In 1872, inventor Elijah McCoy patented a lubricating system designed to prevent overheating and seizing on steam engines. His lubricators worked extremely well, saving the shipping lines and railroads lots of money. The success and popularity of McCoy’s device soon brought many copies, which cost far less but didn’t work nearly as well. These fakes created costly problems for purchasers, who believed they were saving money. Those who wanted to use a genuine product to ensure quality and dependability asked for McCoy’s product by name. Thus was born the phrase “the real McCoy.”
Unfortunately the market of counterfeiting is bigger now than it has ever been. Due to the advances in technology and the availability of cheap labour in certain countries the possibility of mass production is made increasingly easy. To make matters worse, a large number of the genuine products are being produced in these countries therefore giving a counterfeiter exclusive access to the intellectual property of the original manufacturer! Some fake goods are even being traced back to the same factory making the original equipment which may not seem like a big deal, but the faked items are not quality checked and are usually made with processes, equipment, tooling or material that is not of an acceptable quality. According to the International Anti Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC), 5 to 7 percent of the global trade today is in fake goods and is worth around $800 billion annually.
So how is it affecting us in the automotive world? The answer is greatly. A fake Justin Bieber dole is not really a huge concern to us (at least I hope it’s not) but when we are driving our mates and families round in our vehicles it’s a different story. The most counterfeited car parts by statistic are suspension components, brake components, wheels and maintenance parts such as seals, clutches, bearings and filters. This is a huge safety risk not only on the road but on the track. Recently a friend had the brake lining come unstuck from the metal backing on a new set of pads in an AE101 Corolla race car at Manfeild. The pad consequently fell out of the calliper and the pedal went to the floor at the 200m mark on the front straight putting him front first into a tyre wall.
Detecting fake products can be difficult. If the deal is too good to be true, it usually is. A company I work with had a piece of test equipment arrive supposedly from a German manufacturer. The machine was identical to the genuine one even down to the fake German cardboard it came in. It was not until the part numbers were run after a fault occurred that the situation was realised.
A good example that most of you probably don’t give much thought – fake wheels. While most are not counterfeit they are still fake. Everyone will be familiar with names like Enkei, BBS, Rays, and OZ Racing. These companies have poured billions of dollars and incredible amounts of time into the proper research, development, testing, safety, and production of their wheels. The wheels produced by those companies are designed for optimal function and performance. Then there are companies like Drag, Konig, Tenzo, Sportmaxx/XXR, Motegi, and the notorious Rota. These companies take the most popular and best selling designs from the reputable manufacturers then reproduce them at the lowest possible price, using sub-quality production methods, and sell them for as little as possible in an effort to appeal to people who only care about price and looks. Absolutely no R&D, testing or quality assurance goes into making these wheels, which is reflected in the cost. Some even go as far as selling the wheel in specifications not offered by the original manufacturer which can be dangerous because combined with the substandard product, when you increase width, reduce offset and change the PCD the stresses on the wheel increase.
When people buy a set of Rota or Drag wheels, you hurt the hard working companies that originally designed the wheel. You may think, “Why pay thousands for a set of TE-37’s when you can get a set that looks just as good from Rota?” As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, original companies often stop production of their parts simply because they don’t want their name to be confused with the myriad of fakes that are out there. In doing this the real JDM companies are slowly being suffocated of a market. Their prices have to increase to cover costs making it harder for us to buy the product.
The production of counterfeit goods is completely driven by consumer demand. The only way to stop the damage being done to the industry is to stop buying fake or counterfeit parts when you can recognise them and buying “the real McCoy”. After all, they say your car is an extension of you.
