What are these standards about?

This is a solution pack of ten international standards on increasing the functional safety of electrical and/or electronic (E/E) systems installed in series production passenger cars with a maximum gross vehicle mass up to 3,500 kg. 

The standards look at the possible hazards caused by the malfunctioning behaviour of E/E safety-related systems, including the interaction of these systems. They then work by engineering functional safety into systems to, as much as possible, reduce unreasonable risks and thereby bring increased safety on the road. The kit comprises:

• BS ISO 26262-1:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Vocabulary
• BS ISO 26262-2:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Management of functional safety
• BS ISO26262-3:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Concept phase
• BS ISO 26262-4:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Product development at the system level
• BS ISO 26262-5:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Product development at the hardware level
• BS ISO 26262-6:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Product development at the software level
• BS ISO 26262-7:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Production and operation
• BS ISO 26262-8:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Supporting processes
• BS ISO 26262-9:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Automotive safety integrity level (ASIL)-oriented and safety-oriented analyses
• BS ISO 26262-10:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Guidelines on ISO 26262

What are these standards about?

This is a solution pack of 10 international standards on increasing the functional safety of electrical and/or electronic (E/E) systems installed in series production passenger cars with a maximum gross vehicle mass up to 3,500 kg. 

The standards look at the possible hazards caused by the malfunctioning behaviour of E/E safety-related systems, including the interaction of these systems. They then work by engineering functional safety into systems to, as much as possible, reduce unreasonable risks and thereby bring increased safety on the road. 

Who are these standards for?

Manufacturers, testers, producers, process controllers, and quality auditors of electrical systems within road vehicles.

Why should you use these standards?

With increasing technological complexity, the risks of systematic and random hardware failures are also increasing. The BS ISO 26262 solution pack

, therefore, supplies guidance to avoid these risks by providing appropriate requirements and processes. 

The standards set out a framework for functional safety to help in the development of safety-related electric and electronic systems. This framework integrates functional safety activities into a company’s working policies. Some requirements have a clear technical focus to implement functional safety into a product; others address the development process and can therefore be seen as process requirements to demonstrate the capability of an organization with respect to functional safety. Overall the solution pack:

1. Provides an automotive safety lifecycle (management, development, production, operation, service, decommissioning) and supports tailoring the necessary activities during these lifecycle phases
2. Provides an automotive-specific risk-based approach to determine integrity levels [Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL)]
3. Uses ASILs to specify applicable requirements of BS ISO 26262 so as to avoid the unreasonable residual risk
4. Provides requirements for validation and confirmation measures to ensure a sufficient and acceptable level of safety is being achieved
5. Provides requirements for relations with suppliers

NOTE: The BS ISO 26262 solution pack does not cover unique E/E systems in special purpose vehicles such as vehicles designed for drivers with disabilities. Nor does it cover hazards related to electric shock, fire, smoke, heat, radiation, toxicity, flammability, reactivity, corrosion, the release of energy, and similar hazards, unless directly caused by malfunctioning behaviour of E/E safety-related systems; or the nominal performance of E/E systems, even if dedicated functional performance standards exist for these systems (e.g. active and passive safety systems, brake systems, Adaptive Cruise Control).

NOTE 2: Systems and their components released for production, or systems and their components already under development prior to the publication date of BS ISO 26262 are exempted from the scope. For further development or alterations based on systems and their components released for production prior to the publication of BS ISO 26262, only the modifications will be developed in accordance with BS ISO 26262.

NOTE 3: In addition to the ten standards in the solution pack there are a further two standards in the BS ISO 26262 series that are not included in the pack and they are:

• BS ISO 26262-11:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Guideline on the application of ISO 26262 to semiconductors      
• BS ISO 26262-12:2018 Road vehicles. Functional safety. Adaptation for motorcycles

What’s changed since the last update?

The BS ISO 26262 series standards were originally scoped around implementation on passenger car systems (VCA classification M1). However, they didn’t fully answer the needs of the connected vehicles and motorcycle industries. The scope of the series was therefore extended to introduce industry-specific parts such as MSIL (Motorcycle Safety Integrity Level), and specific severity classifications for buses and trucks, which make the second edition and new parts 11 and 12 (not included in this solution pack) easier to implement for those vehicle systems.