50+ Years of Combined Safety Engineering Expertise

In this second part, we dive into how the ISO 26262 automotive functional safety standard—derived from IEC 61508—defines and implements FMEDA. While the core concept remains similar, ISO 26262 tailors it to automotive hardware development, emphasizing quantitative metrics, failure classification, and integration with safety concepts. Follow along as we unpack the automotive-specific flow, intricacies, and practical challenges.

In this post, we’ll share a practical, experience-based approach to assigning and decomposing DAL — along with lessons learned from two decades of supporting safety-critical programs — presented in a clear and easy-to-apply way.

Development Assurance Level (DAL) is an important aspect in ensuring aerospace system safety. DALs directly influence the scope of validation and verification activities to provide evidence for implementation of required objectives, as per APR4754B and ARP4761A. Despite the significance of DAL, accessible, easy-to-follow and practical guidance on DAL (especially around its assignment and decomposition) remains limited leading to ambiguous and inaccurate DAL assignment.

In this post, we’ll explore the origins of FMEDA, what it entails, and the critical factors to consider when performing one. While navigating the FMEDA process is not straightforward, this blog will offer a glimpse into its complexity and highlight the valuable insights it can deliver.