As part of the collaborative research centre 653 (CRC 653) at the Leibniz University of Hannover, sensors and sensitive materials are being developed which can be integrated into components and register the component condition directly. The part-project "Component status driven maintenance" presented here, develops the methodical procedure for being able to use these sensors in preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance however is not possible solely on the basis of the current status information of the components. A much more decisive factor is a database by means of which the further development of this status can be estimated. This enables the determination of possible causes of faults before they occur, and the assessment of the failure risk of components.