Do drivetrain problems track chloride in rain and snow, kg per hectare per year across states?
Across U.S. states, NHTSA owner complaints about drivetrain problems run higher where chloride in rain and snow is higher, after adjusting for the makes sold in each state. This is an association across states, not proof that chloride in rain and snow causes this repair. Too few complaints name this repair alone, so the chloride in rain and snow pattern is measured across all 30,824 complaints about the drivetrain, which this repair belongs to.
State reports of drivetrain problems against chloride in rain and snow, one dot per stateEach dot is a state: how much more (or less) than expected this repair is reported there, adjusted for the makes sold in the state, against its chloride in rain and snow, kg per hectare per year (NADP 2019-2023, state median county)
How to read it: Each dot is a state. Further right means more chloride in rain and snow, kg per hectare per year (nadp 2019-2023, state median county); higher up means more complaints for this repair than expected (1.0 is average). If the dots climb to the right, reports of this repair rise with chloride in rain and snow, kg per hectare per year (nadp 2019-2023, state median county).
What it shows: States with more chloride in rain and snow, kg per hectare per year (nadp 2019-2023, state median county) tend to sit higher on the chart across 48 states: a pattern in the data, not proof of cause.
Data: NADP National Trends Network wet deposition grids, joined to NHTSA owner complaints, downloaded 2026-10-06 · 48 states. Chart: CalcScrape · calcscrape.com
The 10 states with the most chloride in rain and snow (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Maine, Delaware, Mississippi, South Carolina): reports of drivetrain problems run 0% below what the makes sold there would predict, and 7 of 10 are above expected. The 10 with the least (New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, Montana, South Dakota, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska): 4% below, and 4 of 10 are above expected.
Exceptions: Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi are among the highest in chloride in rain and snow but report below expected.
Split the states into thirds: the third with the least chloride in rain and snow runs 1% below what the makes sold there would predict, the middle third 0% above, and the third with the most 4% above. Most of the chloride in rain and snow effect sits in the third with the most.
For chloride in rain and snow, after allowing for the 1562 comparisons we ran, luck alone would produce a pattern this strong about 1 time in 11. Take out any single state and the chloride in rain and snow pattern still holds.
Weak spot: compare only states with similar annual precipitation and the pattern keeps about 0% of its strength, so part of it may come from annual precipitation instead of chloride in rain and snow.
For chloride in rain and snow, of the 5 exception states, 4 read the same way for the other parts of the drivetrain (so that is the system there, not this repair) and 1 are specific to this repair.
Chloride that falls in rain and snow is a measured corrosion dose on exposed steel that does not depend on whether the road is salted.