It's not enough to hide your GPS units, laptops and sunglasses when you leave your car to prevent thieves from breaking in. Now you'll have to hide your seats, too.

Or at least lock them up.

Burglars are making off with third-row seats of Cadillac Escalades and other SUVs manufactured by Chevy and GMC, often when the cars are parked at malls in broad daylight, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

"They're bold," said Detective John Perez, auto theft coordinator at LAPD's Topanga Division. "And it's happening during the day when everyone's shopping."

At least 23 incidents have been reported in the Warner Center area in Woodland Hills since Aug. 1, with most break-ins occurring in parking lots and structures at Westfield Topanga, Westfield Promenade and the Kaiser Permanente facility. Another 14 thefts have been reported in the neighboring Devonshire Division, Perez said.

The seats will often be sold on Craigslist for prices ranging from $500 to $1,500, while car owners or their insurance companies are set back about $2,300 to get the seats replaced at the dealer.

"Third-row seats are easy to pop out," Perez said. "It's just like taking luggage out of a vehicle."

Police haven't developed any solid suspect descriptions, and the thieves' method of entry has also left investigators baffled.

No cars windows were smashed and there were no signs of forced entry, Perez said.

With shoppers flocking to malls as the holiday shopping season launches, police are warning drivers to either leave the seats at home, or to secure the seats to bolts on the floor of the car with a cable and padlock. Police also suggested using bicycle locks.

"You can just lock it like you do a bike," Perez said. "It'll take them at least an extra couple of seconds if they can break the lock. Maybe someone will see it and maybe they'll just leave it."

The thieves case parking lots and can be off with the seats in about a minute, Perez said.

Local dealers have reported getting calls about replacing third-row seats for the last several years and Burbank has also had a rash of the thefts, but the crime is starting to take off although overall property crimes are down in Topanga Division and across the Valley.

"It wasn't as much of a problem as it is now," Perez said. "Criminals are now catching on how easy it is to take these seats and that's what they're doing."