Counterfeit Prevention in Aerospace: Lessons from Spark Plug Scandal

In 2016, AS9100D added requirements beyond ISO 9001:2015 for counterfeit prevention. Today in 2026 we can see that with increasing product technical requirements in the consumer world, combined with nearly unlimited online global shopping options, this issue is now significant outside the aerospace world.

Things may not be as they appear when shopping online

This article from The Drive explains how a hero spent $500 on spark plugs online and discovered that 1/3 of them were fake. Counterfeit prevention and use of approved suppliers are no longer just aerospace issues. It's already a great summary, and if you want the full details, the video from The Torque Test Channel linked in the article gives you the full results of the study. What is a lot more surprising is what they found after looking at these spark plugs from some of the more popular online auto parts stores:

1. Thankfully, Rock Auto was consistently legit. Big sigh of relief from me as they are perhaps the most popular option, and for good reason given their prices and selection of super-cheap to OEM-grade parts. They are on my personal very short list of approved suppliers for auto parts.

2. Sixity Auto also came out as legit. I've never bought from them, perhaps I'll start to. More notably, their Amazon and Ebay stores were the only stores from those sites that were assessed and found consistently legit. So if you do find yourself where Amazon and Ebay are your best options, at least buy from them.

3. Amazon sold counterfeit parts under their own main Amazon store. On top of this, their "top recommended" counterfeit parts were actually more expensive than the legit parts from Sixity. It is worth noting that nearly all mechanics will tell you to never buy auto parts from Amazon. Why? Something as simple as a hood latch can cause modern cars to fail to start or turn off.

4. Ebay, as always is caveat emptor. They give you access to thousands of vendors, and you make your choice from little more than a few subjective judgements and a user rating. One thing I really like Ebay is you can buy used OEM parts from online auto recyclers, which is great when you need something oddball or obsolete and quick and would be perfectly content with used parts.

Amazon's counterfeit issues go beyond auto parts

What is more interesting is that not long after discovering The Torque Test Channel's video, one of my friends also ran into an issue with a computer processor he bought. Notice that he specifies that this order was fulfilled by Amazon, not through a reseller:

Going into the comments, we see that not only is this part indeed fake, but other commenters recently experienced other counterfeit items from Amazon (and not just tech parts).

It's worth taking a pause here to note that there are several other details related to orders that are fulfilled by Amazon: There are other comments about inventory being comingled from Amazon's sources, comments that they no longer comingle, comments about items being ordered as genuine, returned with a counterfeit part in the box and re-sold, and several other similar things, but the bottom line is this: Amazon's processes, whether affected by a choice to comingle parts from different suppliers, accepting returns and re-selling without any verification, or something else entirely, has resulted in a failure to control the quality of their outputs.

Lessons Learned in Counterfeit Prevention in Aerospace

The first line of defense against counterfeit parts is an Approved Supplier List, another requirement of AS9100D above and beyond ISO 9001:2015. This is also something that many ISO 9001 certified manufacturers have chosen to implement on their own, and is often required by their customers. It is unclear whether Amazon intends to sell counterfeit products, but ultimately their processes have been demonstrated as inadequate at controlling the sale of counterfeit parts.

The Torque Test Channel video gives a great summary of how to perform inspection to spot the counterfeit parts. They did resistance testing, spark testing, gap measurement, and some analysis on the workmanship of the parts as well as product and packaging marking to support this. They then went on to explain what performance impacts that the electrical out-of-tolerances would have on performance and the material workmanship would have on part longevity in a modern car.

The counterfeit parts problem isn't new to anyone in aerospace or defense — we've had Approved Supplier Lists and counterfeit control requirements baked into AS9100D for a reason. What's changed is that the risk has grown and followed your employees home. If your QMS doesn't include supplier controls and incoming inspection criteria, you're not just exposed on the shop floor — you're one Amazon fulfillment center away from a nonconformance you didn't see coming. At Big W Engineering Solutions, we help manufacturers build the supplier quality controls and culture that keep counterfeit risk where it belongs: identified, managed, and out of your product.