FMEA
Failure Mode and Effect Analysis or FMEA is a structured method to analyze component and system reliability. It is a framework to look at how something fails (failure mode) and what happens when it does (failure effect).
Contents
Basics
At a lay level, a FMEA should be a list of what-ifs, as in: "what if this part broke?". Each "what-if" being looked at in multiple ways:
- How could this part break?
- What will happen to the car if this thing goes wrong?
- How likely is this thing to go wrong?
- What can we do to stop this from happening?
Additional detail can be included at whatever level of depth is deemed appropriate. Some further questions to ask include:
- What could cause this failure?
- What physically happens to the parts that are directly connected?
- What happens to the functionality of the system that this is a part of?
- To what extent is the functionality of the car effected?
- If this failed, would the car continue to be rules compliant?
- If this failed, could the driver be in danger?
- If this failed, could a bystander or track volunteer be in danger?
- How quickly can this be repaired if it failed?
- Would a new component have to be bought/machined or is this meant to be repairable?
- How long is the lead time for a replacement component?
