Dearborn, Michigan – Repair shops are being warned about the pitfalls of counterfeit parts once again, this time in a recent white paper report from the Automotive Anti-Counterfeiting Council (A2C2).
The organization’s most recent report lays out the dangers involved in making repairs using unverified parts as well as the due diligence required on the part of bodyshops to ensure that the parts they use are OEM-certified.
A2C2 is warning that e-commerce-based parts distributors may be contributing to an influx of counterfeit auto parts that consumers may not be aware they are purchasing.
“Consumers are unaware that some products on online marketplaces are counterfeit,” the A2C2 wrote in the white paper. “Many consumers believe that the offerings online are more akin to brick-and-mortar retailers. Many do not realize the lack of regulation of the third-party sellers and thus are unknowingly putting themselves or their customers (in the case of automotive repair shops) at risk.”
The organization specifies, however, that they are not challenging grey market parts, such as a component an automaker produces for one country that are purchased by a customer in another nation, or aftermarket parts, which might match an automaker’s specifications but are clearly sold under their own third-party brand names.
A2C2 is targeting auto parts that are specifically misrepresented as being OEM-official parts, but are in fact are produced without authorization as counterfeits.
The report identified a number of specific challenges repairers may identify when working with counterfeit parts.
- “Counterfeit vehicle hoods designed without crumple zones may penetrate the passenger compartment in a crash, putting vehicle occupants at greater risk.”
- “Counterfeit grilles may not properly house safety sensors that control the vehicle’s supplemental restraint system (SRS) and/or other collision mitigation systems, thus rendering those systems inoperable.”
- “Counterfeit glass can shatter or displace, injuring and/or failing to protect vehicle occupants.”
