Reliability Growth Modeling in the Vehicles Developement Stage

Reliability growth testing used to evaluate reliability in the automobile industry have not always been able to correctly address reliability concerns with increased confidence. The demand to confirm to all product performance requirements under various operating environments has added to the complexity of accurately assessin theproduct's reliability in the required development time. In addition, it is often desired to determine the relationship of a product's reliability to cost, development time, design, manufacturability and assembly. This paper presents the methods for reliability growth modeling to evaluate and interpret reliability concerns to support the reliability analysis of automobile assemblies and systems. This reliability growth modeling process is a mechanism to help "build in" reliability during early phases in the vehicle devleopment stage.