By Steven Symes 
United States federal authorities are working to crack down on counterfeit auto parts smuggled into this country. Part of that involves raising public awareness of the problem, the risks involved, and how to avoid purchasing counterfeit components for your vehicle.
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The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center has been using its Put the Brakes on Fakes campaign since Fall 2024 to spread the word about this issue. That organization along with Homeland Security Investigations, US Customs and Border Protection, Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants consumers to know buying fake car parts is risky.
For example, counterfeit airbag inflators have exploded, the shrapnel badly injuring or even killing innocents. Fake wheels have sheared, catastrophically failing on cars. Some counterfeit components have caused damage to vehicles, costing owners financially.
Just last year, CBP seized well over 200,000 counterfeit car parts, almost doubling what was seized in 2023. Just imagine all the products the government agency didn’t catch.
Counterfeit parts aren’t manufactured to the same standards as the brand name they bear. Unknowledgeable cars owners might think they’re getting a genuine component for their vehicle when in fact they’re getting something inferior that might wear out faster or fail catastrophically, causing a serious accident.
According to the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, there are a few ways to avoid potentially buying counterfeit cars parts. One is to have your vehicle only repaired at reputable repair shops or dealership service departments. This might cost extra, but it would be worth not risking a faulty component.
Another is to avoid “too good to be true” prices for car parts. That’s usually a sign of fraud just in general. You also should be careful when buying components for your ride on the internet, avoiding extremely low-priced options or parts shipping from other countries.
Obviously, some people are only about saving a buck, so they’ll keep buying parts that might be counterfeit. But just from a financial perspective those could end up costing you more, plus they might put your life at risk.
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