Damaras Gatihi was driving along Interstate 5 near Seattle in2003, when her car was bumped from behind. Her Toyota Corolla spunaround and hit another vehicle head-on. The 50-year-old nursingassistant's airbag did not open. A shady repair shop had removedher airbag and inserted a plastic cover over the empty cavity. Herbody hit the steering column so hard that the column buckled. In atragic irony, Gatihi died from massive bleeding of the heart: itwas Valentine's Day.

Airbag fraud is an expensive problem for auto insurers. It alsois a deadly public-safety threat that endangers the lives ofdrivers and passengers when dishonest body shops meddle withvehicles' airbags to make illicit profit at insurance companies'expense.

“Far more than financial fraud, airbag fraud is a public-safetyissue,” said Janet Bachman, vice president, claim administration,for the American Insurance Association. “It's the equivalent ofinstalling seat belts that are not hooked up. The unsuspectingdriver may be in for an incredible awakening that could killpeople.”