U.S. Automotive Corrosion Trends at 5 & 6 Years

In 1985, the Body Division of the Automotive Corrosion and Prevention Committee of SAE (ACAP) concluded that an automotive body corrosion survey for public consumption was needed. The committee proceeded to develop a survey methodology and conducted surveys in the Detroit area every second year starting in 1985. The survey is a closed car parking lot survey of nineteen panels or partial panels checking for perforations, blisters and surface rust. Similar surveys have and will continue to be conducted at biyearly intervals for comparison purposes to track the results of industry wide corrosion protection “improvements”. This is a report of the results of the first three surveys.

THE ACAP COMMITTEE BODY DIVISION has now completed the third in its series of biyearly surveys. It is now possible to see some very clear results of industry actions and some indication of future performance. The following background and methodology information is taken from the report of the first survey published in 1986 as SAE 862025. There have been some changes and additions to the initial methodology and they are shown in parenthesis.