The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has outlawed the use of Toyota Voxy vehicles for commercial transport, citing grave safety concerns linked to the minivans’ design and widespread unauthorised modifications in Ghana.
A final report by the Authority’s Technical Working Committee, presented on Wednesday, declared that the continued operation of these vehicles as public transport presents an “unacceptable risk to road safety.”
According to the committee chairman, Godwin Kafui Ayetor, the Toyota Voxy was never engineered for commercial use. “The manufacturer informed us that the Toyota Voxy is a minivan designed for young middle-class families, not for commercial passenger use,” he said. “It is not designed for high mileage and is intended for use on paved roads.”
The investigation found that many of the vehicles in circulation have undergone extensive structural alterations—including changes to suspension systems and tyres—often carried out by uncertified operators. These modifications, the report stated, compromise the vehicle’s integrity and significantly raise the risk of mechanical failure.
“As part of the conversion, the suspension is altered and the vehicle is raised. The tyres are also changed. However, the tyres that come with the Toyota Voxy are passenger tyres, not designed for high payload or high mileage,” Dr Ayetor explained.
The committee also identified a systemic regulatory breakdown, noting that thousands of unlawfully imported and improperly converted vehicles have been registered and allowed to operate commercially without adequate oversight.
“We have allowed thousands of unlawfully imported vehicles to enter the country, be modified without standards by uncertified practitioners, registered without proper testing and inspection, and operated commercially despite private registration in some cases,” he added.
The committee recommended an immediate halt to the registration of such vehicles for commercial use, stricter enforcement of existing laws, a ban on the importation of right-hand drive vehicles, and tighter controls on all vehicle conversions. Public education and regulatory reforms were also urged to curb the misuse of private vehicles for passenger transport.
The NRSA is expected to review the recommendations as part of broader efforts to reduce road accidents linked to vehicle defects and non-compliance.
