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Counterfeit products are a serious problem in the auto industry, including for Mercedes-Benz, as they constitute a safety risk. After all, the counterfeiters usually aren’t concerned with quality control, meaning those extra cheap wheels, brake calipers, or steering wheel you bought off Temu that bear the three-pointed star might suddenly fail, triggering a crash.
Is this really how Gen Z handles car crashes?
That’s why the German automaker has proudly declared that for 2014, authorities around the world seized over 1.5 million counterfeit Mercedes-Benz products in 793 raids. Those numbers are up from 2023, showing a disturbing trend of more counterfeiting going on globally.
Mercedes-Benz employs a whole group of “brand protectors” who scour the globe for potential counterfeit products. Once they identify a cache of goods which falsely bear the company’s famous logo, they conduct deep research, determining where the products are being made.
We know from being members of different enthusiasts groups on social media that counterfeiters will often target members with the allure of extra cheap “premium” parts they can install on their vehicles.
However, many who have fallen for these schemes later regret the decision as the components they buy don’t function properly and often fall apart in a short amount of time.
Even more shocking, Mercedes-Benz says counterfeiters have recently been recreating entire vehicles and trying to sell them on the open market. That’s quite the effort to pull something like that off, but with the marvels of modern CAD, 3D printing, and scanning tools, we guess it’s easier than ever.
But for someone who really knows the brand, those vehicles have to feel off in a number of ways. However, there are plenty of naiver car shoppers who will just believe because something has the three-pointed star badge and leather interior, it’s the real deal.
Mercedes offers some tips on avoiding counterfeit merchandise. One is to be suspicious of low-priced items online. The automaker counsels shoppers to avoid “questionable” websites and stick with ones with reputations for selling quality products.
Examining the components’ images can reveal signs of poor quality. Also, the product descriptions and even the names of what’s being sold can be a dead giveaway something is off.
Image via Mercedes-Benz
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