08/16/2005 If you save on brakes, you’re saving at the wrong end: Properly operating brakes are elementary to the safety of your automobile, for in critical situations you have to rely on them to bring you to a stop as quickly as possible. So pay attention to the quality of the brake system and its components – and watch out for low-priced counterfeit products which, if worse comes to worst, you’ll pay for with your life.

Experts estimate that one tenth of global trade can be traced to counterfeit products. The product and brand piracy fighters of Aktionskreis Deutsche Wirtschaft gegen Produkt- und Markenpiraterie (APM) put the damage caused by such products in Germany at 26 billion euros annually. The counterfeiters target not only jeans, watches and mobile phones. Product pirates forge the replacement and tuning parts of automotive suppliers too. It takes an expert to distinguish some of the models and packages from the originals. The German tuner's association (VDAT) assumes that the losses incurred each year run into the triple-digit millions. Worse still, the forgeries pose a risk to life and limb in road traffic.

Automotive suppliers invest a great deal of money in material testing and road tests in order to ensure driving safety. Bert Korporal from the German technical inspection authority TÜV-Nord: "Illegal copies do not meet these requirements. Perhaps they are cheap, but they are not safe. The customer should play it safe particularly when he buys vehicle parts which, like the brakes, have an impact on the safety of vehicles."

Guaranteed branded quality: at your ATEBrakeCenter

One guarantee of genuine parts and expert know-how are the ATE Brake Centers. Drivers with sporting ambitions who attach importance to safety can equip their cars with the ATE PowerDisc, for example. This high-performance brake has been proved under severest conditions in the Nürburgring 24-hour race. Wilhelm Beer, Manager Engineering, Quality and Purchasing at Continental Teves Aftermarket: "To give product pirates no chance at all, one should always buy replacement parts from the car manufacturers' suppliers. Anyone who sets store by increased safety and braking power is well advised to go with the PowerDisc and the PowerPad from ATE. With our High Performance Brake Kit you purchase highest system reliability and performance."

The most important tips of the German auto parts dealers' association GVA:

• Be wary of extremely low-priced offers.
• Buy replacement parts in authorized service shops or from specialized dealers.
• Look for the manufacturer's trademark: it must be on the part and not just on the package.
• Original parts carry the EC mark of approval or a check number of the German Federal Office for Motor Vehicles.