SGS Advises on Increasingly Important Functional Safety Requirements for Automotive Electronics

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, October 07, 2010 (Press-News.org) Guaranteeing the safety of automotive electronic systems is essential to ensure that personal injuries are minimised, and that the significant legal and economic consequences of product recalls are avoided. For these reasons, automotive electronic systems must be developed according to the relevant product liability requirements.

Industry Regulations for Automotive Safety

The draft international standard ISO 26262, to be released in its final form by May 2011, is poised to replace the broader IEC 61508 standard as a specific automotive safety standard. Where the existing standard has been applicable to a range of electrical/electronic/programmable products, the new standard focuses on the full road vehicle electrical/electronic product life cycle. This greater level of focus in the new standard will make it more suitable for automotive development.

Future Developments

With the new standard in place, changes and alterations in the product development process, from concept phase through to decommissioning, will become necessary.

In ISO26262, safety analysis becomes an integral part of product life-cycle development. The standard requires that ASIL C (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) analysis must be independently performed, along with an additional independent safety analysis (http://www.de.sgs.com/de/failure_and_damage_de-2?). This analysis must be done as a core part of systems development, and must play an active role by being applied to improve systems designs, especially where existing designs are found not to meet safety targets.

Automotive software development maturity measures will change to ensure that safety issues are fully analysed. Existing SPICE or CMMI measures for degrees of software maturity (http://www.de.sgs.com/automotive_de_index/spice-de.htm) will no longer be considered enough. It should therefore be a target for all enterprises to alter their current development processes to satisfy ISO 26262 requirements. Enterprises should understand that the domain of safety analysis is liable to continue to change significantly.

Issues related to safety requirements for E-Mobility

A key issue for those currently developing E-mobility systems is to address safety issues in the absence of specific appendages for electric propulsion and storage systems, including in particular high voltage batteries. This poses a challenge where legal requirements and technical standards may not offer a thorough guide to the implementation of safe E-mobility systems (http://www.de.sgs.com/automotive_de_index/value_chain_de-2.htm). As such, additional safeguarding mechanisms are required, covering the mechanical, electrical and chemical aspects of electrical power trains. This situation shows the kinds of challenges facing manufactures and systems suppliers when managing technological change.

Support available for functional safety development

SGS provides a range of services in the area of "Safety for E-Mobility". These include testing, certification, safety analysis, and selection of training courses offered at an advanced level. These services are offered at the Competence Center for Functional Safety at SGS TUV Germany, as part of a global service network covering the automotive, semiconductor, automation, processing and software industries.

Find out more at http://www.sgstuev.de

Contact details:
SGS Consumer Testing Services
Name of contact person: Martin Schmidt
Position of contact person: Leader of the Competence Center Functional Safety
SGS-TÜV GmbH - Ein Unternehmen der SGS-Gruppe und des TÜV Saarland e.V.
Hofmannstr. 50, 81379 München, Germany

Phone number: +49 89 787475 270
E-mail: cts.media@sgs.com
Website: http://www.sgstuev.de

The SGS Group is the global leader and innovator in inspection, verification, testing and certification services. Founded in 1878, SGS is recognized as the global benchmark in quality and integrity. With 59,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

SGS Consumer Testing Services ensures the quality and safety of every kind of consumer products, from textiles, electronics and furniture to food and automotive. Our customers in these distinct manufacturing industries rely on our inspection and testing capabilities and laboratories to help them comply with the regulatory requirements governing their products, as well as to ensure the integrity of the inputs received from their suppliers.
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