Title: Age-based analysis of automobile component failure data: a case study

Authors: Md. Shamim Aktar; Md. Rezaul Karim

Addresses: Department of Statistics, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi – 6205, Bangladesh ' Department of Statistics, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi – 6205, Bangladesh

Abstract: This paper presents techniques for the age-based analysis of failure data of an automobile component. An automobile component may fail for different failure modes. It is important to identify the failure mode for which the automobile component fails more frequently. To identify important failure modes, this paper first presents a Pareto chart and preliminary analysis of warranty claims data. Then it estimates the warranty claims rate (WCR), nonparametric cumulative density function (CDF) and parametric CDF for different failure modes. These estimates can be used to assess and compare the lifetime distributions and reliability functions of the component for different failure modes. The paper also discusses a method for estimating the reliability of the component by eliminating the dominant failure modes. These results can be used to investigate how the reliability of the component improves by removing a failure mode. The results of the paper would be useful to reliability engineers, managers, practitioners, and customers for cost-benefit analysis, including improvement in reliability, reduction in warranty cost, and predicting claims rates and costs.

Keywords: automobile industry; automotive components; component failure modes; reliability; warranty claims; age analysis; case study; component lifetime; vehicle parts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDATS.2016.079058

International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies, 2016 Vol.8 No.3, pp.244 - 260

Received: 15 May 2014
Accepted: 12 Sep 2014
Published online: 12 Sep 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article