Certified Reliability Engineer Practice Test 2026 – All-in-One Guide to Master Your Certification!

The option that states wear and tear of components is a primary cause of decreased reliability over time. Reliability is fundamentally about the capability of a product or system to perform its intended function without failure over a specified period. As components undergo regular usage, they experience physical and functional degradation due to stress, fatigue, corrosion, and other environmental factors, leading to wear and tear.

As components wear down, their performance can deteriorate, increasing the likelihood of failures and thereby reducing the overall reliability of the system. This degradation can be gradual and may not be immediately apparent, but over time, it significantly impacts the reliability metrics of the equipment or system in question. Regular monitoring and maintenance can help mitigate these effects, but the inherent aging and wear processes are difficult to fully eliminate.

In contrast, regular maintenance and upgrades are generally aimed at improving reliability, changes in user behavior and usage conditions can potentially lead to improved or altered reliability dynamics, and consistent performance tracking usually serves to enhance understanding and management of reliability rather than decrease it.