Steering wheel theft has also apparently been on the rise....
"Theft of steering wheels is on the rise across the country, according to a leading insurer. The thieves are breaking into cars and removing the wheel to extract the airbags. Admiral Insurance said they have dealt with 500 claims for stolen steering wheels in the last four years. The biggest rise was in 2021 when there was nearly a 68 per cent jump compared with the previous year. So what is fuelling this rise in air bag theft and most importantly what can car owners do to keep their vehicles intact? We spoke to Lorna Connelly, head of claims at Admiral, who gave us the lowdown on this relatively new type of theft: You might wonder why a thief would take a steering wheel, but it’s what’s inside they’re really after. We understand that they’re being stolen for the airbags housed inside them. the airbag is removed and sold onto unscrupulous garages who fit them to cars for less than dealerships would charge. The garage might buy the stolen airbag for between £200 and £500 before charging a customer a few hundred pounds more. This would still be cheaper than the driver going to an authorised dealership, where it costs up to £1,000 to replace an activated or faulty airbag. If you’re having repair work done on your car that requires a replacement airbag, you should always have it done by authorised, reputable repairers, who only ever use approved parts sourced from specialist suppliers."
Not sure that makes sense to me - you have to remove the airbag to remover the steering wheel. If they are only after airbags why are they then spending more time to steal the steering wheel too?
