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Exposure of automobile exterior materials such as coatings in the South Florida environment has become the de facto standard for testing their durability. In the early thirties, testing sites were established in this location by the automotive industry. Each automobile manufacturer applied different exposure techniques for their own acceptance criteria. SAE J1976 was developed in 1989 to standardize the various exposure types, however, the document still contains radically different test rack designs. Even though the Florida exposure tests have not changed extensively the coatings have become much more durable. Today's service life expectation of more than 5 years means that the coating cannot be tested to failure in the Florida environment and allow the developer to bring a new technology to the marketplace in a timely and competitive manner. This has led to the use of accelerated tests to speed up the exposure process.