Failure analysis of safety-critical systems with advanced FMEA-methodology

Increasing complexity of products and production processes demands enhancements of the methodologies for risk identification in the development phase. This is especially the case with safety-critical automotive components. One of the major applied tools for technical risk management in product development is the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). For safety-critical systems, which are mostly mechatronic parts, the FMEA has to be handled in different ways during a development project. Within the paper we will show the trends in FMEA and put them into a framework which enables the methodology to be used consistently from the system specification up to the production control plan.