Toyota Takes Sellers of Bogus Airbag Parts to Court

Toyota Australia launches legal action against two independent retailers after the government refuses to take action over the sale of counterfeit airbag cables.

Toyota says after a 6-month investigation it has lodged Federal Court proceedings against the two unnamed retailers, saying they are selling counterfeit airbag spiral cables and advertising them as genuine Toyota parts.

The automaker alleges trademark infringement and misleading and deceptive conduct.

“We are concerned that customers have been misled into believing they have purchased a genuine Toyota part,” the company says in a statement.

The devices fit most of the 2 million Toyotas sold in Australia over the past 10 years. Toyota says tests in Japan found there are up to four ways the bogus part could fail to deploy an airbag in a crash.

News Corp. Australia says Toyota alerted the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to the counterfeit parts in mid-June, but the agency has not stopped their distribution or acted against the importers, “even though the federal minister has the discretion to order an interim ban.”

Commission regulations allow the responsible federal cabinet minister to impose an interim ban “where it appears that consumer goods of the kind in question will or may cause injury to any person.”

A ban in this case could be ordered by Small Business Minister Bruce Billson, who did not respond to calls by the news organization.

The commission says in a statement given to News Corp. that when issues are raised with it, “we will consider whether another regulator has primary responsibility or is better placed to respond to an issue.”

It says the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development is the specialist regulator for motor-vehicle safety because it has the technical expertise and stakeholder relationships to more efficiently manage “this issue.”

But when News Corp. contacted that department, it was told the competition commission would issue a statement on the matter.

Toyota says internal testing found the counterfeit airbag spiral cables are of inferior quality, which poses a number of potential risks to customers.

“All of our parts are subject to rigorous testing before they are sold to ensure they work correctly,” the automaker says. “Counterfeit parts do not undergo the same testing.”

Toyota says the spiral cable would have been replaced only if a vehicle was involved in an accident and the airbag deployed.

“It is our expectation that the independent retailers will contact the impacted customers to advise them that they have purchased counterfeit parts and replace the airbag spiral cable with a genuine Toyota part at no cost to the customer.”

Meantime, the automaker is on a nationwide search for the counterfeit parts, telling dealers to inspect all vehicles when they come in for routine servicing.

A dealer bulletin obtained by News Corp. tells dealers to check any Toyota sold in the past 10 years that has been involved in a crash in which the airbag deployed.

“Faulty airbag parts would normally prompt a safety recall, but in this instance the counterfeit devices can’t be located because the independent distributor is unlikely to have kept records of who bought the bogus parts,” the news organization says.

“The packaging on the counterfeit airbag parts is so accurate, Customs and Border Protection could not distinguish them from the genuine articles.”