Possibilities of technical and economic evaluation of vehicle dependability

The article deals with a method that provides unbiased evaluation of vehicle dependability. The method uses two criteria for evaluation of vehicle dependability. The first criterion has a technical character, and the second has an economic character. In the first case, the subject of evaluation is vehicle availability, which is the measure of the readiness of the vehicle to fulfil its required functions at a given point in time. In the second case the method evaluates maintenance costs which are closely connected with the dependability level of the vehicle and which usually represent a significant part of the total ownership cost of each vehicle. The authors have created a model which expresses relations between the above-mentioned criteria and vehicle dependability indicators. The model enables comparison of dependability level of different vehicles during evaluation of alternative acquisitions and can serve as a useful tool in the process of decision making.