Your car’s airbag may be the only thing between you and the Pearly Gates. As a safety device, coupled with appropriately used seat belts, it’s invaluable. Fortunately, airbags are now standard equipment on most newer model cars. But, if you have an older model car, you may have bought it specifically because it has an airbag. Now, if you’re really and truly lucky, you’ll never ever have to see what that airbag looks like deployed. If you’re really lucky, it will save your life. If it weren’t for bad luck you’d have no luck at all, then you’ll one day discover that your airbag has been stolen. Yup, you read that right.

Airbags are now being targeted by thieves in a big way. The National Insurance Crime Bureau has estimated that nearly $50 million worth of airbags are stolen each and every year. That’s because their average replacement cost is about $1,000 apiece. And who doesn’t replace their airbag if it needs replacing? An airbag thief can steal an airbag and sell it to some unscrupulous mechanic for a few hundred dollars, who in turn will charge the car owner or insurance company $1,000 for it.

Air bag theft also presents a problem for the person who unknowingly buys it; if it’s not properly installed, it could fail to deploy when needed in an accident or it could deploy inappropriately. Airbags do save lives, but they can also take lives when improperly used.

Unfortunately, there is no one method that will specifically prevent airbag theft, though car manufacturers are working on that problem. That’s why it’s important to have some sort of vehicle theft deterrent in place at all times.