Archived Copies of Warranty Week

December 2002 to Today

Homebuilder Warranty Report: All the metrics were up in 2018, and the growth continued into the first quarter of 2019. Claims and accruals are back to pre-recession levels, and warranty reserves hit a new record high. Meanwhile, the level of warranty expenses per new home sold show some curious and sudden spikes for some builders and long-term stability for others.
June 13, 2019
Fifteenth Annual Product Warranty Report: All the metrics are down this year, including product sales. Some companies continue to cut their warranty expenses by huge amounts, producing better products with lower failure rates. But others are getting better at shifting more of their warranty expenses back onto their suppliers.
March 22, 2018
Automotive Supplier Recoveries: A decade ago, the largest OEMs devised new warranty policies that helped to shift more of their expenses back to their suppliers. But then in 2014, an increasing number of safety recalls raised their warranty cost back up, leaving both them and their suppliers at higher expense levels.
June 22, 2017
Reflections of a Warranty Researcher: One of the world's leading warranty researchers takes a look back at the most recent 35 years of his illustrious career, noting some of the people, places, and publications he's connected with over those decades. But he's not done yet, and he's proposing three additional topics for further research.
December 22, 2016
Automotive OEM Warranty Report: There were some big declines in warranty costs last year, but it was more a case of getting back to normal after a bad 2014 filled with recalls. Still, the carmakers set a new low for their expense rates, and many of the heavy truck and construction equipment companies also continued to push warranty costs lower.
March 31, 2016
U.S. Automakers' Warranty Expenses: Because there were so many big recalls in 2014, the amount spent on warranty soared. Last year, things began to get back to normal, but expense rates are still at elevated levels. Nevertheless, unit sales totals smashed a 15-year-old record in 2015.
January 7, 2016
Warranty Training Seminars: Instead of multi-day training packages for warranty and service contract industry professionals, the GWSCA has scaled back its educational efforts to hour-long webinars and training seminars tacked onto the agenda for its annual conference next week.
September 10, 2015
Building Materials Industry
Warranty Report: While some sectors have been able to reduce their warranty costs, others have seen them slowly rise. A few have seen costs rise as revenue falls, making warranty expenses even more painful to manage. But some have gotten their costs back under control after seeing them spike in recent years.
May 28, 2015
Computer Supplier Warranty Report: Data storage system manufacturers have been steadily reducing their warranty costs for more than a decade. But the cost reductions seem to have slowed down in recent years. Meanwhile, for peripheral manufacturers, warranty expense rates are now almost back to normal, following years of elevated costs.
April 23, 2015
Twelfth Annual Product Warranty Report: Warranty expenses are once again rising and so are the associated expense rates. Much of that has to do with the increased cost of passenger car recalls, and some of it is caused by the soaring sales of smartphones. But could it be that some of the most successful warranty cost-cutters have let things slip back a little recently?
March 19, 2015
Early Look at Annual Warranty Data: About half the big companies have now reported their year-end 2014 warranty expense data. And while little has changed for most of them, a few are now getting back to normal after seeing expense rates soar in 2013 and earlier last year.
February 19, 2015
Mining Equipment Warranties: Things haven't been the same for mining equipment warranty expense rates since the recession started, though they're now close to getting back to normal. The problem is that so many of them also make construction equipment, and that market was impacted severely by the downturn.
September 25, 2014
New Homes & Building Materials Warranty Report: As sales recover, warranty expense rates are getting back to normal for the builders. But some of their suppliers, such as the makers of electrical and plumbing fixtures, are now enjoying the results of a decade of warranty cost-cutting.
May 8, 2014
Warranty Accruals per Vehicle: The German OEMs still have the highest warranty costs worldwide, but the Japanese carmakers are no longer unopposed at the bottom. Both Fiat and Ford are cutting their warranty costs to within range of longtime low-cost leader Honda. And Toyota is well on its way to getting back to normal.
July 11, 2013
New Home Warranties: Sales are rising and so are some warranty expenses. Builders and their suppliers, slammed by the recession, are getting back to normal. But who is figuring out their accruals per home and why are they doing it so badly?
April 18, 2013
Automotive Warranty Metrics: While the major OEMs have made great strides with their warranty cost reduction programs and with efforts to use warranty data to improve product reliability, their suppliers are struggling to get back to where they were before the recession hit.
September 13, 2012
Honda & Toyota Warranties: After a couple of bad years, warranty costs at Toyota are getting back to normal. Meanwhile, at Honda, things have never been better, as warranty costs continue to drop.
June 28, 2012
Mid-Year Warranty Report: The good news continues into the first half of 2011, with massive warranty cost reductions extending their streak into a ninth straight year. With sales finally getting back to normal, product reliability has never been better, and repair costs have never been lower than they are now.
October 6, 2011
Automotive Warranty Report: As vehicle makers get back to normal and sales rebound, one thing that's not bouncing back is their warranty expense. Key warranty metrics continue to decline, including claims as a percentage of revenue. And once again, the warranty reserve fund balances of the top vehicle makers and their suppliers are growing.
September 22, 2011
RV, Boat & ATV Warranties: All that's left now are the survivors, after a big drop in sales proved fatal to some of their peers. Looking back, it's revealing how some of those survivors handled their warranty expense accounts through the recession.
July 21, 2011
Appliance & HVAC System
Warranty Report: Every journey includes a few bumps, and both appliance and HVAC makers have hit a few in the past couple of years. But like other building material suppliers, they're doing much better than the homebuilders, because they have both home renovations and replacements to fall back on.
June 2, 2011
Fixtures, Furniture & Building
Material Warranty Report: Sales have fallen but warranty costs aren't falling as fast. Still, it's not as bad as things in the new home industry, because suppliers can fall back on existing home renovations.
May 26, 2011
Disk Drive & Semiconductor Report: Warranty costs are falling for most of the high tech component makers, both in dollars spent and as a percent of sales. And unlike in the auto industry, the computer OEMs are not yet as accomplished at pushing their warranty costs back onto their parts suppliers.
April 28, 2011
The First Service Contract: A GE appliance dealer sold it to a customer in Chicago nearly 77 years ago, along with a refrigerator that turned out to be highly reliable. Yet the same sales drivers used back then -- peace of mind, repair costs and technological worries -- still work today.
February 3, 2011
Automotive Supplier Warranties: While costs are down, so are sales. And while many suppliers are reporting higher sales in 2010, the proportion between their warranty costs and sales is higher than ever. And that's the unfortunate result of an increased effort by vehicle makers to push more of their warranty costs back onto their suppliers.
December 2, 2010
Construction Equipment
Warranties: While sales fell in 2008, warranty claims continued to rise well into 2009. So some of the top construction equipment makers saw their claims rates reach all-time highs last year. In the first half of 2010, however, things seem to be getting back to normal.
October 21, 2010
Service Contract Underwriters: The insurance companies that back service contracts are graded on their financial stability. And while the Detroit Three automakers and some of the other recipients of the TARP bailout billions get relatively low grades, most of the majors remain on the honor roll with an A- or better.
February 11, 2010
Warranty Workshops: What's the probability that two Russian physicists with degrees from the same university would deliver back-to-back workshops on new statistical approaches to warranty data? On March 10, that's exactly what's on the agenda for the WCM Conference's opening day.
February 5, 2009
Warranty Work: Sometimes you don't know the value of something until it's gone. Automakers measured the value of warranties by their absence. And as retail sales slow and job losses deepen, warranty professionals may appreciate hearing that recruiters are back at work.
January 8, 2009
Aerospace Warranties: Though the industry trend is upward, some aerospace companies have managed to reduce their warranty expenses significantly over the past five years. But a few have recently seen their warranty costs go back up.
July 24, 2008
Warranty & the Law: Some laws that affect warranties go back decades. Others are just a few months old. At the recent WCM Conference, three lawyers provided some perspective on how they see these laws affecting both manufacturers and extended warranty providers who find themselves in court defending against a breach of warranty lawsuit.
March 27, 2007
CD & DVD Warranties: Only Sony is willing to back its optical disc products with multi-year warranties, and only its high end units benefit from the five-year coverage. Everyone else issues manufacturer's warranties of one year or less.
August 29, 2006
Customer Recovery: While efforts to push warranty costs back onto suppliers have met with limited success, a handful of manufacturers have pushed most if not all of their warranty expenses back onto their customers.
January 24, 2006
Auto Parts Warranties: Despite the best efforts of the OEMs to push warranty costs back up the supply chain, auto parts makers still have some of the lowest claims rates around. Notable exceptions to this rule include diesel engines and aftermarket replacement parts such as mufflers.
December 13, 2005