical recall it should be done immediately.
No. The NCT is not responsible for policing vehicle recall issues. If you have safety concerns over a vehicle recall issue, we recommend you contact the original manufacturer or authorised distributor. The NCT is a check test that the vehicle meets the minimum roadworthiness requirements without any dismantling of the vehicle and that parts required to be tested, where visible and accessible, meet a basic standard on the day of the test. The NCT is not and cannot be deemed a warranty.
A vehicle may have been launched on the Irish market after the recall issue was rectified or the recall campaign did not concern any vehicle registered in Ireland. If you feel your vehicle may be subject to a recall campaign, please contact the manufacturer. If you have any queries in relation to recalls, contact us in the RSA at [email protected]