COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Commitments and contingencies consist primarily of guarantees and indemnifications, litigation and claims, and warranty.

Guarantees are recorded at fair value at the inception of the guarantee. Litigation and claims are accrued when losses are deemed probable and reasonably estimable.

Estimated warranty costs and additional service actions are accrued for at the time the vehicle is sold to a dealer, including costs for basic warranty coverage on vehicles sold, product recalls, and other customer service actions. Fees or premiums for the issuance of extended service plans are recognized in income over the contract period in proportion to the costs expected to be incurred in performing services under the contract.

Guarantees

At December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, the following guarantees and indemnifications were issued and outstanding:

Guarantees related to affiliates and third parties. We guarantee debt and lease obligations of certain joint ventures, as well as certain financial obligations of outside third parties, including suppliers, to support our business and economic growth. Expiration dates vary through 2019, and guarantees will terminate on payment and/or cancellation of the obligation. A payment by us would be triggered by failure of the joint venture or other third party to fulfill its obligation covered by the guarantee. In some circumstances, we are entitled to recover from the third party amounts paid by us under the guarantee. However, our ability to enforce these rights is sometimes stayed until the guaranteed party is paid in full, and may be limited in the event of insolvency of the third party or other circumstances. The maximum potential payments under guarantees and the carrying value of recorded liabilities related to guarantees were as follows(in millions):



	December 31, 2012		December 31, 2011
Maximum potential payments	$	409	$	444
Carrying value of recorded liabilities related to guarantees	17		31

We regularly review our performance risk under these guarantees, which has resulted in no changes to our initial valuations.

Indemnifications. In the ordinary course of business, we execute contracts involving indemnifications standard in the industry and indemnifications specific to a transaction, such as the sale of a business. These indemnifications might include and are not limited to claims relating to any of the following: environmental, tax, and shareholder matters; intellectual property rights; power generation contracts; governmental regulations and employment-related matters; dealers, supplier, and other commercial contractual relationships; and financial matters, such as securitizations. Performance under these indemnities generally would be triggered by a breach of terms of the contract or by a third-party claim. We also are party to numerous indemnifications which do not limit potential payment; therefore, we are unable to estimate a maximum amount of potential future payments that could result from claims made under these indemnities.

Litigation and Claims

Various legal actions, proceedings, and claims (generally, "matters") are pending or may be instituted or asserted against us. These include but are not limited to matters arising out of alleged defects in our products; product warranties; governmental regulations relating to safety, emissions, and fuel economy or other matters; government incentives; tax matters; alleged illegal acts resulting in fines or penalties; financial services; employment-related matters; dealer, supplier, and other contractual relationships; intellectual property rights; environmental matters; shareholder or investor matters; and financial reporting matters. Certain of the pending legal actions are, or purport to be, class actions. Some of the matters involve or may involve claims for compensatory, punitive, or antitrust or other treble damages in very large amounts, or demands for recall campaigns, environmental remediation programs, sanctions, loss of government incentives, assessments, or other relief, which, if granted, would require very large expenditures.

The extent of our financial exposure to these matters is difficult to estimate. Many matters do not specify a dollar amount for damages, and many others specify only a jurisdictional minimum. To the extent an amount is asserted, our historical experience suggests that in most instances the amount asserted is not a reliable indicator of the ultimate outcome.

NOTE 31. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (Continued)

In evaluating for accrual and disclosure purposes matters filed against us, we take into consideration factors such as our historical experience with matters of a similar nature, the specific facts and circumstances asserted, the likelihood of our prevailing, and the severity of any potential loss. We reevaluate and update our accruals as matters progress over time.

For the majority of matters, which generally arise out of alleged defects in our products, we establish an accrual based on our extensive historical experience with similar matters, and we do not believe that there is a reasonably possible outcome materially in excess of our accrual.

For the remaining matters, where our historical experience with similar matters is of more limited value (i.e., "non-pattern matters"), we evaluate matters primarily based on the individual facts and circumstances. For non-pattern matters, we evaluate whether there is a reasonable possibility of a material loss in excess of any accrual that can be estimated. Our estimate of reasonably possible loss in excess of our accruals for all material matters currently reflects non-U.S. indirect tax matters, for which we estimate this aggregate risk to be a range of up to about $2.3 billion.

As noted, the litigation process is subject to many uncertainties, and the outcome of individual litigated matters is not predictable with assurance. Our assessments are based on our knowledge and experience, but the ultimate outcome of any matter could require payment substantially in excess of the amount that we have accrued and/or disclosed.

Warranty

Included in warranty cost accruals are the costs for basic warranty coverages and field service actions (i.e., product recalls and owner notification programs) on products sold. These costs are estimates based primarily on historical warranty claim experience. Warranty accruals accounted for in Accrued liabilities and deferred revenue for the years ended December 31 were as follows (in millions):



	2012			2011
Beginning balance	$	3,915		$	3,855
Payments made during the period	(2,254		)	(2,799		)
Changes in accrual related to warranties issued during the period	1,885			2,215
Changes in accrual related to pre-existing warranties	49			690
Foreign currency translation and other	61			(46		)
Ending balance	$	3,656		$	3,915

Excluded from the table above are costs accrued for customer satisfaction actions.