ISO 26262 (Road Vehicles - Functional Safety) - Where to start implementation?

[dksfwmcc]

The company I work for has different groups around the globe & we have now been told that one of our activities needs to follow ISO 26262. One of our other groups are ''expert'' at this & have told us 'how to do it'!

From previous experiences in our division (with ISO 9001, TS16949, CMMI for Dev & Automotive Spice) I am fully aware that this will be their interpretation of how they want us to do it, & not the most efficient way of working; plus this may not meet the ISO 26262 standard requirements anyway!

I am approaching this from the process side & not the technical side in my role.

Can anyone suggest a good starting place for me with this, as I have struggled to find one so far.

 

[Stijloor]

The company I work for has different groups around the globe & we have now been told that one of our activities needs to follow ISO 26262. One of our other groups are ''expert'' at this & have told us 'how to do it'!

From previous experiences in our division (with ISO 9001, TS16949, CMMI for Dev & Automotive Spice) I am fully aware that this will be their interpretation of how they want us to do it, & not the most efficient way of working; plus this may not meet the ISO 26262 standard requirements anyway!

I am approaching this from the process side & not the technical side in my role.

Can anyone suggest a good starting place for me with this, as I have struggled to find one so far.

A quick bump.

Can someone with this expertise help?

Thank you very much!!

Stijloor.

 

[vanputten]

Sure. I can help. I have read the 300 page Draft International Standard (DIS) of ISO 26262 and the 300 page Final DIS of ISO 26262. The actual standard is not published yet. I have been to 2 external training sessions on the standard and one 2 day internal training on the standard from a person that was part of the ISO technical committee that wrote the standard.

It is so complex and confusing. Approaches vary pretty significantly. I would welcome another division telling me how to comply to ISO 26262. If their approach doesn't work, then you can allow them to be responsible too. Put your drive for effectiveness and efficiency aside related to ISO 26262 and let the "experts" lead you. What a gift!

I have yet to see any efficient methods of complying. It appears that the current auto customers that require an ASIL level to be stated, only want the supplier to state the ASIL level. I think right now the customers only want the ASIL A, B, C or D stated. I haven't seen any auto customers asking for proof of a stated ASIL level. Nor do I see them asking for things like a Safety Manual.

Also, one of the very first sentences in the standard says "Systems developed prior to the publication of ISO 26262 are exempt from the scope." The standard has not been published yet.

You may want to check out Yogitech in Italy. Or IKV software in Germany. Or Omnex in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Or Phaedrus Systems Ltd (Http://www.phaedsys.com) in the UK.

Good luck!

 

[dksfwmcc]

Hi,

Many thanks, I have another question.
1. You wrote ''Also, one of the very first sentences in the standard says Systems developed prior to the publication of ISO 26262 are exempt from the scope. The standard has not been published yet.'' - Is there a target date for the publication of the standard as yet?

2. Is it/would it be possible to take an existing design & then re-test (once the standard HAS been published) in order state it does meet an ISO 26262 ASIL level? I am am assuming that this would not be possible.

Regards

 

[vanputten]

If you search the ISrg website for ISO 26262, you will learn that the standard is at phase 60.00 in the ISO process. This means that it is under publication. It entered phase 60.00 on 6/29/11. I assume it could be published any time.

Our understanding and experience is that the standard applies to any product - already designed and released or not. Customers still want a sense of confidence, known failure protections and rates, and integrity levels no matter when the product was designed. This leads me to believe that section 7.3 of TS becomes even more important as does robust product qualification and design reliability processes and data capture.

Why do you surmise 26262 would not apply to released product?

 

[Sidney Vianna]

The ISO 26262 Series of Standards has been published.

• ISO 26262-2:2011
• ISO 26262-3:2011
• ISO 26262-4:2011
• ISO 26262-5:2011
• ISO 26262-6:2011
• ISO 26262-7:2011
• ISO 26262-8:2011
• ISO 26262-9:2011

 

[wslabey]

FYI, the cost of all the manuals associated with the standard is $1189 using an on-line converter of Swiss francs to US dollars.
I assume shipping is extra. :mg:

I attended a briefing on the subject and it what I saw was the equivalent of APQP on steroids. It is not just what you have to do but how you need to engineer the product. It's very prescriptive. My gut level reaction is that it is all about the process without seeing any real time case studies that prove out the standard as viable and beneficial. It felt like overkill. It's like requiring a Taguchi experiment for every corrective action.

 

[vanputten]

"Our understanding and experience is that the standard applies to any product - already designed and released or not." is wrong. I was wrong.

The 1st sentence in the second paragraph of the Scope states the following: Systems and their components released for production, or systems and their components already under development prior to the publication date of ISO 26262, are exempted from the scope.

dksfwmcc and wslabey are correct in that ISO 26262 applies to products not yet developed. The standard does not apply to already released products. Controls for safety have to be designed into the product.