The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued an urgent safety alert on Friday for "critical" Takata airbags following warnings from major car manufacturers including BMW and Honda Motor.

Chamber of Commerce chief executive Geoff Gwilym said it was the responsibility of vehicle owners to heed warnings about the faulty airbags.

But he said VicRoads also had a role to play.

Car dealerships have rectified airbags on 3.04 million cars to date.

"Dealers have clearly done their job, and then some," Mr Gwilym said.

"It remains the duty of vehicle owners to heed the numerous warnings that have been delivered over an extended period and return their vehicles to dealerships for rectification.

"VicRoads should access the last known registered owner details and other VIN information from its database and write to the last known owners of these vehicles, stating clearly that the vehicle's registration is cancelled forthwith."

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Mr Gwilym said VicRoads needed to act to help safeguard motorists.

"The classification of 'critical' by ACCC is particularly alarming, as this means that the manufacturers have identified the fitted airbags as being particularly dangerous should they activate," he said.

Most of the 20,000 'missing' vehicles are produced by BMW, Holden, Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota.

Owners of vehicles identified as being critical can have their vehicles towed to a dealership at the manufacturer's expense and have the airbag replaced free of charge.

Motorists unsure if their vehicle is affected can check by entering their vehicle identification number at IsMyAirBagSafe.com.au.

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