Toyota Australia takes two independent retailers to court over counterfeit airbag replacement parts

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Last week, it was reported that Toyota Australia was attempting to locate a number of Toyota vehicles that may be fitted with counterfeit airbag parts, which could pose a deadly risk in the event of a crash. The topic was revealed in a confidential dealer bulletin issued by the company, which a news publication managed to get its hands on.

The bulletin said that the company had identified two suppliers selling counterfeit Toyota airbag spiral cables that were marketed as original replacement parts. Packed in bogus Toyota Genuine packaging, these counterfeit parts were sold to independent repairers, who were likely to be unaware that the parts were fakes.

Today, the company has announced that it has lodged Federal Court proceedings against the two independent retailers over the matter. Toyota Australia says the legal action relates to ‘trademark infringement’ and ‘misleading and deceptive conduct’.

The company said via a statement that it was concerned that customers have been misled into believing they have purchased a genuine Toyota part, and that internal testing had found that the counterfeit airbag spiral cables are of inferior quality.

airbag spiral cable

It had been reported that the counterfeit parts do not feature gold-plated connectors and doesn’t use copper wire like the genuine part. Additionally, the crimping of the cable is apparently not strong enough, and the plastic locking tabs are also said to be poorly formed or misaligned.

Toyota Australia added that it is expecting independent retailers in the country to contact the impacted customers to advise them that they have purchased counterfeit parts and to replace the airbag spiral cable with a genuine Toyota part at no cost to the customer.

The spiral cables are a core component of the airbag connector assembly, and the unit is replaced along with an airbag if the latter is deployed. While cars that have never had their airbags deploy are unaffected, vehicles that have been repaired, especially outside Toyota’s dealer repair network, may be equipped with a counterfeit unit.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Can we take Samloo & UMW to court for selling fake substandard toyotas too?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 0
    • First, we have to Bring VW to court selling Lemons.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
      • killerairbags on Aug 10, 2015 at 10:39 pm

        Nope, killer must be in court first!

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
        • Same L0rrrr on Aug 11, 2015 at 4:13 pm

          Looking for substandard car? you should bring Proton to the court at the very first place!
          Fuel hunger, powerless, poor build quality, substandard spare parts… who is not a Proton victim in Malaysia??

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Cicikaboom on Aug 10, 2015 at 7:03 pm

    Maybe typing error… proton aus lorr

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 7
    • nosushi on Aug 10, 2015 at 10:40 pm

      Lol nowadays they dun have Jepunis quality like last time,
      they are worse than p1!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
    • watchman on Aug 10, 2015 at 11:04 pm

      Proton never ever take any of its suppliers to court and never ever bother to claim damages for substandard supply. so, please don’t even start. it just show how ignorant you are. here’s the actual news way back in 2006, and reported in PaulTan itself.

      http://paultan.org/2006/07/31/proton-audit-report-reveals-mismanagement/

      why Proton to be on same world-standard level ? ask their management to cut the crony, political crap and start making people accountable and then only start talking.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
      • taknaktoyota on Aug 11, 2015 at 7:56 am

        Wah 2006 news? Now ady 2015, almost 10 years later.
        And do other automakers take their suppliers to court coz of sub-standard quality? Of course no.

        And Toyota only took action ONLY after being sued.
        That’s Jepunis quality nowadays.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Diesel on Aug 10, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    These parts are hardly to be identified. But sellers are mostly know they are counterfeit as the price & warranty from the manufacturer are different than the original 1. So beware.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
 

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