Modelling component reliability using warranty data

Abstract

Accelerated testing is often used to gauge the reliability of a product before it is released to the market. Warranty data provide valuable additional information about the reliability of a product and its constituent components via field data. In this study, warranty data provided by an Australian automobile manufacturer is used. This article considers the need to clean the data before commencing any analysis. It discusses the distribution of warranty claims and the use of warranty data to model the reliability of elemental components of an automobile. Various model options are considered before suitable modelling is adopted. The reality of modelling the reliability of a vehicle containing a large number of components is considered and a suitable method is adopted. Verification of the reliability modelling is made by comparing an estimated warranty cost with the actual cost.