Short fiber reinforced plastic (sfrp) components are increasingly used in steering systems. These components are primarily stressed by a high number of cyclic loads (durability). Due to shorter development times of parts in steering systems, the fatigue estimation of those parts becomes more and more important. This article deals with a new, strain based approach of durability calculation which considers the elasto-plastic and anisotropic material behaviour of sfrp. To incorporate the fiber orientation and fiber distribution a coupled process-structural simulation will be used. It consists of a molding simulation, a mapping procedure to transfer the fiber orientation from molding mesh to FE-mesh, a FE-analysis and a durability calculation. The anisotropic FE-analysis [1] is based on the homogenisation schemes of Mori and Tanaka [2] and Reuss [3]. A comparison of the new approach with a linear elastic and isotropic FE-analysis and a conservative estimation of the durability [4] clearly shows its advantages. The comparison is based on test results of the lifetime of steering systems. A further advantage of the new approach is that the lifetime can be calculated for any number of cycles and not only for the technical fatigue strength (2x10^6 cycles). A glass fiber reinforced polyamide 66 (PA66 GF30) is used for the actual investigation. References: [1] J. Kaiser and M. Stommel, Micromechanical Modeling and Strength Prediction of Short Fiber Reinforced Polymers. Journal of Polymer Engineering, 2012. 32: p. 9. [2] T. Mori and K. Tanaka, Average Stress in Matrix and Average Elastic Energy of Materials with Misfitting Inclusions. Acta Metallurgica, 1973. 21: p. 3. [3] A. Reuss, Berechnung der Fließgranze von Mischkristallen auf Grund der Plastizitätsbedingung für Einkristalle. Journal od Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 1929. 9(1): p. 49-58. [4] K. Oberbach, Berechnung von Kunststoff-Bauteilen. 11. Konstruktionssymposium der DECHEMA, 1981. 91: p. 181-196.