- A significant proportion of automotive related deaths occurring across the world have been attributed to low quality and fake spare parts.
- This has resulted in injury and death, and erosion of the brand reputation of major automotive companies.
- The trade in illegal counterfeit automotive spare parts is estimated to be as profitable as the illicit drug industry.
COMMONLY COUNTERFEITED AUTOMOTIVE PARTS
AIRBAGS
Counterfeit airbags have been found to improperly deploy, or not deploy at all.
BODY AND STRUCTURAL PARTS
Counterfeit vehicle hoods may penetrate the passenger compartment in a crash.BRAKES
Counterfeit brake pads have been found to jeopardize stopping ability.
ENGINE AND DRIVE TRAIN
Counterfeit spark plugs can overheat and may lead to fire.SUSPENSION PARTS
Counterfeit suspension parts made of substandard materials have shown higher rates of failure.
WHEELS AND TIRES
Counterfeit tires often fail on air pressure and feature cracking, bulging, blistering, or abnormal tread wear patterns.Source: Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council (A2C2)
The
backdrop
A lose-lose scenario
Counterfeiting is a major issue in the automobile industry, as it not only results in lost revenue for manufacturers, but it can also pose serious safety risks for consumers.
Quality = Safety
Counterfeit automobile parts are often of inferior quality and may not meet the same safety standards as genuine parts, which can lead to serious accidents or even fatalities.
Fake parts, real impact
Consumers may mistakenly attribute parts failure to poor design or manufacturing, resulting in massive downstream and long-term loss of brand integrity, reputation and business.
Small parts, big problems
In the case of automotives, the failure of a small part can result in a cascading effect, causing catastrophic consequences.
Low tolerance, high failures
The quality of counterfeit automotive parts may be compromised due to the material used to create them, resulting in much lower tolerance levels.
Saving money, losing lives
Fake car components often get into a car, when the owner is replacing worn out original parts at a lower cost.
A deadly trade-off
Automotive accidents don’t affect more than just the driver – those impacted include pedestrians, and the families who are in the vehicles.
Shortage of genuine parts
Counterfeiters push fake parts onto the market when there is a shortage due to logistics or supply chain issues.
Environmental damage
Many fake and spurious parts are made with materials that are deemed toxic to the environment. They leak into the environment during disposal, causing damage.
Aftermarket fit-outs
The aftermarket offers new designs and a higher variety of options – and attracts the consumer to buy sub-standard products which have not been tested for quality.
Online counterfeits
While ordering online, the consumer has no way of verifying the accuracy of the information given and must settle for the sub-par fake part that may arrive at their doorstep.
Good enough is not good enough
Many consumers are misled by unscrupulous or wrongly informed workshops or dealerships, that the ‘second quality’ product is good enough and will do the job.
Penalties are low for a ‘victimless’ crime
The production or trading of fake automotive spare parts is viewed as a victimless crime in many countries – this leads to a low penalty even if the counterfeiter is caught.
You know only when it fails
The consumer often learns of a fake spare part when a failure happens. Counterfeit products are difficult to detect by visual comparison alone.
Force fit to fail
Many illegal spare parts are repurposed from old/damaged vehicles or smuggled from a country where the standards and sizes are different – resulting in the same issues as a fake.
‘Hacked’ to death
Fake electronic parts are compromised by spyware that can allow the vehicle to be hacked and taken over. Software systems can fail, causing safety and performance issues.
The
deadly numbers
The Daimler company got 138,000 fake parts removed in 2020, reflecting a 3-fold increase in the numbers compared to 2019.
The EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) estimated that 2.2B EUR is lost every year by brands due to counterfeit tyre sales, and 180M EUR due to fake batteries.
The global parts industry was estimated to be losing as much as USD 45B in 2011, a figure that has risen manifold in the following decade.
The counterfeiters are so brazen that there has been an instance of a fake brake shoe lining created using compressed grass. This caught fire in the instance of hard braking.
Toyota Kenya conducted a survey where they found that 8 out of 10 vehicles in the country had at least one fake part.
In 2018, a commerce and industry body in India put forward the data that 20% of car accidents in India are caused by counterfeit auto products.
In India, counterfeiting in the auto sector causes a tax revenue loss of INR 2200 crores to the government according to FICCI Cascade.
The problem is big and accelerating fast. Studies indicate that over 60% of results in searches for car parts, results in a link to a counterfeit seller.
Mercedes Benz reported that 1.86 million counterfeit products of its brand were globally seized in more than 650 customs and law enforcement raids in 2021 alone.
It had even stated that 126,000 products were taken down from online platforms during that year.
Ennoventure’s patented anti-counterfeit solution
Ennoventure’s covert brand authentication solution can help prevent the spread of counterfeit and fake parts in the automotive industry.
Key features
Preventing replication of authentication features
Ennoventure’s brand protection solution is invisible – and the counterfeiter cannot replicate the authentication.
Tracking the presence of fake parts
The manufacturer/brand can track the scans done by consumers or other stakeholders, and zero in on problematic locations or emerging issues.
Implement without process change
Ennoventure’s invisible signature is integrated directly into the artwork and does not need any process changes.
