WASHINGTON–State insurance legislators promised on Sunday tolook into incorporating stronger sanctions into laws and rulesgoverning airbag theft and fraud.

The Property-Casualty Insurance Committee of the NationalConference of Insurance Legislators agreed to look into the issueat the request of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.

The P-C panel acted after Howard Goldblatt, director ofgovernment affairs for the CAIF cited data indicating that airbagtheft and fraud continues “to be a big problem and a public safetyissue, both for the consumer and the insurer.”

He cited instances where auto body shops buy stolen airbags toreplace a deployed airbag and then charge the insurer the fullretail price as if the product had been purchased from themanufacturer.

He explained that some auto body shops buy stolen airbagsadvertised on the Internet for $200, and then charge the insurer$1,200 or so for installing it in a car where the old bag had beendeployed during an accident.

Of equal concern, Mr. Goldblatt said, the airbag that isinstalled is not the proper bag for the repair, reducing thepotential safety for the user in the event of a crash.

Other problems include removing an un-deployed airbag from anauto prior to an adjuster reviewing the automobile. “The insurerwill reimburse those body shops more than a thousand dollars forthe repair,” he explained.

He also cited other instances where auto recyclers, used cardealers and auto body shops repair automobiles by faking the repairof the airbag. “Some cases have shown that junk including used beercans were placed in the compartment,” he told members of the NCOILP-C Committee.

To deal with it, he cited laws in New York and Colorado thatrequire an invoice of bill of sale by the body shop for an airbag,prior to reimbursement by the insurer.

He also noted that New York further requires automobile accidentreports to have a place for law enforcement to note whether theairbag was deployed in an accident. “There have been severalincidents where this notation stopped a body shop from trying todefraud an insurer by claiming the need to replace a deployedairbag,” he said.

Mr. Goldblatt suggested that a model law be drafted based onlaws in several states that make it a felony to steal or purchase astolen airbag–or for a repair shop to repair a vehicle with a phonyairbag.