The purpose of this article is to raise the rate of availability of the vehicle fleet of a Brazilian Army battalion located in the Amazon, keeping it above 85% of the total monthly. Its specific objectives are the diagnosis of low availability and implementation of autonomous maintenance. For this, we conducted a case study, raised up the main causes through a diagram of cause and effect (6M) and aiming to improve this situation, it is proposed to split the autonomous maintenance, which is one of the eight pillars of total productive maintenance. It contributes to the decreased need for supplies and repairs, for developing greater care in drivers, thus avoiding failures. The relevance of this study is shown in the impact that a poor fleet would make, in large scale, to the national defense strategy if not mitigated due to our vast border region, little material, reduced staff and budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]