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(Courtesy of Kingston Technical Software)
U.S. consumers, businesses, and government organizations own more than 200 million registered motor vehicles. Assuming the average value of an automobile is $5,000, the total investment Americans have made in motor vehicles can be estimated at $1 trillion. Since the 1980s, car manufacturers have increased the corrosion-resistance of vehicles by using corrosion-resistant materials, employing better manufacturing processes, and designing corrosion-resistant vehicles. Although significant progress has been made, further improvement can be achieved in corrosion resistance of individual components. The total annual direct cost of corrosion is estimated at $23.4 billion, which is broken down into the following three components: (1) increased manufacturing costs due to corrosion engineering and the use of corrosion-resistant materials ($2.56 billion per year), (2) repairs and maintenance necessitated by corrosion ($6.45 billion per year), and (3) corrosion-related depreciation of vehicles ($14.46 billion per year). (reference)
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