Hoa is “a girl who works 3 jobs in Toronto” and has previously talked about how “expensive” it is living there, urging others not to put themselves in a similar situation unless they absolutely have to.
Unfortunately, it seems like she may have been slapped with another cost out of nowhere after someone broke into her car.
Instead of venting her frustrations about any money she might have to pay for the replacement, she posted a viral TikTok to her account (@hoaslife1999) where she appears truly flabbergasted at what car thieves decided to pilfer from her whip.
“This has to be an actual joke. I literally was parked at work for like a few hours,” she says. “I always lock my car I don’t know if I forgot to lock my car…and it’s unlocked and I was like, what the f*ck and this is what I come out to.”
She then transitions the camera to show off what the car thief decided to lift from her car—the center steering wheel module.
“Like bro, what the f*ck? What do I do? And can somebody tell me why?” she asks. “Like did you…did you steal the horn or did you steal the airbag? I’m confused?”
That particular piece in the steering wheel is indeed where the airbag is located, and according to some TikTokers, car thieves are targeting these modules in vehicles due to a shortage of them on the market right now.
“Happened to me last month!” one user commented. “They sell the airbag on the black market bc theres a shortage apparently and it’s worth $$.”
One viewer says this is a common theft carried out on Honda Civic vehicles: “The airbag in the steering wheel is worth a lot of money that’s why they steal it very common with Honda Civic.”
@hoaslife1999 i love toronto ❤️
♬ original sound – Hoa
“It’s the airbag. A Honda air bag is well over $1000,” another wrote while someone else echoed, “This happened to my mom it’s that airbag.”
Judging from the looks of the steering wheel Hoa showed off in her video, it appears that her broken-into car is a 10th-generation Honda Civic, which installed these steering wheels during the car’s 2016 to 2021 production run. Since the car is such a popular selling model, it’s not difficult to understand why thieves would target its airbag module: More drivers with more Civics on the road means there’s a higher chance of selling airbags for said models.
Car-related crimes are increasing in The Big Smoke- The Toronto Star reported in the first quarter of 2024 that carjackings have doubled, and that there was a whopping 250 percent increase in automotive theft since 2015. The CBC said that car thefts are part of a larger epidemic of other violent crimes in Toronto as well: “Home invasions, violent robberies, and gun violence” have seen a “surge” in the northern city, with authorities claiming in 2023 alone, “a car was stolen every 40 minutes.”
Commenters who responded to Hoa’s video expressed sympathy with her plight, with one person writing that she probably isn’t going to be happy to discover how much it costs to get a new airbag in her vehicle: “Wait till you find out the cost to fix/replace the airbag.”
According to RepairPal, the fee for putting in a new airbag module in a Honda Civic is about $1,381 and different areas carry different taxes and fees, so it’s not uncommon for that figure to be higher if you’re residing in a more affluent area. If Hoa does have a comprehensive insurance plan, however, it could mean that the cost of replacing her stolen parts and the labor included in getting her car reunited with an Airbag module could be covered by her plan. Here’s hoping that’s included in her coverage and her deductible isn’t too high.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Honda via email and Hoa via TikTok comment.
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