Someone on NAPA Auto Part’s social media team did a goof and posted a serpentine belt instead of a timing belt.
It looks like whoever does social media for Napa Auto Parts might have to undo dozens, if not hundreds, of Facebook posts as, according to a member of the Mechanic and Car Memes Official Facebook group, one of Napa Auto Parts’s posts bringing awareness to timing belt maintenance clearly shows a worn out serpentine belt instead
The offending post was found on NAPA Minnesota’s official Facebook page, screenshot below, with their post linked here.
Since these social media posts are a one size fits all sort of deal, a quick search of the caption shows at least a 100+ Napa dealerships with this same exact post.
Here’s a couple from NAPA Auto Parts Stores in Oklahoma, Illinois, and Louisiana.
And, if you think no one noticed, here’s a screenshot of a comment from a NAPA in Covington, LA.
“I’m sorry,” Mark Labat commented. “If you’re going to talk timing belts, at the very least show a timing belt and not a serpentine belt.”
I’m not the authority on engines by any means, but timing belts (or timing chains) are almost always paired to and associated with cam gears (or cam sprockets.)
That places most timing belts (or chains) as part of the head of the engine, often covered by a cam cover at the end of a valve train above where the serpentine belts normally are.
Here’s a typical side view of a four-cylinder engine with where the timing belt (or chain in this case) is generally located in that red square area, with the serpentine belt in the area highlighted in green.
As Labat’s comment illustrates, by incorrectly showing a serpentine belt instead of a timing belt, you, as a brand, lose credibility.
Labat’s comment was as nice as could be, but the same can’t be said for the comments in the Mechanic and Car Memes page, where they essentially ripped NAPA a new one.
You’d think it goes without saying but, if you’re going to be making social media posts for a company like NAPA, it would behoove you to know what you’re talking about, in this case, what a timing belt looks like.
