An airbag is one component where nobody wants to discover that a previous owner or repair shop saved money. Unlike a cosmetic knockoff, a counterfeit safety component can remain completely unnoticed until the moment it is actually needed.
That’s exactly what makes a federal case involving an Ohio used-car dealership so concerning. Authorities say counterfeit airbags were imported from China and falsely represented as genuine Honda components for vehicles sold through the business.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, John Bojorquez, 35, of Columbus has now pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods. Bojorquez owns JB Ohio Auto Sale in Galloway, Ohio.
He admitted to intentionally trafficking at least 44 counterfeit airbags between August 2024 and May 2025. Exactly how many ultimately made their way into customer vehicles has not been disclosed.
The Airbags Were Shipped As “Desktop Night Lights”
The investigation stretches back to August 2024, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted a shipment at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Inside were 20 counterfeit Honda airbags sent from China and addressed to Bojorquez at his dealership.
The paperwork didn’t describe them as automotive safety equipment. Instead, the boxes were falsely labeled as containing “desktop night lights,” while four additional shipments from the same Chinese sender that month were similarly described as either “desktop night lights” or “blue desktop nightlights.”
Federal agents later executed a search warrant at JB Ohio Auto Sale in May 2025, where investigators found multiple counterfeit airbags at the dealership, including some piled inside a clothes hamper and concealed beneath a towel.
Counterfeit Airbags Can Have Deadly Consequences
The case comes amid heightened federal concern about dangerous replacement airbags entering the United States. NHTSA warns that counterfeit airbags can malfunction in several ways, including failing to deploy or rupturing and firing metal fragments toward vehicle occupants.
NHTSA is separately dealing with defective replacement inflators marked DTN60DB that were likely illegally imported from China. As of September 3, the agency had linked those inflators to 11 U.S. deaths and three serious injuries, and their sale and import were banned earlier this year. The government has not said that the counterfeit Honda airbags in Bojorquez’s case were DTN60DB units, so the two matters should not be conflated.
The issue is particularly relevant to used vehicles that have previously been crashed and had their original airbags replaced. NHTSA recommends that buyers investigate a vehicle’s history and have replacement airbags checked by a reputable mechanic or manufacturer dealership when their origin is uncertain.
He Could Face Up To 10 Years In Prison
Trafficking in counterfeit goods carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Bojorquez has not yet been sentenced, with his eventual punishment to be determined by the court using federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Federal prosecutors are also asking anyone who bought a vehicle from JB Auto Sale and suspects it may contain a counterfeit airbag to contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The unsettling part is how difficult such a component can be for an ordinary used-car buyer to identify. A counterfeit badge might fool someone until they look closely; a counterfeit airbag might not reveal itself until a crash.