Abstract: A self-contained stress indicator that can be incorporated in a structural element of a consumer product such as a bolt. An enclosed cylinderical hole in the head of the bolt of a predetermined effective end area completely filled with a fluid such as an elastomatic material. A rod with an effective predetermined area extends into the cylinderical hole, responsive to the volumetric change therein, to be actuated through the medium of the fluid in a measurable fixed relation to the stress value of the bolt.