Abstract
This paper summarizes one may about description of the fatigue process, about the service strength and life distribution. This theory was developed in the Research Institute of Automobile Industry (AUTOKUT) and it is used in practice in the last ten years. It is based on the classification of the stress components, on the theory of extreme stresses, on a new definition of crack, on a new description of the fatigue crack propagation and the residual strength of cracked structural elements, and it has a structural view point.