COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

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

Lease Commitments

We have rental commitments for certain land, buildings, and equipment that expire over various contractual periods. Minimum non-cancelable operating lease commitments at December 31, 2015 were as follows (in millions):



	2016		2017		2018		2019		2020		Thereafter
Minimum rentals on operating leases	$	19	$	16	$	10	$	6	$	5	$	7

Rental expense under cancelable and non-cancelable leases of $27 million, $26 million, and $25 million was recorded in Operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively.

Guarantees and Indemnifications

Guarantees and indemnifications are recorded at fair value at their inception. We regularly review our performance risk under these arrangements, and in the event it becomes probable we will be required to perform under a guarantee or indemnity, the amount of probable payment is recorded.

In some cases, we have guaranteed debt and other financial obligations of outside third parties and unconsolidated affiliates, including Ford. Expiration dates vary, and guarantees will terminate on payment and/or cancellation of the underlying obligation. A payment by us would be triggered by failure of the guaranteed party to fulfill its obligation covered by the guarantee. In some circumstances, we are entitled to recover from Ford, an affiliate of Ford, or a 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.

NOTE 18. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (Continued)

In the ordinary course of business, we execute contracts involving indemnifications standard in the industry and indemnifications specific to a transaction. These indemnifications might include and are not limited to claims relating to any of the following: environmental, tax, and shareholder matters; intellectual property rights; governmental regulations and employment-related matters; dealer 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. While some of these indemnifications are limited in nature, many of them do not limit potential payment. Therefore, we are unable to estimate a maximum amount of future payments that could result from claims made under these unlimited indemnities.

The maximum potential payments under these guarantees and limited indemnities totaled $80 million and $107 million at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Of these values, $74 million and $101 million at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, were counter-guaranteed by Ford to us. There were no recorded liabilities related to guarantees and limited indemnities at December 31, 2015 and 2014.

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 governmental regulations; tax matters; alleged illegal acts resulting in fines or penalties; financial services; employment-related matters; dealer and other contractual relationships; personal injury matters; 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, sanctions, 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.

We accrue for matters when losses are deemed probable and reasonably estimable. In evaluating matters for accrual and disclosure purposes, we take into consideration factors such as our historical experience with matters of a similar nature, the specific facts and circumstances asserted, the likelihood that we will prevail, and the severity of any potential loss. We reevaluate and update our accruals as matters progress over time.

For nearly all of our matters, where our historical experience with similar matters is of limited value (i.e., “non-pattern matters”), we evaluate the 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. It is reasonably possible that some of the matters for which accruals have not been established could be decided unfavorably to us and could require us to pay damages or make other expenditures. We do not reasonably expect, based on our analysis, that such matters would have a material effect on future financial statements for a particular year, although such an outcome is possible.

As noted, the litigation process is subject to many uncertainties, and the outcome of individual 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.