FAKE car-parts

One good thing about the recession, if you have the cash, are the number of high-end cars up for sale at knock down prices. What´s not so good is that counterfeiters have been active in the car trade for a long time. When times are bad the back market always kicks in. İndustry estimates put the global counterfeit car-parts business to be worth US$16 billion a year. Many of these are manufactured in the far-east and packaged as being from mainstream suppliers and can easily find their way into the market place through gullible buyers and unscrupulous distributors. Although second and third world markets have been the main targets, there have been cases in the European Union. İn 2005 French investigators seized a US$1.8 million stash of Taiwanese made fake car parts branded as Renault, Citreon and Peugeot. The parts included rear-view mirrors, wing mirrors and headlights. İn other cases critical safety features such as airbags and brake pads (made with compressed grass) have been found.