Big time, but they brought it on themselves with the outsourcing of manufacturing. I won't buy Chinese bearings unless absolutely nothing else is made in the size I need. So much Chinese stuff is crap, even name brands, it's ridiculous. I just bought a $200 18v Metabo grinder, now being made in China, the worm gear noise and play is so bad compared to their 120v German ones I disassembled it last night to see what was going on and nothing was obvious. Just lower tolerance standards and cost cutting, indicated by the outsourcing. Hopefully Coronavirus will have manufacturers rethinking their supply strategies, and maybe the Feds will start clamping down more on the counterfeits coming through US ports, like they're supposed to (obv they can't if goods were swapped and paperwork checks out like above story)

Well I'll be damned. I would see if an equivalent NGK is made in Japan. A lot of OEM parts are being superseded by cost cutting alternatives.

I believe some are already are doing so. Friend goes to vietnam a lot and he says there is obvious evidence of US investing more monies in manufacturing there. Now, the thing is, will corruption repeat itself there too? I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

Most NGK are mfg in the north American continent. From what I have seen. Denso is different. As NGK north America exist and anyone can contact them to verify genuine parts.

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I have been buying NGKs from my local NAPA (and Wix filters) since first change on my 4Runner around 2000, and many other vehicles going back 30 years. I never have had a problem.

You should definetly return them and buy the same ones from a reputable vendor or shop.

Yea they look fake. I had the same issue when I ordered off Amazon. I filed a complaint and was issued a full refund immediately by the seller. and the seller was "denso" as well. Then the seller ordered the correct ones for me from Advance auto parts and had them shipped to my door at no cost. got real ones for free. You can tell if they are real platinum/iridium as well by looking at the electrode, it should have a bluish tint to it

Thank you,

I put the old worn our plugs in and it runs like a dream now. I found plugs on ebay being sold from by a local toyota dealership for cheap (around $15 for 6). They said I could pick them up in-store to skip the shipping charges. I will probably drive over and pick them up from them; hopefully no more fakes.

Yep, I did the same thing when I S/C my Runner. Bought the cooler IK22 plugs from a random Ebay seller... but then heard of horror stories of the tips falling off into the cylinder, misfires, the plug cracking, etc. Decided it wasn't worth saving 20 or 30 bucks.

Ended up buying them from a dealership directly. And yes, there was definitely a difference in them, I should have taken a photo.

Sadly, I was past the ebay return timeframe, so I just ate the cost of those knockoff IK22, but it was worth the piece of mind. I will NEVER buy from now on, any critical car parts from Ebay or Amazon.