So I went to the dealer today for an air filter and fuel filter as my car is due for a service. I was searching the net for more parts afterwards and by chance came across information from Toyota's anti-counterfeit campaign (in regions dealing with a large volume of fake parts), explaining how to recognize genuine from fake. Here's an example from Toyota Makati, Phillippines: http://www.toyotamakati.com.ph/parts-an ... mpaign.php
After reading that, I became curious and compared the packaging of the filters I bought against the examples on the site and I was shocked to see that the fuel filter I just bought met some of those criteria like:
*font type - description and part numbers in bold (where I've seen examples from City Toyota Australia's Ebay listing with regular font type which I'll show later)
*5% screen on "Genuine Parts" logo - intended for parts made in Japan, and present on the fuel filter packaging, but this one is made in Thailand.
*Also note the different part description compared to the City Toyota part further down)
I'm beginning to think my fuel filter is fake, and as I bought them at the same time at the same dealer, I have doubts about the genuineness of the air filter as well, although both have the correct part numbers (Fuel filter 23390-0L041, Air filter 17801-0C010).
Here are some pictures of the parts I bought (click for full image):
Assumed fake fuel filter
Suspect air filter
City Toyota Australia examples from Ebay (assumed genuine):
Am I right in thinking that my dealer (the only one for the whole of Suriname by the way) has sold me fake parts and I should start kicking in some doors? And are these anti-counterfeit measures global, meaning do the rules apply everywhere or does Toyota use different packaging for different regions?
Suffice to say I won't be installing these untill I'm certain they're not fake . I'd also appreciate it if you guys could post some pictures of these filters that you know to be genuine.