Automotive Functional Safety ISO 26262: Not a Law, but Should It Be?

Automotive Functional Safety ISO 26262 exists because automotive technology has surged over the past 25 years.

This has predictably led to compliances. In 2011, the Automotive Functional Safety ISO 26262 standard was published, designed for the specific risk picture of the automotive industry and road vehicles. Its intent is to ensure the design and construction of functionally safe vehicles and efficient safety management through the supply chain.

ISO 26262 has become increasingly important because electronic Systems support the human driver or can even take over critical tasks to control the vehicle. This leads to increased risks from systematic failures and random hardware failures of these systems. ISO 26262 provides guidance for the automotive industry to mitigate these risks.

Automotive Functional Safety ISO 26262 serves as a helpful framework for developers of automotive safety-related systems.

Using ISO 26262 to evaluate the safety of your vehicle’s electrical and electronic components provides multiple benefits to automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers, such as:

• Demonstrate due diligence and ensure overall safety of the respective vehicle and/or the corresponding systems in compliance with ISO 26262
• Maintain your competitive advantage in interpreting and implementing the ISO 26262 requirements correctly
• Minimize the risk of harm to people and non-acceptance of your products by the market
• Avoid costly product recalls and reputational damage due to safety hazards because insufficient safety assurance
• Simplified access to global markets by ensuring compliance with relevant international regulations

Most automotive analysts agree that The ISO 26262 standard is a weighty series of documents that many believe has all the force of law or regulation; however,?it is not a dictate. It is an agreement on best practices for participants in the vehicle value chain to follow to ensure safety as far as the industry understands it today.

Want to learn more? Tonex offers Automotive Functional Safety ISO 26262 Training Bootcamp, a 4-day bootcamp style course that covers the background of ISO 26262 standard, its scope, the main differences from IEC 61508 (the general safety standard), and how the scope varies with adding new systems.

For more information, questions, comments, contact us.