The threads that some people hang on their cars and believe to be a means of warding off harm from them: what is the ruling on them?

Question:
He says: The threads that some people hang on their cars, and they believe they are to ward off harm from them. Is this action of theirs considered major shirk (associating partners with Allah) or minor shirk? And is this to be forbidden?

Answer:
If they believe that they ward off evil, that is major shirk (associating partners with Allah). But if they believe they are merely a cause for warding off evil, that is minor shirk, and it is a means to the major. The Permanent Committee has issued fatwas prohibiting this, and they were sent to the traffic department and the interior ministry to prohibit these things on cars, and they were prohibited, praise be to Allah. But something may slip through that is overlooked. It is obligatory for whoever sees something of this to report it to the authorities, the men of hisbah (religious police). Yes.