Glossary
Safety Gate (EU Rapid Alert System)
The EU's central alert system for unsafe products, including motor vehicles. Aggregates recall notifications from every member state.
Definition
Safety Gate, formerly known as RAPEX, is the EU's rapid-alert system for non-food consumer products judged to be a serious risk to health or safety. National market-surveillance authorities post notifications when they identify an unsafe product, and the European Commission re-publishes those notifications across the union so other member states can act on the same vehicle, toy, or electrical product. Vehicles are a major category. Each notification specifies the brand, model, affected production range, and the safety issue. Manufacturer-led recalls are usually filed both with Safety Gate and with the national motor-vehicle regulator (KBA in Germany, DVSA in the UK, MIT in Italy). The Safety Gate database is freely searchable on the European Commission's website.
Why it matters when buying a used car
Recalls posted to Safety Gate cover the whole EU. A used car with an open Safety Gate notification is fixable for free at any authorised dealer in any member state — there is no excuse to leave it unaddressed.
Often confused with
Recall
A manufacturer or regulator order requiring affected vehicles to be returned to a dealer for free safety repair.
NHTSA
The US federal regulator for motor vehicle safety. Runs the free vPIC VIN decoder and the recall database.
CoP
The regulator's ongoing audit that verifies every car coming off the line still matches the approved type, not just the test sample.