Thieves are now stealing airbags from cars: Toyota Innova targeted!

Over the years, thieves have targeted various things in a vehicle. From parts like alloy wheels to stereo systems, everything has been on the hit list of thieves. But a bizarre incident from Bangalore has got the police and the car owners puzzled. Here’s why!

New target: AIRBAGS

With the rising customer awareness, most car manufacturers have started offering airbags as standard across all the variants. Thieves in Bengaluru have started targeting Toyota cars to steal airbags. In past one week, as many as four new cases have up, which has put the authorities in distress. Toyota cars, especially the Innova have been the prime target of the thieves.

In a recent incident, Somashekar, who is a businessman found out that someone broke into his Toyota Innova in the night to steal front airbag kits, audio system, AC controllers, mirror kits and sunglass holder. The police said similar cases have come up in the past week and this is the first time that they have come across such type of theft.

The cops further say that the thieves used precision to uninstall the kits including the airbags, which is proof of their expert-level. The cops further say that the dashboard clips have been carefully removed to extract the airbag systems with precision. It is being suspected that the thieves have great knowledge about such cars and are either former mechanics or are currently employed in the service centres of such vehicles. The thieves are only targeting the Toyota cars for now but other cars can become a target if the demand in the black market rises.

So, why airbags?

Airbags are an expensive feature. Modern airbags can cost up to Rs. 1 lakh. Thieves steal the airbags to sell them at a cheap price in the black market. This is not an isolated incident that happened in India. Sometime back, thieves in the USA started targeting Honda cars to steal airbag systems. Such airbags are available at a cheap price online.

Owners who do not have Zero Depreciation insurance or have their vehicles out of warranty with faulty airbags are said to be primary customers for such stolen airbags. However, it is not a safe practice. Airbags are very sophisticated devices and are critical in saving the occupants during accidents. It is important to get such important parts installed from authorized dealerships and not buy them in second-hand markets. It may save the buyers some money but if the airbag fails to deploy during an accident, it may turn fatal.

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