Counterfeit and substandard smuggled car components, which continue to blight the domestic market, have serious ramifications for the safety of users and the country’s economy.
One of the most important components in the automotive industry is the filter, about 45% of which in the domestic market are counterfeit or smuggled, despite the country's self-sufficiency in the production of filters for light and heavy vehicles, Donyaye Khodro reported.
"Unfortunately, despite the fact that 12 companies are producing filters with the highest quality, some profiteers exploit the public trust in foreign brands to smuggle fake filters, or produce substandard products in the domestic market," said Faramarz Hosseini, a member of the board of directors of the Association of Filter Manufacturers and Exporters.
"About 35% of the filters sold in the market are produced by substandard workshops with the lowest quality, which lack standards and provide no protection to cars," he said, adding that the share of smuggled oil, air and cabin filters in the domestic market is 10%.
Hosseini warned consumers and mechanics against using foreign filters that cause serious damage to the car.
“The reason behind this issue is the ban on the import of filters, so no filter is allowed to enter the country from official sources, because of which all foreign filters in the domestic market are not authentic. These products are fabricated in underground workshops without getting operating licenses and the Iran Filter Association does not approve them," he said.
The official stressed that reputable domestic filter manufacturing companies have the ability to produce and meet the needs of all light vehicles, therefore there is no need for imports, at least in the field of light vehicle filters.
He mentioned the joint meeting of the board members of the Association of Filter Manufacturers and Exporters with Mohammad Sadeq Mofatteh, deputy industries minister for commercial affairs.
"The deputy industries minister announced his readiness to deal with smuggled and counterfeit goods in the field of filters for supporting domestic production,” he said.
Hosseini noted that the quality of domestic products that observe standards and have certificates of goods and services from the National Center for Coding of Goods and Services helps separate original filters from low-quality and counterfeit ones.
Spare Parts Quality Assessed
Smuggled fake spare parts and substandard domestic parts have a negative impact on the Iranian market and the only way to weed them out is by purchasing standardized and original parts from official agencies, a member of the board of directors of the Association of Homogeneous Propulsion Industries and Component Manufacturers said.
“A clear, codified and supervised system and customer awareness of brands, warranty and guarantee will make buyers confident of the quality of parts and ensure their reasonable lifespan,” Yusuf Haqiqi was also quoted as saying by Khabar Khodro.
Three types of spare parts are available in the domestic market.
Some parts are produced under the supervision of the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, some are supplied by private domestic operators and the rest is imported legally or illegally.
Imported parts made by authorized manufacturers are of high quality, while smuggled fake parts have low quality.
The automotive expert noted that the parts used by a domestic automaker in the production line and distributed with the same standard and quality through the sales network and its agencies, or through companies such as SAIPA Yadak and ISACO are of reasonable quality.
“Many parts comply with mandatory standards set by ISIRI. Domestic parts manufacturers have independent sales networks and agencies in different provinces across the country, through which they sell their products. But the spare parts market also has a number of sub-manufacturers that are not approved by the automakers, meaning they do not have a contract with the automaker and are not required to meet quality requirements,” Haqiqi said, adding that these spare parts have a lower quality and price compared with the parts supplied by automakers.
Imported parts also enter the market in different forms and under diverse brands. Unfortunately, low quality and cheap imported parts are sold in fake domestic packages or as original brands.
“Frequent visits of car owners to repair shops due to defects and low quality of parts are mainly due to substandard parts and poor-quality imported parts,” he said.
“Some buyers purchase cheaper parts that may impose higher costs on repair and replacement of defective parts by repairers and battery makers in the future.”
Haqiqi stressed that it is assumed that the standards and quality of spare parts are checked during the import process, while unfortunately in many cases this does not happen and low-quality parts are supplied by repair shops and stores, which give rise to consumer dissatisfaction.
