[volkman10]

Inspired by India, the menace trickles to USA

Thieves Are Increasingly Targeting Honda Civic And Accord Airbags.

Owners of relatively new Honda vehicles in the United States face an unusual epidemic: airbags thefts.

Criminals across the country are targeting Hondas to steal airbags, which they subsequently sell to shady repair shops or online customers.

the phenomenon is not an isolated one. An increasing number of similar thefts affects major markets including Miami, New York City, and the Washington, D.C. area

Link

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by sidpunjabi

Just trying to get in a different point of view here (and maybe a really noob question) - how easy is it to fit an airbag in a car that came without airbags from the factory?
...

This is close to impossible in the aftermarket unless the installer is very very skilled. An airbag module consists of crash sensors, G sensors, the airbag unit itself, a dedicated airbag ECU and the related calibration. Cars without airbags most likely won't even have the mounting brackets for these sensors, ECU, etc.

Then we have the dashboard itself, where very few cars have a dedicated cut out for the passenger airbag. It most likely involve changing the whole dashboard.

[sridhu]

Somehow, it does not feel right to me to think that the are spares thefts. Only specific cars are being targeted - if it were a spares issue you would see a good distribution across models and brands. And it is global.

I think either some component is worth it - eg platinum jigs or screws (I just made that up) or it is for the explosives. May be it is a terrorist action - I would think explosives from airbags will not be as traceable as military issue or demolition issue explosives.

Now I am worried - someone please talk me out of it!