“Significant risk for customers”: boom in counterfeit car parts – manufacturers launch a counterattack

Created: 08/24/2022, 10:56 am

An original Mercedes-Benz star (left) and a fake (right): Fake car parts turn up again and again.

Manufacturers are stepping up the fight against counterfeiters.

© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa

Trading in counterfeit airbags, headlights and other auto parts is a multi-million dollar business.

German car manufacturers are now taking steps to counteract this.

Stuttgart – When Lita Silje Jänisch talks about her work, she sounds like a police officer.

She then speaks of raids, hidden production facilities and organized crime.

From counterfeiting networks, backers and confiscations.

The fully qualified lawyer works for the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz.

As a brand protector, she tries to track down counterfeit Mercedes parts and take them out of circulation.

"Product counterfeiting poses a significant risk for customers," says Jänisch, listing a number of examples.

Brake parts with inferior components and therefore longer braking distances.

Brake pads with toxic substances such as lead and arsenic.

Plain window glass windshields.

Air filters not made of flame retardant material.

The list is long.

Counterfeit car parts - Mercedes examiner: "There is almost nothing that does not exist"

If you look at the figures from car manufacturers, more and more such counterfeits are being taken out of circulation.

For the brands Volkswagen passenger cars and VW commercial vehicles, VW reports confiscations during raids and customs cases worth around 14 million euros for 2021. That is almost twice as much as in the previous year, when goods worth around 8 million euros were confiscated.

At Mercedes, more than 1.86 million counterfeit products were confiscated by customs and law enforcement authorities in over 650 raids last year.

This corresponds to an increase of six percent compared to 2020.

"There is almost nothing that does not exist," says trademark protector Jänisch.

From the Mercedes star to aluminum rims, airbags and headlights to brake parts, filters or spark plugs.

Test engineer Thomas Schuster from the monitoring organization KÜS also reports an upward trend.

In part, there are inferior components in circulation that could endanger other road users.

On the other hand, it is also about copying branded components without affecting safety - but with economic damage for the manufacturer.

It is not so easy to fathom whether more potentially dangerous parts are installed in the cars and are therefore also on German roads.

Neither the Federal Criminal Police Office nor the Federal Motor Transport Authority have figures.

But there are a number of legal hurdles, says the head of the technical test center for motor vehicle traffic in Bavaria at TÜV Süd, Philip Puls.

The high numbers reported by the car manufacturers tended to indicate that more counterfeits were noticed even before they were assembled.

"If you check a lot, you'll find a lot." Counterfeit parts are also quickly identified during the general inspection.

Original parts or approved replicas are provided with the appropriate test numbers.

Car parts: Some counterfeits can hardly be recognized

KÜS test engineer Schuster sounds a little different.

General inspections are inspections that do not require assembly or disassembly, he says.

"Parts such as air filters, spark plugs or brake pads are installed in such a way that we cannot identify counterfeits." On the other hand, impermissible components in the lighting technology, the wheels or in the tuning area are easily recognizable.

Rims and lights are particularly susceptible to counterfeiting.

It is dangerous, especially with counterfeit lights, that they could blind other drivers.

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TÜV official Puls also confirms that attempts are made to circulate unapproved bikes.

"Then you might damage the wheel on the curb and be tempted to find a cheaper spare part compared to the price of the original spare part." But that's very dangerous, especially with wheels.

"There is only whole or broken." A violent fracture at higher speeds can no longer be caught.

According to the experts, anyone looking for a spare part for their car themselves and not wanting to accidentally buy an inferior counterfeit should pay attention to one point: "The consumer should be aware that something cannot be right if the price differs significantly from the original parts". says Schuster.

If you still want to save, Puls adds, you should use approved accessories instead of original parts - and make sure that they have approval.

Porsche: Cooperation with customs and law enforcement authorities

The industry is working hard to combat counterfeiting.

A spokeswoman said the Volkswagen Group had increased cooperation with authorities at home and abroad.

Mercedes brand protector Jänisch and her team collect clues, work with customs and law enforcement agencies, scour online marketplaces and also support the investigative authorities in preparing raids.

The sports car manufacturer Porsche does not publish concrete figures.

But the manufacturer is systematically taking action against counterfeit brands and products, a spokesman said.

Online, Porsche focuses on large platforms such as Ebay, Amazon and the platforms of the Alibaba Group.

Offline, the sports car manufacturer relies on on-site raids, especially in China, and works together with the customs authorities.