Thousands of fake car parts seized in UK

Thousands of potentially dangerous counterfeit vehicle parts worth more than £100,000 ($131,000) have been seized by officials in a raid on a self-storage unit in Gloucestershire, UK.

The haul of 3,600 knock-offs included spark plugs, oil, air and fuel filters, windscreen wipers and sensors that were designed to look like genuine parts. Officers also discovered counterfeit parts in plain packaging alongside sheets of unused counterfeit labels.

The operation uncovered a sophisticated counterfeiting operation that was supplying illegal parts for widespread distribution to the UK motoring public. Research published last year by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that counterfeit vehicle parts imported to the UK were worth almost £2.2bn in 2021.

According to the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), counterfeit car parts are usually made with "vastly inferior" materials and manufacturing processes, bypass safety testing, and "can pose significant safety risks, leading to malfunctions, accidents, and potential fatalities."

The operation was spearheaded by the IPO and involved Trading Standards and eight automotive manufacturers. A recent IPO survey also revealed that one in six motorists had bought a counterfeit part in the previous 12 months alone. Many did so unknowingly, only finding out the part was fake when it faulted, or during routine service checks.

The IPO survey also revealed that the most commonly purchased counterfeit parts are those which pose the most significant safety risks. These include car batteries (bought by 25 per cent of those admitting to buying fakes), tyres/wheels (23 per cent), and critically, brake pads or discs (12 per cent) and airbags (14 per cent).

Meanwhile, a separate raid by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) in East London last September saw three people arrested over the sale of dangerous counterfeit car airbags, highlighting the persistent threat posed by fake automotive parts nationwide.

Photo by shraga kopstein on Unsplash