High damping capacities resulting from the thermoelastic, fully reversible martensite transformation have made shape memory alloys (SMA) increasingly attractive for use in civil engineering structures. In particular, iron-based SMAs are suitable for such applications due to their low material cost and high workability. Promising candidates in the field are iron-based Fe-Mn-Al-Ni-X (X=Ti, Cr) SMAs. Here, superior pseudoelastic properties can be seen when the average grain size exceeds the sample cross-section or in single crystals. While mechanical properties are an important subject to be investigated, it is equally important for civil engineering applications to thoroughly understand the corrosion behavior of the materials used. Electrochemical corrosion tests, i.e. open circuit potential and potentiodynamic polarization, have been conducted on single crystalline Fe-35Mn-13.5Al-7.5Ni-1.5Cr (at.%) samples in a 5.0 wt.-% NaCl solution. The microstructure of the samples was characterized by an austenitic matrix with randomly distributed stress-induced martensite plates. The single crystals appeared to form a protective oxide layer on the surface. However, severe pitting corrosion of the γ'-martensite plates led to an unstable passive corrosion behavior. The martensite phase is characterized by a high defect density and is therefore prone to selective corrosion attack. To further investigate the effect of a corrosive environment on the mechanical performance and martensite transformation, incremental strain tests were performed. Different crystallographic orientations and varying surface conditions were investigated. The corroded samples were stored in a 5.0 wt.-% NaCl solution to create a similar corrosive environment, which was characterized in detail by the electrochemical corrosion measurements. The results show that the crystallographic orientation has a high impact on the pseudoelastic performance, eventually resulting from differing formation of twinned and detwinned martensite to accommodate strain. Immersion of the compression samples in the NaCl solution also revealed an orientation dependent corrosion attack. A near [001] oriented sample appeared to be more susceptible to selective corrosion than a near [123] oriented sample. Accordingly, corrosion damage in the near [001] oriented specimen also had a stronger effect on the pseudoelastic behavior. Furthermore, it was shown that areas with retained martensite serve as nucleation zones for corrosion damage. Eventually, stress-induced corrosion cracks develop, which are very detrimental with respect to functional response.