Surgical Robotics Manufacturing worked example

Warranty Cost at 25% expected annual warranty claim rate: a worked example

This worked example runs the warranty cost numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: 25% expected annual warranty claim rate instead of the typical 35%. Estimate the warranty liability for surgical robot systems within their coverage window.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Surgical robotic systems in the covered install base: 120 systems (held at the documented default)
  • Average cost to resolve one warranty claim: 6,800 $/system (held at the documented default)
  • Expected annual warranty claim rate: 25 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 35)
  • Field recall and safety bulletin reserve: 40,000 $ (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Total warranty cost = systems under warranty x cost per claim x claim rate % + recall contingency.
  • Total warranty cost works out to 244,000 $ at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Warranty cost per unit works out to 2,033 $ / piece at these inputs.
  • Variable warranty cost works out to 204,000 $ at these inputs.
  • Fixed warranty cost adder works out to 40,000 $ at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where expected annual warranty claim rate sits at 35% and the headline result is 325,600 $, this scenario comes in 25.06% below the baseline at 244,000 $.
  • Use it when setting annual warranty accruals, pricing service and extended-warranty contracts, or forecasting the field cost of a new surgical robotics platform. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Total warranty cost: 244,000 $ (headline result)
  • Warranty cost per unit: 2,033 $ / piece
  • Variable warranty cost: 204,000 $
  • Fixed warranty cost adder: 40,000 $

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Warranty Cost calculator, set expected annual warranty claim rate to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.