An overview of ISO 26262 Training and Certification for Automotive Functional Safety

Standardized practices are becoming common by the day. They are being regulated and the designing and testing of products are streamlined.

This is where ISO 26262 certification comes into picture.

It caters to the need to have automotive-specific international standards. The critical components related to safety are to be verified through ISO 26262.

The automotive industry has been facing issues with testing and validating systems like throttle-by-wire. ISO 26262 ensures that the safety standard throughout the automotive E/E systems is maintained.

There have been changes in the standard that include guidelines for salient features like semiconductors, cybersecurity, and Safety of the Intended Functionality (SOTIF). All of these shall also be a part of the ISO 26262 training sessions.

What is Functional Safety and its Various Standards

Functional Safety is a vital part of an automatic protection system that will respond to the inputs it receives. The system is made so that in case of a failure, it can respond in a predictable way. There are a number of failures that need to be included in the functional safety system. These include faults in the hardware, human mistakes, and operational failure.

As it is with any industry, the automotive industry also has certain functional safety standards it needs to comply to. Let’s take a look at the various standards as per industry, that need to be present to ensure the safety of the product.

• ISO 26262 as a functional safety automotive standard is made to cover the electric and/or electronic systems in the production automobiles throughout its lifecycle.
• IEC 61511 standard is created to cover the management and design requirements for safety insured systems. Along with this, it also covers the electronic, electrical and programmable electronic applications.
• IEC 61508 is also known as the umbrella standard, as it covers the methods of application, design, deployment, and maintenance of automatic protection systems.
• EN 50126 provides the specifications and demonstrates the reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS) in railways.
• EN 50128 is also a safety standard in the railways where the communication, signaling, and processing systems (software-based)
• EN 50129 includes safety-related electronic systems for signaling.

Understanding ISO 26262 and its role in Automotive Industry

It is important to understand that ISO 26262 certification and training for the same is a crucial part of the process of maintaining safety standards.

Regulating product development and managing functional safety on hardware, software, and system levels needs a suitable system.

This system is used by ISO 26262, making it utterly important.

The entire process is analyzed in detail to ensure that the risk levels are as low as possible.

Let’s understand its role in the automotive industry and why ISO 26262 training should not be taken lightly:

• ISO 26262 determines risk classes by using an automotive-specific risk-based method (Automotive Safety Integrity Levels, ASILs)
• It lays out an automotive safety lifecycle which includes the development, management, operation, production, service, and decommissioning and make needful changes wherever required during these phases
• To achieve an allowable residual risk, ISO 26262 uses ASIL and specifies the safety requirements that are necessary
• Validation requirements and confirmation measures are provided and understood after receiving an ISO 26262 certification. This ensures the execution of acceptable safety standards.

The Importance of ISO 26262 Training

Training for ISO 26262 is necessary for developers, project leads, testers, safety officers, and quality representatives. Basically, every individual involved in the process of manufacturing an automotive has to be aware of the safety standard and be trained for the same.

Once the training process is completed, they shall receive an ISO 26262 certification which acknowledges their understanding of the standard.

Here are the benefits of training for ISO 26262 standards:

• The basics of ISO 26262, including an overview of its requirements, technical activities conducted in all the lifecycle phases
• Through demonstration and practical training get a clearer idea about analyzing risks
• Theoretical concepts development
• Various hardware and software level implementations of the standard shall be taught, including the fundamentals and safety-oriented analysis
• ISO 26262 training includes understanding the architecture of Failure Mode Effect and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA)
• The what’s and how’s of interlinked safety analysis
• Professionals gaining a clearer understanding of how to design a project documentation with minimal efforts and high quality
• Data communication assessment is also an important aspect that shall be cleared

Changing role of ISO 26262 in the Automotive Industry

ISO 26262, the functional safety automotive standard has seen many technological advancements and adhered to them as well.

As it is with any industry, the safety standards in the automotive industry have also changed the scenario by leaps and bounds in the years of its existence.

Henceforth, the ISO 26262 safety standard and ISO 26262 training will include the standards to be followed for all road vehicles, which initially was only limited to four-wheelers and vehicles with a gross mass of up to 3500kg.

This has created a need for professionals to get proper training to make sure that the specifics are taken care of.

Now ISO 26262 clearly creates distinctions wherever necessary in terms of trucks, their sizes, their risks as well as other vehicles and their primary differences.

In the End…

Through this article, it must have become clear that ISO 26262 training certification is important. Not only this, doing so from a trusted source is paramount. TUV SUD is an internationally accredited ISO 26262 testing body. With a team of experts that has been growing for over 30 years, we have created a credible image in the industry.

Receiving an ISO 26262 certification form the founding participants in the establishment of the ISO 26262 standard shall be greatly beneficial. The training modules created by our experts take into consideration the practical use of the ISO 26262 standard. The aim is to avoid as many risks as possible that are generated by random or systematic hardware failures.

To understand more about ISO 26262, check here.

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