While corrosion in general is a subject of considerable interest to automotive engineers, corrosion related failures of components which may affect safe vehicle operation often generate intense investigation due to their ramifications.
Manufacturers take considerable precautions to avoid these situations and so their occurrence is usually the result of an unexpectedly severe environment or an unfamiliar corrosive mechanism. The failure of suspension and brake system components, fasteners and seals is discussed with emphasis on the corrosion machanisms and service environments. A wider dissemination of this information may permit design engineers to avoid these problems in the future.