ordered 4 Denso coil packs from Amazon, two different #’s

They are all likely counterfeits, even the ones that came in Denso boxes. Seen the same with counterfeit Toyota parts in Toyota boxes.

 

Be careful, Amazon and eBay are both completely flooded with counterfeit ignition parts.

Honestly I'd just return those while you can, and go get real ones from a local distributor.

I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon, I like them in general. But I no longer shop there for most auto parts and especially not auto electric/ignition parts. Just too many fakes and ripoffs.

 

My coils for my generation 2 and 3 are cheaper than that look different than that and I've had no problems in 3 years and I would have no problems buying them again unlike the inverter water pump for the generation too that fails overnight the coils made by the counterfeit people don't seem to be actually too too bad so I probably wouldn't worry about it too much If I put them on and they're working and they're the gray plastic sealed up units what kind of like you took off the vehicle I'd let them rip not that difficult to change etc there is a new company out that makes these things I can't think of the name of the people they are selling on Amazon they seem to be a pretty good manufacturer there's stuff looks really nice why people spend money to make things look nice that are buried inside of a dark smelly oily engine is beyond my understanding I don't need my coils to look like museum pieces It's ridiculous

 

i read today that airlines are being flooded with counterfeit parts, despite the strictness of the supply program.

 

just reports from members here who got scammed

 

Tons, if you bother to google for it.

Of note for your situation: Denso doesn't list Amazon as an authorized reseller of their stuff. Then again, I bet Amazon wasn't the seller: probably one of the shady "marketplace" sellers that also isn't a recognized reseller.

EDIT:

Adding, Denso went to the trouble of publishing a PDF to help consumers figure out if they had genuine spark plugs. They wouldn't go to all that trouble if there wasn't a problem eating up their sales.

They don't seem to have done a PDF for coils yet, but... think it over.

 

that's the problem, no one has ever been able to tell. even the boxes look oem.

the trouble comes after installation. they work for a short time, then go downhill quickly. even parts like the steering wheel spiral cable might work up to a year, then quit after all that work.
one giveawy is usually the price, luring in unsuspecting buyers.

idk how it was first detected, but it's pretty well known and commonplace. maybe it started during covid parts shortages, but it is happening in many industries today.

 

It is probably worth mentioning that I have successfully used counterfeit coil packs in another car we had, sort of.

The genuine Hyundai coils ran about 8 years. The counterfeits worked between one and two years. They both failed the same way: worked perfect one day, total dud the next.

The counterfeit coils were cheap and very easy to swap on that car. It really just came down to the aggravation of the car dropping into "3 cylinder mode" as often as it did vs. the real deal parts.

So it's not like the counterfeits are useless, you just need to decide on your own balance of what you spend on them vs. how often you need to deal with one failing.

 

Compare to the prices at Denso's authorized distributors.

 

Rockauto lists a large range of coils for the Prius, including a Denso part for $55.79. There is a note on the Denso part stating that Denso makes the OEM part. The Denso is the most expensive coil listed, but only by a little bit over other reputable brands. In this case I would probably just buy the Densos since the price isn't outrageous and Denso makes good parts. Coming from Rockauto it is highly unlikely that any of these parts are counterfeit. If they were out of the Densos for some reason there are coils from NGK, Delphi, and Hitachi, all of which should also be of good quality, and they are almost the same price.