This paper presents an investigation concerning the effect of metallic bipolar plate corrosion on reducing the power generation performance of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The power generation performance of a single cell having a stainless steel (SS316L) bipolar plate only on the anode side was evaluated experimentally. The results made clear the corrosion behavior on the bipolar plate and the cause of the decline in power generation performance of the cell. The principal cause of the performance decline was an increase in contact resistance between the bipolar plate and the gas diffusion layer (GDL). That is attributed to an increase of iron oxide content in a passive film over the entire bipolar plate surface and precipitation of thick iron oxides in the gas downstream area. The leaching of Fe ions outside the cell was negligible, as was their permeation from the anode to the cathode. Accordingly, there were virtually no signs of an accelerated decline in the conductivity of the electrolyte or its decomposition. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.