Who's playing the faking game?
COUNTERFEITING isn’t a new problem in any industry, but is usually overlooked in the automotive trade. Instead attention is given to the film industry, where huge numbers of bogus CDs and DVDs storm our streets everyday.
Thanks to the vast quantity of goods coming from China and the rest of the Far East, counterfeiting has made a huge comeback. This is largely due to widespread access to technological advances: the sophistication of the global economy means no product can escape counterfeiters. A simple duplication of merchandise has become the norm.
However, what some consumers do not know is: there’s a difference between
counterfeit and generic parts. Counterfeiters go to tremendous lengths to make their products look like the original thing through identical packaging. But anyone who has bought a fake roadside DVD will know, the quality is somewhat lacking.
This is exactly the same quality incorporated into fake automotive parts. Yet generic parts are exactly what they claim to be - similar quality products at cheaper prices than the original. It’s also worth noting that many generic parts are manufactured from sturdy quality materials.
These aftermarket generic parts are modelled around the legitimate version, but many generic counterparts eliminate latent defects and integrate new enhancements. A visit to any pharmacy to fill a prescription will reveal that they prescribe generic drugs - sometimes claiming they are better than the original. Whereas pirated parts, unquestionably, use any cheap nasty material to simply match the outer appearance rather than the functional quality of the product.
And why should they? Their mission is to forge the product well enough to dupe people into buying it. They couldn’t care about the research involved in producing high-quality products. They are not in the business of investing in research and development to constantly improve product quality - the cheaper the better.
Having said that, often original merchandise is horribly overpriced and a chat with a friend in the industry, who, for obvious reasons wants to remain anonymous, revealed that something as straightforward as a “genuine” seal for their vehicles sells to their dealers for around R100. While he stressed you can get the same size rubber at a spares shop for under R20, it’s something he can’t justify himself, never mind the man on the street. So why not shop around for a generic version and try stay away from pirate parts from the outset.
To know what I mean you would only need to have owned a VW CitiGolf. Pirated body parts are more common than the flu, and after my brother’s smash-up a few years ago with his, the realisation hit me just how expensive genuine body parts are. The original front VW badge was ridiculously over-priced for what it was. A visit to a “pirate” part centre offered exactly the same looking component at a third of the price. This badge looked identical to the little original guy. It’s not like it said WV instead of VW or anything like that, and it fitted perfectly with all the same clips.
However, upon completion of repairs to the vehicle, while buffing the car to make it shine once again, the metallic paint on this newly-fitted VW badge merely crumbled off. Surprised, we were left with a shiny “new” car with a dodgy, faded, crumbling badge. Of course, this is a minimal defect, but imagine if this was a more critical component. For instance the brakes, I would be highly peeved if my newly-replaced fake brakes crumbled while on the road, especially if it’s claiming to be a well-known brake pad. Moral of the story: if it’s too good to be true it probably is. Even though in this instance we knew we were buying fake junk.
But it’s this thinking that got me looking into counterfeit safety concerns. And if anyone thinks these are overblown one only needs to look to the aviation industry for proof that counterfeiting can cause serious widespread problems. In the USA between 1973 and 1993, the Federal Aviation Administration attributed 166 aircraft accidents to what it called “unapproved parts”. These were substandard and knockoff parts.
In the one finding, “unapproved” bolts and bushings were identified as the reason a charter airliner disintegrated over the North Sea, killing all 55 people aboard. Further findings in another case revealed counterfeit parts installed during routine maintenance were the cause of a helicopter crash in New York, killing two passengers and the crew.
Hence pirate parts tend to look the part, but lack the research, materials and production processes of the more established brands. This lack of quality goes hand-in-hand with a cheaper price. And although it may be appealing to us, as buyers, during tough economic times, we are also responsible for looking towards our own future - and that requires safe thinking.
