How do you calculate warranty exposure risk score?

Multiply severity by 0.40, occurrence by 0.35 and detection by 0.25, then add them. With severity 6, occurrence 4 and detection 3 you get 2.4 + 1.4 + 0.75 = 4.55.

Why weight severity higher than occurrence and detection?

A high-severity failure like a compressor bearing seizure drives the largest warranty payout and safety exposure, so it earns the 40% weight; frequent-but-trivial defects that final test always catches barely move the score.

What is a good warranty exposure score for rotating equipment?

On this 1-10-derived scale, sub-3 modes are typically acceptable, 3-6 warrant a documented action, and above 6 you should not release the build without added detection or design change. The 4.55 example sits in the review band.

How is this different from a standard FMEA RPN?

RPN multiplies all three factors equally (S x O x D), so a 10 in detection inflates it as much as a 10 in severity. This model weights the three so warranty dollars, not arithmetic, drive the ranking.

How do I lower a high warranty exposure score?

Attack the largest weighted term. If severity dominates, redesign for containment or fail-safe; if detection is the driver, add a spin test, vibration signature check or helium leak test so escapes drop.

What detection score should I give a final vibration test?

A validated, gated balance and vibration test that reliably catches the mode earns a low detection score (1-3); a visual-only or sampled check that often misses it earns 7-10 because escapes reach the customer.

Pump, Compressor & Rotating Equipment Assembly calculator

Warranty Exposure Calculator

Warranty Exposure translates the three FMEA dimensions of a rotating-equipment defect into a single weighted risk score. Quality engineers and warranty reserve analysts at pump and compressor OEMs use it to rank which failure modes — seal weep, bearing spall, coupling misalignment, casing porosity — are most likely to become paid claims. Unlike a raw RPN, it weights severity of field failure heaviest because a seized compressor at a customer site costs far more than a cosmetic reject caught in-house. The result feeds warranty reserve models and drives where you spend containment and PPAP effort.

What this calculator does

Warranty Exposure translates the three FMEA dimensions of a rotating-equipment defect into a single weighted risk score.
Use it when warranty exposure in pump, compressor and rotating equipment assembly needs a defensible ranking against other pump, compressor and rotating equipment assembly risks for the next review.
It computes a weighted warranty risk score from severity (40%), occurrence (35%) and detection (25%) for a specific rotating-equipment failure mode.

Formula used

Warranty Exposure risk score = severity × 0.40 + occurrence × 0.35 + detection × 0.25

Inputs explained

Field-failure severity of the assembled unit (1-10):
Likelihood of the defect occurring per build (1-10):
Likelihood the defect escapes final test undetected (1-10):

How to use the result

Use it when ranking failure modes during a design or process FMEA, or when setting warranty reserves for a new pump or compressor line.
A weighted score is only as good as the 1-10 ratings behind it; two teams scoring the same defect differently will get different exposure, so anchor your scales to documented field-return data.

Current U.S. benchmarks

Industrial electricity averages 8.66 cents per kWh across the U.S. (EIA, Apr 2026), up 5.5% from a year earlier. Energy-intensive steps carry this directly into unit cost.
Manufacturing hourly earnings average $30.27 (BLS, Jun 2026), up 4.4% from a year earlier. Median machinist pay is $28.24/hr (OEWS 2025), with state medians on each state page. Manufacturers have 529k open positions nationally (BLS JOLTS).
Steel mill PPI stands at 348.53 (BLS, May 2026), up 6.7% from a year earlier. New factory orders are up 2.3% year over year (Census).
The U.S. has 21,668 machinery manufacturing establishments employing about 1,086,146 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate warranty exposure risk score? Multiply severity by 0.40, occurrence by 0.35 and detection by 0.25, then add them. With severity 6, occurrence 4 and detection 3 you get 2.4 + 1.4 + 0.75 = 4.55.
Why weight severity higher than occurrence and detection? A high-severity failure like a compressor bearing seizure drives the largest warranty payout and safety exposure, so it earns the 40% weight; frequent-but-trivial defects that final test always catches barely move the score.
What is a good warranty exposure score for rotating equipment? On this 1-10-derived scale, sub-3 modes are typically acceptable, 3-6 warrant a documented action, and above 6 you should not release the build without added detection or design change. The 4.55 example sits in the review band.
How is this different from a standard FMEA RPN? RPN multiplies all three factors equally (S x O x D), so a 10 in detection inflates it as much as a 10 in severity. This model weights the three so warranty dollars, not arithmetic, drive the ranking.
How do I lower a high warranty exposure score? Attack the largest weighted term. If severity dominates, redesign for containment or fail-safe; if detection is the driver, add a spin test, vibration signature check or helium leak test so escapes drop.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.