Rust is the ultimate disease for any car; it can destroy not only a cars image, but also its physical capabilities.  A car with too much rust in the wrong places could be a car that just falls apart.
General Motors Corrosion Engineer Christa Cooper and her team look for rust all over vehicles, including places the typical automobile owner will never see – underneath welded brackets and joints and among thousands of spot welds that help hold a vehicle body together.

These tests for rust and corrosion take place in the Vehicle Teardown Facility at GM’s Milford (Michigan) Proving Ground.  The most recent test of Cooper and her team was a rust test on the Chevrolet Cruze. They subjected the vehicle to durability tests representing 10 years of water, tear, and elements.

Cooper says, “We test to the 95th percentile environment, which is the most-severe customer environment we can replicate in our labs and road courses.  The cars are then disassembled piece by piece in a sort of ‘Where’s Waldo’ search for the tiniest evidence of rust.”  It takes a two person team two weeks to completely tear down a car to its base elements.
If even a tiny trace of rust is found, Cooper and her team look for ways to prevent it. The solution most often is finding a way to keep water out – rust is the natural result of steel contacting water and oxygen.  Sealants and alternative materials are most often prescribed.

When testing the Cruze, the CSI team found corrosion where the inner panel of the rear door is joined to the safety beam.  The team recommended switching out an uncoated steel bracket with rust-resistant coated steel stamping – thus eliminating the corrosion issue.  Future Cruze models will now last longer and are more durable!

Thanks to the CSI team at GM, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC drivers can feel secure knowing their vehicle was put through rigorous rust testing to ensure their cars will stay rust free.