[steffe]

Then it was my turn to have my steering wheel removed during the night, even though my car is parked close to my house (5 meters) and I have alarm. We have an epidemic plague of steering wheel/nav system thefts here in Sweden. 4-6 BMW cars in in the same area are often hit during 1 night
Shipped to the Baltic countries and then sold on ebay or put into cars where air-bag need to be replaced. Seams like BMW don't take this serious when designing the cars.
What are your experience from this and what counter measure have you done to avoid repeated thefts (they will come back )

[rapid64k]

They took your steering wheel unbelievable.

[Billfitz]

It's nothing that a 9 millimeter attitude adjustment tool won't put a stop to.

[smithf80]

Is this why there are so many steering wheels for sale on eBay?

[MomoM3]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

It's nothing that a 9 millimeter attitude adjustment tool won't put a stop to.

Ha! Sorry, I just laughed out loud! Google gun laws in Sweden. Terribly restrictive regulations, unfortunately.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

Google gun laws in Sweden. Terribly restrictive regulations, unfortunately.

How about baseball bats?

[rapid64k]

How odd...take the steering wheel and leave the car behind!

[_bdiddyb_]

I've been looking for the thicker F20 M-sport steering wheel, that is only available in Europe, for my F30. It's not on Ebay yet.

In the US West Coast, they take your audio equipment and rims. Has not happened to my BMW yet, but my previous car had $5000 worth of audio equipment stolen within 1 hour of being at the gym. Thoughts ran thru my mine about camping on top of the roof with a sniper rifle.

[apocalypsbe]

Originally Posted by steffe

Then it was my turn to have my steering wheel removed during the night, even though my car is parked close to my house (5 meters) and I have alarm. We have an epidemic plague of steering wheel/nav system thefts here in Sweden. 4-6 BMW cars in in the same area are often hit during 1 night
Shipped to the Baltic countries and then sold on ebay or put into cars where air-bag need to be replaced. Seams like BMW don't take this serious when designing the cars.
What are your experience from this and what counter measure have you done to avoid repeated thefts (they will come back )

I've seen similar incidents in Belgian news ... it worries me to be honest and I wish BMW would do something about the fact that it's so super easy apparently to just loosen and steal the steering wheel column. I've been looking online for a anti-theft device but not much so far that really got my attention. Maybe I'll go for a fortress steering lock (better than nothing), at least it would give them some more work if they would steal it as they would have to get the lock off without damaging the steering wheel

Would love to read some kind of solution on the forum. I was thinking about it, shouldn't there be an easier way? A unique bolt (no idea if this stuff exists) or something?

[eluded]

Originally Posted by MomoM3

Ha! Sorry, I just laughed out loud! Google gun laws in Sweden. Terribly restrictive regulations, unfortunately.

Agreed. Then I googled Sweden women

[rezadue]

OP lives in Sweden. Doubt they have the same gun laws as the U.S. LOL

Originally Posted by Billfitz

It's nothing that a 9 millimeter attitude adjustment tool won't put a stop to.

[Earthmaster]

LOL only americans would joke about shooting people and violence over a steering wheel... so typical.

[markbridge]

Perhaps a sticker on a couple of the windows that read "BEWARE OF PYTHON" would help. (The would be thief doesn't need to know snakes wouldn't survive in cold temps, that could be your little secret)

[rezadue]

My Suggestion:

[scostu]

Originally Posted by rezadue

My Suggestion:

Ha ha ha.....priceless!

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by Earthmaster

LOL only americans would joke about shooting people and violence over a steering wheel... so typical.

Who's joking? If I found an intruder in my house I would shoot first and ask questions later. If I found an intruder in my car I'd hold him at gunpoint until the cops arrived, only because if he was in the car I wouldn't be as concerned about him being able to reach me before I could put him down. If I lived in a country like Sweden, where thieves aren't likely to be armed, I might have a different attitude. But in the US one must assume that a thief is armed and act accordingly.

[Bavarianwagon]

I'm so sorry to hear you and your car were affected by these questionable types

A colleague of mine is in the same boat as you sadly. They pinched his m-sport steering wheel while he was at work.

Even cars in garages have been hit from what I've heard from friends. Seems very hard to keep these theives away from our BMW's regardless of spec and model.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by Bavarianwagon

Even cars in garages have been hit from what I've heard from friends. Seems very hard to keep these theives away from our BMW's regardless of spec and model.

A US google search of 'BMW steering wheel theft' doesn't turn up anything, so the problem must be European. A few years ago theft of airbags was rampant, because of their high replacement cost. Repair shops would pay $150-$200 for a stolen air bag, then charge the insurance company the price for a new bag, which can be ten times that amount. Tighter controls by insurance companies seems to have reduced the incidence of theft.

[Bavarianwagon]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

A US google search of 'BMW steering wheel theft' doesn't turn up anything, so the problem must be European. A few years ago theft of airbags was rampant, because of their high replacement cost. Repair shops would pay $150-$200 for a stolen air bag, then charge the insurance company the price for a new bag, which can be ten times that amount. Tighter controls by insurance companies seems to have reduced the incidence of theft.

There are a few swedish articles made on the subject. I doubt it holds much significance to international readers as car theives aren't anything new.

Quite a few are about stolen BMW's and Lexus's. We've had quite a few problems with thieves overriding keyless-go signals as a means to gain access to cars of interest. Either to steal something inside of the vehicle or the whole thing.

[steffe]

Finally got my steering wheel replaced. To prevent getting the wheel stolen again I used SmartWater DNA on the wheel (www.smartwater.com or smartwatersverige.se) and signs on the windows. The unique DNA is connected to a European database.
The thieves knows that they can't sell these goods due to easy detection by UV-light and that it's traceable. (BMW use this method in EU on more expesive cars like X5 etc)
Advanced technology instead of brutal gun force

[rapid64k]

Wow the length we have to go through.

[Palexr]

So presumably the alarm goes off but they don't care as it is so easy to get eh steering wheel out? Or, are they cloning key-less entry codes?