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The processing of certain features in automotive components such as crankshafts, gears, shafts, springs, rotors, cylinder heads, engine blocks etc. pose several difficulties for manufacturers and it is often a challenge to produce a finished product with the superior material characteristics that may be required for a given application. Among material characteristics of interest, the residual stress can have a significant impact on the effective service life of a component. Since residual stresses are introduced in nearly every step in manufacturing, it follows that the effect of processing applied to failure-critical locations must be well understood, controlled and optimized. This paper discusses the key aspects of applying XRD to the measurement of residual stress and will cite examples where XRD has been applied to the characterization of some typical automotive components.