I parked my car (95 dx hatch) at the mall last night to eat dinner with my sister, and as we come back to my car, I realized that someone had broken into my car and almost succeded in stealing it. The only ended up stealing my leather coat and some odds and ends, so I guess I'm pretty lucky.


The only damage to the car is the steering column/ignition. I'm wondering if it would make more sense to repair it myself, or get some place to fix it. I'm pretty sure my comprehensive deductible is $300... so if it's more than that I think they'll cut me a check or something.


anyway, here's the damage report:

- The plastics all around the steering column were ripped to pieces and need to be replaced.

- The (roughly 5"x5") flat metal plate piece underneath the steering column was bent as it was removed, but can probably be bent back and reused.



- Number "6" in the picture, the black plastic piece that the combination switches are mounted, has some slight damage where they ripped off the wiper switch. But the switches are intact and fully functional. Ideally, the plastic piece should be replaced.

- hard to explain this part... the collar of the ignition, between where the number "3" screws go in, has been broken. So the top ring is still bolted together, and sits around the column, but the rest is broken off and hanging down, supported by a black ribbon cable looking strap. This is probably going to be the most expensive thing to replace... anyone know where I could get just the casing, and if i can keep the same tumblers, wiring, etc.?

- the tilt wheel isn't functioning 100%, the whole steering column wheel and everything sits crooked, looks like one side is higher than the other. Thankfully, the car still tracks strait when you let go of the wheel. Something probably got bent when everything was yanked out, I'll have to look at it more.


I'm going to try and get some pictures up tonight to help with the descriptions.

To keep this thread TECH, please only post if you have something constructive to say regarding repairing the damage.


O/T - Thoughts and conclusions:
- never park at the mall
- don't ignore security... something WILL happen to you someday
- even if you don't live in cali, and live a quiet suburb, you can still get burnt.
- keep EVERYTHING of value out of your car, I'm sure my leather coat was just more incentive for someone to break in.
- kill switches are worth 100 times their weight in gold, well worth the minimum of cost and install time.

 

I had the same thing, i just bought the whole ignition piece from someone that was parting the car out...easyist way.

 

would I need to get new keys?

 

mines broken as well i just zip tied it back on and screw the plastic on to it it holds it pretty good.

 

Mine also being broken after a theft, I decided that it was worthless to replace it. I just zip tied it back up and forgot about it. If someone's gonna gank your car, its not gonna prevent them...wow it may take them .5 seconds to break it. Better that you spend your money on either a 2 way or kill switches...or both.

 

Not hard its just that your back is going to hurt because of the positioning that all the hardware is in.

Its a fun job to do, as you see I own an Auto Recycling yard

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chil709 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">would I need to get new keys?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not unless the person lost the key to the ignition that you're buying. But you can go to any honda dealer with the VIN of the car that the ignition came out of and they can make a key for you.

 

but you have 2 have proof that you own the car with that VIN, so unless he buys the car title too, he cant do that. You can actually just change tumblers, so no big deal, use your old tumbler.

 

I had just about the same thing happen, I went to a junkyard and they wanted 70$ for the whole assembly, not too bad considering it's like 200$ online. Anyway I don't know where a VIN is inscribed on the ignition switch assembly, I think xerox445 is misinformed or really has an inside scoop on something. You can swap out lock cylnders no problem. good luck

 

yeah dude good luck with that...hate losers that steel

 

im not misinformed at all...you need proof of ownership to get a key made from a vin...i could just walk up to your car, write down your vin, go to honda, make a key for your car and take it....

Think about it....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xerox445 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im not misinformed at all...you need proof of ownership to get a key made from a vin...i could just walk up to your car, write down your vin, go to honda, make a key for your car and take it....

Think about it....</TD></TR></TABLE>he doesn't want a new lock cylinder he wants a new casing, the cylinders are interchangeable, no new keys need to be made. you would be right if he wanted new keys though.