WORLD CLASS SAFETY-CRITICAL PARTS

To become a leader in automotive safety, a manufacturer first needs to identify standards set by leading companies, and compare them with his own. The author of this article argues that the best way to do this is to use 'benchmarking' to establish (best in class) standards, and QFD (quality function deployment) analysis to establish the means. QFD is used to identify the relationship between a particular design technology ('how' factor) and a specific requirement ('what' factor) set by benchmarking. QFD is used to set points scores for each combination of how and what, to target design and development effort on high scoring areas with high priorities. To reduce the incidence of injuries caused by accidents involving road vehicles, the 'what' factors can be defined as requirements, likely to reduce the possibility of accidents and limit the resulting injuries, and the 'how' factors are design measures taken to meet these requirements. Several examples are given of what and how requirements, and of how benchmarking can assist new development programmes. UK legislation (annual MOT tests after three years and random checks by police) has not yet eliminated critical mechanical failure. Manufacturers need to identify safety-critical factors, include them in design specifications, and convince customers that safety does not imply low performance.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03076490
• Corporate Authors:

  Institution of Mechanical Engineers

  1 Birdcage Walk
  London SW1H 9JJ,   England 
• Authors:
  • BURMAN, R
• Publication Date: 1994

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 42-3
• Serial:
  • AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEER
  • Volume: 19
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  • ISSN: 0307-6490

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crashes; Design; Evaluation and assessment; Injuries; Legislation; Quality assurance; Safety; Specifications; Ultimate load design; Vehicles
• Uncontrolled Terms: Decreases
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 9009: Decrease; 9011: Design (overall design); 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 2163: Injury; 1556: Legislation; 6452: Limit; 9123: Quality assurance; 1665: Safety; 177: Specifications; 8119: United Kingdom; 1255: Vehicle
• Subject Areas: Design; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00726603
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Oct 28 1996 12:00AM