An event to educate the public and users of Toyota spare parts has been launched in Accra on Thursday.
Dubbed: “Anti-Counterfeit Educational Campaign” is to educate customers on the dangers of the influx of non genuine Toyota parts in the country.
It is being organised by the management of Toyota Ghana Limited on the theme “One Mistake, Big Trouble”.
Mr Takahiko Takabayashi, Managing Director, Toyota Ghana Limited, launching the campaign, said the event was in its third year and would seek to intensify the knowledge of the public and customers on how best to identify genuine Toyota parts from fake Toyota parts on the Ghanaian market.
He urged them to purchase all their Toyota parts from the designated importers and outlets to guarantee the safety of their Vehicles.
Mr Wilfred Atuobi, National Parts Manager, Toyota Ghana, in a presentation on the anti-counterfeit campaign said dangers of the use of fake Toyota parts were numerous including; short life span of the engine, high maintenance cost, uncomfortable driving conditions, the safety, security of passengers and vehicle.
He said objectives of the campaign were to make customers aware of the existence of counterfeit Toyota parts on the market.
In addition, it would inform them on the dangers and benefits of the use of Toyota genuine parts on the vehicles.
“Some of the Toyota key products imitated include; oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, brake pads, drive belts, spark plugs and shock absorbers”, he added.
On the benefits of using the right parts, Mr Atuobi noted that it was cost effective and would not bring any problems associated with it to the vehicle.
Explaining the difference between the genuine drive belt and the fake, he said the genuine Toyota drive belt was rubber coated to prevent cracking while non-genuine belts had simple configuration and inferior combination of materials.
For the genuine oil filter, it has dual texture elements with high heat resistant gasket which delivers long lasting stable performance while non-genuine oil filter has fine and thin element which could easily tear with low heat resistant gasket that easily deforms making the valves to easily fail causing leakages.
Mr Atuobi said over the years, the company had erected billboards on the dangers of counterfeit Toyota parts, distributed stickers, organised seminars for the different garage owners and Toyota Ghana Authorised Service Stations (TGASS) in the country.
He said the future plan of management was to intensify the anti-counterfeit campaign and organise series of garage customer incentive programmes, fleet customer education and managers conference in all their branches.
The anti-counterfeit campaign poster has three notable logos and a message on it namely “No to counterfeit” logo, “Genuine parts/Quality service” and “Anti-Counterfeit Message”.
A 10-minute documentary shown to the media portrayed mechanics and some companies recommending to vehicle owners genuine Toyota parts that would ensure the smooth running of their vehicles.
The exercise would be replicated across the length and breath of the country.