🚗 Technical Cleanliness of Components (VDA 19.1)

Automotive VDA 19.1

Overview

STATUS (as of 02.11.2026). The guideline VDA Band 19 Teil 1 “Prüfung der Technischen Sauberkeit — Partikelverunreinigung funktionsrelevanter Automobilteile” (VDA QMC) was first published in 2004, the second, revised edition in March 2015 and the third, revised edition in 2025 (English edition “3rd revised Edition”, February 2026). The guideline is not a PN standard, and its Polish title is a working translation. We did not have the text of any edition: the description is based on the publisher’s announcement of the third edition, an article by the head of the work on the 2015 edition (QZ 3/2015), publications of a technical cleanliness testing laboratory (2025–2026) and the ISO 16232:2018 standard, to which the content of the guideline is to be transferred.

THIRD EDITION. According to the publisher, the revision ran from February 2023 to May 2025 and added new dry extraction methods and new analysis techniques; the standard analyses remain comparable while problem-specific tests are possible; the testing of particles smaller than 50 µm is described more precisely and a standard SEM/EDX analysis with uniform material classes was introduced. The basic methods from the first and second editions have been retained in refined form.

2015 EDITION. The revision was carried out by a consortium of 44 partners led by the Fraunhofer IPA institute (from the end of 2012, draft for comments in summer 2014). The edition gives help in selecting the extraction method (graphics and tables assigning methods to components) and start parameters for extraction, retains the qualification of the method by declining tests and the blank value, adds an optional procedure for the recovery of test particles, has a separate chapter on filtration and recommends a 5 µm PET mesh filter for the standard analysis. The standard light-optical analysis, with fixed conventions for illumination and image processing, applies to particles from about 50 µm upwards — without these conventions the results of different systems for the same filter differed by a factor of two to three. According to a publication of a technical cleanliness testing laboratory, the blank value in the 2015 edition is not more than 10 % of the residue mass (gravimetry) and 10 % of the particle count in each size class, with no particles above a specified size, and the blank value is not subtracted from the component result.

INTERPRETATION. According to the 2015 edition (Chapter 10), the technical cleanliness of components varies considerably more than intentionally produced characteristics, and cleanliness limit values are intervention limits, not tolerances. After a limit value is exceeded, first the test conditions and equipment are checked, then a second component from the same batch (retained sample) is tested; further steps are agreed between customer and supplier.

INTERNATIONAL COUNTERPART. ISO 16232:2018 “Road vehicles — Cleanliness of components and systems” describes the same procedure: a declining test with a 10 % criterion (double inspection — 30 %), a blank level not greater than 10 % of the required or expected cleanliness value, the component cleanliness code (CCC).

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE HERE. Extraction parameters, test fluids, filter types and pore sizes beyond the 2015 recommendation, particle size classes, the structure of the cleanliness code, requirements for rooms and details of the new methods from the 2025 edition — we did not have the text of the guideline.

Method principle

Particulate contaminants are transferred from the component under test into a test fluid (a liquid or — from the 2025 edition — also by dry methods), retained on an analysis filter or particle trap and analysed: counted and measured in size classes, assessed for mass or type of material. The extraction method is qualified by declining tests, and correct working is confirmed by the blank value. The result is compared with the limit values from the customer specification, which are intervention limits.

Applications

• Technical cleanliness inspection of functionally relevant automotive parts according to customer requirements
• Inspection of incoming and outgoing components and of processes relevant to cleanliness (cleaning, machining, assembly) — also according to ISO 16232
• Qualification of the extraction method by declining tests and control of the blank value
• Procedure after a limit value is exceeded: checking the test conditions and a second component from the same batch

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

VDA 19.1, 3rd revised edition 2025 (English edition 02/2026)

Title (PL)

Badanie czystości technicznej — Zanieczyszczenie cząstkami części samochodowych istotnych dla funkcji (tłumaczenie robocze tytułu niemieckiego)

Title (EN)

Inspection of Technical Cleanliness — Particulate contamination of functionally relevant automotive components

Step-by-step procedure

1. Choice of extraction method

   Choose the extraction method for the component using the graphics and tables of the guideline; take the start parameters as the starting point.

2. Qualification

   Confirm the efficacy of the parameters by declining tests (in ISO 16232:2018 — six identical extraction steps, criterion 10 %).

3. Blank value

   Determine the blank value — the entire procedure without the component; it must not exceed 10 % of the required or expected value (2015 edition and ISO 16232).

4. Extraction and filtration

   Carry out the extraction with the qualified parameters and filter the entire liquid through the analysis filter.

5. Analysis

   Analyse the filter — standard light-optical analysis with fixed conventions, if necessary the residue mass or a material analysis (from the 2025 edition — standard SEM/EDX analysis).

6. Evaluation and reaction

   Compare the result with the customer specification; after a limit value is exceeded, check the test conditions and equipment, then test a second component from the same batch.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• The available sources contain no safety requirements — the rules for working with test fluids and extraction equipment are set by the laboratory on the basis of a risk assessment and the safety data sheets

Frequently asked questions