Fleet managers and technicians need to be more aware of the problem of counterfeit parts and how to identify them, according to a survey by the Technology and Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Associations.


The TMC's recently formed Counterfeit Parts Task Force surveyed fleets and found only 14 percent personally received what they believed to be counterfeit parts. However, 76 percent said they weren't sure if they would be able to tell a counterfeit part from an OEM or legitimate/genuine aftermarket part.

Ken Calhoun of Truck Centers of Arkansas, chairman of the counterfeit task force, says more information needs to be shared among industry participants. He told TMC's Fleet Adviser publication that requests for information on counterfeit parts from manufacturers has been disappointing, often because of legal stumbling blocks.

To help fleets learn how to distinguish counterfeits, TMC's Fleet Maintenance Task Force is asking manufacturers for actual examples of counterfeit parts that have been introduced to the trucking industry.