Automotive System Safety

2Safety Organizations

The Need for a System Safety Organization

Meeting consumer expectations for system safety in automotive products requires diligence to ensure that no unreasonable risk occurs after consumers purchase a product. There must be no unreasonable risk to either the consumer or to others exposed to the product's use throughout the product's life. The intended use and foreseeable misuse of the product must not cause unreasonable risk, and there also must be no unreasonable risk imposed on the consumer or others as a result of a failure of the product. This diligence must be driven consistently throughout the product organization at the vehicle level and at the supplier. Consumers expect a very intense effort to ensure their safety and the safety of their families by all who are involved in developing, manufacturing, delivering, and repairing the product. This includes executive management and functional management in both engineering and operations, including support functions.

Figure 1.1 shows what must be fulfilled in order to achieve what is expected for safety. As discussed in Chapter 1, these expectations can be easily overlooked. Thousands of engineering and operations personnel are involved in the launch of an automotive product, and diligence is required from all of these personnel to fulfill customer expectations for safety. Considering the large consumption of resources required to launch a road vehicle, as well as resources consumed developing and ...