Thieves are inconsiderate

The Acura Integra seems to be a popular car to steal. This will be the second post theft repair we’ve done in the last couple of months. This thief broke into the glove box to steal our customer’s extra ketchup packets. On most Honda products, forcing the glovebox will break the mounting lugs for the glove box striker, which is an integral part of the dashboard. The dashboard is a very expensive part, and it takes a lot of time to replace making it a very expensive job. Below is one of the many ways to fix the lugs to avoid spending a lot of money.

Broken striker

This is the striker for the glove box. It’s what the glove box latch holds onto when the glove box is closed. Next to the striker is the speed nut that holds the striker to the dash. Note the broken piece of brown plastic in the speed nut — it’s a piece of the dash that has broken off.

Broken dashboard

This is picture of the underside of the dash where the striker mounts. The plastic ears are broken off where the speed nuts mount, so there’s nothing to attach the striker to anymore.

Aluminum mounts

Using a 1/2″ aluminum angle bar purchased from the hardware store, I trim one side from 1/2″ to 7/16″ so it will fit in what’s left of the striker lugs in the dash. Then I drill and tap one hole to hold the striker to the aluminum, and two holes to hole the aluminum to the remnants of the dash lugs. I used the original size threads, but you could use whatever size you have screws for.