The airbag was stolen last night from my Acura TL3.2. There was no forced entry and the alarm did not go off. The car has the original factory installed anti-theft device which was happily blinking this morning. And, no I did not leave the car unlocked. I called the dealership and they weren’t able to give me a satisfactory answer. I don’t have a choice but to park the car on the street. There is nothing preventing the burglar from striking again.
It is actually very easy to gain entry to a vehicle and leave no evidence that the vehicle has been broken into. Unfortunately, it is also very easy for anybody to enter a tool truck and buy everything needed to do this for less than a hundred bucks. Mechanics have to do it all the time, either due to a boneheaded maneuver on their part, like locking keys in a car, or a boneheaded maneuver on the customer’s part, like asking that the mechanic lock the keys in the car so they can pick it up after hours, then realizing they don’t have a spare key. Air bags are also quite valuable and very easy to remove, so they are popular with crooks. You may have no choice than to install an aftermarket alarm on the car to prevent this from happening again. The factory anti-theft system just prevents the car from being started by hot-wiring. It doesn’t have an alarm function.
Thanks mark9207. So the method the burglar used to gain entry into the car did not set off the alarm? I do have an alarm system. (I thought it was part of the anti-theft device.) I have accidently set it off a couple of times and it is quite loud. Also, whatever method they used to enter the car, they weren’t able to use it to drive it off.
Or they didn’t want to drive it off; they just wanted your airbag.
No one pays attention to car alarms. Think about it: what do you do when you hear a car alarm?
What probably happened is the last time your car was at the Dealer they cut a new key and programed a second remote.This does not have to involve a mechanic, just the “car jockey” and a friend in the parts dept to cut the key (or even a hardware store for that matter). If I leave my car at the Dealer I never leave them both the remote and the key as if they do program a second remote the one you have will not work anymore. With low level keys the Dealership is a weak link in key/remote security. We have had to on occasion re-key people’s cars and homes when somehow their keys came up missing, and I may add that this is entirely the proper thing to do. Best policy is not to leave 20+ keys in the possession of the Dealership.
“Tools” are available that duplicate the function of any remote. It’s the same principal as a “universal” TV remote control. It transmits ALL the codes until your alarm gives its little chirp…Then a Slim-Jim gives them access in seconds…