# Has my car been tampered with ? (pics) **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [December 7, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/has-my-car-been-tampered-with-pics/23083 "2008-12-07T19:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![roflcopter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d26b3c/32.png) [@roflcopter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/roflcopter)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/has-my-car-been-tampered-with-pics/23083/1 "2008-12-07T19:33:25Z")
Hi everyone! I just bought a 1999 Accord about 1 month ago with 120,000 (had 118,000 when I bought it) and so far so good. Today when I got home from work I reached down to straighten out my floor mat and noticed that the plastic thingy that covers the steering column was kinda hanging loose and there were visible wires with black tape wrapped around them (see pics). There are also what appears to be screw holes in the middle of the panel. That’s kind of bizzare. I’d like to rule out odometer fraud because 120k isn’t unusual for a 10 year old car, right ? I vaguely remember that the carfax said something about an inconsistent odometer reading at some point but I let my indy mechanic as well as my shade tree mechanic friend look at the car and neither one of them mentioned this so I didn’t worry about it (stupid?) Take a look at these pics and let me know what you think. Why else would this region of the car be fooled around with ? [![](http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c268/CapnBiscuits/100_0088.jpg)](http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c268/CapnBiscuits/?action=view¤t=100_0088.jpg) [![](http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c268/CapnBiscuits/100_0087.jpg)](http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c268/CapnBiscuits/?action=view¤t=100_0087.jpg) [![](http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c268/CapnBiscuits/100_0089.jpg)](http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c268/CapnBiscuits/?action=view¤t=100_0089.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/has-my-car-been-tampered-with-pics/23083/2 "2008-12-07T20:08:40Z")
There was probably some service or repair eason to remove these covers (clamshells) as I remember they are easy to break (the retaing lugs) if you dont know how to pop them loose,no tampering just a clumsly previous repair. ---
**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/has-my-car-been-tampered-with-pics/23083/3 "2008-12-07T20:17:06Z")
There are many possible reasons someone may have removed the steering column cover in the past. There are lots of wires under the dashboard. Nothing abnormal there. Put it back together and don’t worry about it. ---
**Author:** ![roflcopter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d26b3c/32.png) [@roflcopter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/roflcopter)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/has-my-car-been-tampered-with-pics/23083/4 "2008-12-07T20:24:06Z")
Thanks for the responses! I feel better now. I ran an auto check report (generic CARFAX) as well and everything turned up ok. The CARFAX odometer flag probably came up incorrectly. I understand the fallacy of relying solely on a C/F report. The title transfers shown on there agree with the C/F report. You guys can look for yourselves. [https://www.autocheck.com/consumers/reportAction.do?vin=1HGCG5647XA143100](https://www.autocheck.com/consumers/reportAction.do?vin=1HGCG5647XA143100) ---
**Author:** ![roflcopter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d26b3c/32.png) [@roflcopter](https://community.cartalk.com/u/roflcopter)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/has-my-car-been-tampered-with-pics/23083/5 "2008-12-07T20:24:54Z")
Er… Scratch that, link won’t work. Thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@andrew\_j](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andrew_j)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/has-my-car-been-tampered-with-pics/23083/6 "2008-12-07T21:24:36Z")
The black tape looks like it came from the factory that way given the even spacing.