Following the first edition of the VDA “Field Failure Analysis” publication in 2009 and the audit standard in 2011, both publications were fundamentally revised and consolidated. The second edition is an update and an optimised version which incorporates the accumulated experience.

In addition, the VDA “Field Failure Analysis” publication also contains the following key aspects:

• Greater focus on the entire supply chain
• Stronger integration of the planning process into the product development process
• Improved analysis of customer complaints and data management
• Consideration of multiple failures
• Example of NTF guidelines included
• Problem analysis with special cases
• Expanded problem-solving process
• Market monitoring integrated
• Audit questionnaire expanded and restructured

This VDA publication focuses on a comprehensive and consistent presentation of maturity levels within the framework of progress in a project covering new parts, combined with an assessment of the maturity of the product and manufacturing process at agreed times within the product creation process. The maturity level assurance method can be applied both in internal customer-supplier relationships (within an organization, e.g. groups of companies) and in external customer-supplier relationships (between an organization and its customer or between the organization and its supplier). A significant element is therefore the rules covering cooperation at all stages in the supply chain, with the integration of all those involved in the project. To this end, important customer-supplier relationships are defined within the framework of milestone assessments in projects (new projects, face-lifts or other modification projects initiated by the customer), a concrete cooperation model in the project is described and thus the early, cross-functional integration of all those involved is assured.

This present volume is a revision of the second issue, dated October 2009.

The reasons for the revision were:

• A stronger focus on the use of software in the vehicle
• Requirements regarding maturity level assurance within the framework of agile product development

With the publication of this 5th edition the PPA Process has been completely restructured in order to describe the requirements relating to new or modified deliveries from external sources and those produced within the company.

The area of application is defined more clearly, taking into consideration existing VDA publications and terms. As an aid in implementing the stipulations in this present publication a sequence diagram for PPA is included, as well as the "trigger matrix" for changes which must be declared.

To improve understanding, the requirements relating to submission levelhave been stated more precisely. A significant up-date covering process validation has also been introduced, together with submission level"0". All the changes which have been made are taken into account in the completely revised form for production process and product approvalin accordance with VDA volume 2.

The advancing developments in quality management in the automotive industry have required a complete revision of the VDA volume 4 both with regard to content as well as editorial.

Changes in content were mainly made in the following areas:

• Integration of a chapter on the 5 Why method
• Integration of the method selection model from the former VDA volume 14
• Summaries of the methods FMEA and 8D due to their transfer as detailed, independent VDA volumes
• Integration of further developments and new perceptions for various method descriptions
• Dissolving the ring-binder structure: This volume is now available as a monograph available in four sections, which improves clarity and easy referencing.

In the course of the editorial revision, references, sources and standard references have been updated, spelling, grammar and consistency have been verified and figures have been reworked.

In the 5th edition from 2016 the essential requirements of ISO 9001:2015 (risk-oriented approach) were taken into account and supplemented, among other things, by the content of the VDA Volume “Quality-Related Costs”. From the 1st January 2017 this 5th edition replaces the 4th edition of the year 2010. From this date at the latest, all 3rd-party audits can be carried out according to VDA 6.1 of this edition.

VDA Volume 6 Part 2 QM System Audit Services, here also referred to as VDA 6.2, is subject to the specifications of ISO 9001:2015 as well as the industry-specific additional requirements as revised in 2016. Compliance with these additional requirements when designing a QM system for a service organization is essential for successful collaboration between all involved parties.

As an additional benefit, the fact that service organizations can obtain VDA 6.2 certification helps automobile manufacturers and their suppliers choose the right service organization.

VDA Volume 6 Part 2 QM System Audit Services thus addresses service organizations intending to introduce a quality management system matching the requirements of this QM system standard and who wish to obtain corresponding certification.

VDA Volume 6 Part 2 QM System Audit Services thus addresses service organizations intending to introduce a quality management system matching the requirements of this QM system standard and who wish to obtain corresponding certification. This VDA volume is divided into chapters as per the structure specified in ISO 9001:2015 and thus complies with the ISO directives (Annex SL).

For reasons concerning licensing, the ISO 9001:2015 requirements bindingly applicable to VDA 6.2 cannot be reproduced here.

Where sector-specific additional requirements apply, the respective chapter numbers and titles are shown in italics.

Where VDA Volume 6 Part 2 QM System Audit Services uses the wording “must” or “shall,” it is expressing binding requirements. Where “should” is used, the document is expressing a recommendation. Sections beginning with the headline “Note” intend to assist comprehension or provide details on the corresponding requirement. Examples are clearly indicated as such and merely serve as aids and guidelines. This third edition of VDA 6.2 supersedes the second edition from 2004 and the updated re-issue from 2011.

VDA 6.3 was published for the first time in 1998 and was revised in 2010, 2016 as well as 2023 (present edition).

What has changed compared to the 2016 version?

• Software aspects have been taken into consideration in the questionnaire
• The content of this volume has been harmonized with further VDA methods, namely Automotive SPICE® and maturity level assurance for new parts (VDA MLA)
• Requirements with regard to purchasing activities were added to P3 and P4
• Specification of the auditor qualification
• Notes on conducting remote audits were added
• Chapter 4 (“Audit process”) was deleted, as its contents are included in ISO 19011
• Chapter 8 (“Process audit services”) was deleted from VDA Volume 6.3
• Chapter 10 (“Best practice/lessons learned”) was deleted
• The evaluation of transport and parts handling (EU7) was omitted
• In some cases, questions with special significance (*-questions) were redefined
• Some of the questions regarding the potential analysis were reallocated
• A comprehensive online glossary for all VDA volumes was established
• Editorial revision

Due to the changes that have been made, the results of audits conducted according to the present volume are not directly comparable to the results of audits carried out in accordance with the previous edition from 2016.

Production equipment is one of the key factors for success in the automotive industry. This industry-specific standard focuses on the quality of production equipment and tools and on the cooperative collaboration with customers.

The publication of DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 has mandated a revision of the VDA 6.4 standard as this specific standard expands upon DIN EN ISO 9001.

It acts as support for the quality management systems of vehicle manufacturers and their system and parts suppliers.

With this VDA standard, all VDA QM system standards have been brought in line with each other.

This VDA publication supports especially the collaboration between the automotive industry and the production-equipment industry. It describes key requirements and basic conditions for an efficient quality management system as well as providing concrete recommendations and successful best-practice/best-in-class methods.

“The expectations of end customers can no longer be expressed in specifications alone. Vehicle manufacturers and the supplier industry are required to identify these product characteristics independently and to implement them in the products. This approach must also be taken into account when conducting product audits.” (Extracts from the preface)

Product audits should indicate the quality level of internally/externally manufactured products in the process chain.

In many areas of the economy these days, a "comprehensive" quality ¬management system is an integral part of the company strategy and creates the organisational conditions required in order to meet high quality demands on products and processes. System audits are carried out at planned intervals, to check the effectiveness of the quality ¬management systems.

Ever shorter time spans, from the initial concept to the new product or service, ready for the market, constantly demand greater parallel execution of work sequences and operations in a wide range of areas of the company. This means that greater demands are placed on the processes.

Checks by the operators themselves and reductions in the amount of inspection, while still meeting increasing quality requirements, can be achieved only by the use of capable and controlled processes.

Of course, this applies to the product creation process & production / the service creation process & provision of the service.

Company processes must be monitored constantly in order to ensure their reliability and to introduce prompt control mechanisms and corrective action if non-conformances are detected.

We would like to emphasize that this VDA publication does not constitute a new surface specification for appearance-dependent surface parts.

This VDA publication is rather intended as a communication instrument to support the crucial exchange between suppliers and customers in the manifold supply relations within the various automotive-supply chains with regard to the need to clearly define the characteristic attributes for all appearance-dependent surface characteristics.

Its purpose is, in the absence of clear specifications for the tolerated degree of surface-relevant characteristics for any product category, in or on the automobile, to initiate communication between OEM and supplier. To achieve 100%-quality or zero-defect supplier performance and a corresponding evaluation in the product audit or product approval procedure, it is crucially important to specify all relevant decorative surface characteristics in a reproducible and, to the extent possible, quantifiable manner. This serves to create clarity in the basic conditions both for customers and suppliers with regard to the quality that is to be expected/implemented.

VDA Publication 16 is also intended to alert to the existence of defect slip-through rates due to physiological causes, particularly for surface inspections that can only be performed at a human-visual level.

The consortium responsible for drawing up the draft of this guideline has also participated as a national working group in compiling the first public edition of the ISO 16232 series. Among other things, the final report differs in the fact that the contents are more detailed and that examples have been included, usually listed either as “Comment” or “Example” or with the addition of “Informative”. With a view to the ISO 16232 series, the following subjects have been dealt with either additionally or in more detail.

• Scope of application and validity
• Agreement on cleanliness inspection (informative)
• Simplified cleanliness inspection – monitoring variations (informative)
• Selection of inspection method (informative)
• Appropriate clean handling of test components
• Extraction procedure set up and validation and blank test
• Case examples.

As clients of the Fraunhofer IPA, members of the MontSa industrial alliance are given the jointly written version of a work paper concerned with cleanliness in assembly in the form of a consolidated final report.

The final report forms the basis of a guideline which is planned to be released by the VDA Quality Management Center (VDA-QMC) as VDA Volume 19.2 with the title “Technical cleanliness in assembly – Environment, Logistics, Personnel and Assembly equipment”.

The right to publish the guideline has been transferred to the VDA-QMC by mutual consent of the cooperation partners. No rights exist to claim commission from revenues obtained by the VDA-QMC from distribution of the guideline.

The final report of the MontSa industrial alliance is the property of the participating companies and may be consulted by the companies to clarify internal queries. It is forbidden to publish the final report for commercial purposes.

This new, second edition contains the VDA Volume "Recall Management Using Over-the-Air Updates" from 2020, which has been published in the meantime, as a thematic supplement integrated and printed in chapter 6 of this book.

……Companies have to deal not only with new customers and their cultures but also with chan­ging customer expectations and the country-specific laws and requirements that apply to the products. Furthermore, the sensitivity and connectedness of product users and authorities, and public discussions on the issue of product integrity have increased significantly.….

In this context, the question arises as to which organization structures and processes must be established in a company and how a company should react if a product is classified as potentially non-conform or as potentially safety-critical due to deviations in one or multiple countries……

The answer to this question is subject to a certain level of complexity that results, among other things, from the number of parties involved (authorities, product users, OEM, suppliers) and their various requirements.……

This volume provides recommendations for implementation.

……The objective of this volume is to create a better understanding of product safety and product conformity – combined under the term “product integrity” for the purposes of this volume.

Excerpt Introduction

This volume describes the use of the 8D method for sustainable problem solving. It does not describe a general complaint process which contains the 8D method as a problem-solving tool.

In complaint processes, time guidelines are usually established for processing a complaint and thus indirectly also for 8D problem solving......

…… When applying the 8D method, an appropriate sustainable solution to a problem must not conflict with timelines that are established for delivering an 8D report.

Foreword

The percentage of electronic devices in vehicles is continuously increasing and this trend will also grow in the future.

Despite high quality standards in the supply chain, damages of electric/ electronic components occur in production and during usage at customers.

Furthermore, the integration and power density of devices is continuously increasing reducing the gap to physical and electrical limits. This has an impact on the robustness of the devices.

Failures showing a signature of electrical overstress play a special role.

The present VDA volume provides a guideline how to deal with damages showing a signature of electrical overstress along the supply chain. It provides especially an overall approach for such damages and gives guidance for localizing the root cause using examples.

This VDA volume replaces the first issue of the VDA Standardized Process for Handling Customer Complaints of 2009.

This is a general revision that considers the experience and knowledge acquired inter alia in conjunction with the implementation of the VDA Volume – Problem-Solving in 8 Disciplines, etc.

Overall, it is intended to make it easier for automotive manufacturers and suppliers to align themselves with the joint process for handling customer complaints. Accordingly, this VDA volume deals with new technologies, business processes and services which have undergone significant further development since 2009. Supplier portals for communication in companies have also been evolving, and the technical basis for exchanging quality data via QDX is dealt with in a separate VDA volume.

The UNECE regulation R155 requires, among others, that the vehicle manufacturer identify and manage cybersecurity risks in the supply chain. Automotive SPICE is a process assessment model, when used with an appropriate assessment method, which helps to identify process-related product risks. To incorporate cybersecurity-related processes into the proven scope of Automotive SPICE, additional processes have been defined in a Process Reference and Assessment Model for Cybersecurity Engineering (Cybersecurity PAM).

Part I of this document supplements the Automotive SPICE PAM 3.1 enabling the evaluation of cybersecurity-relevant development processes. A prerequisite for performing an assessment using the Automotive SPICE for Cybersecurity PAM is the existence of an ASPICE assessment result for the VDA scope with a comparable assessment scope.

The Automotive SPICE® for cybersecurity Process Assessment Model may be obtained free of charge via download from the www.automotivespice.com website.

Part II of this document complements the existing Automotive SPICE Guideline (1st edition). It contains interpretation and rating guidelines for the processes defined in Part I.

Annex B contains a subset of Work Product Characteristics that are relevant for the processes of Automotive SPICE for Cybersecurity.

Annex C contains a subset of terms that are relevant for the processes of Automotive SPICE for cybersecurity.

Disruptive technologies are having a rapid impact on the automotive industry by decreasing the barriers to entry. Dealing with increasing complexity and being able to react more flexibly in volatile markets is becoming more and more important. As the speed of change will continue, a growing number of companies are transforming towards agility, as this has been proven to be a smart answer to today's VUCA environment.Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, AAs automotive companies see the benefit in working agile internally, the motivation to profit from these benefits by using it beyond company borders is increasing. Even though the benefits may be obvious, creating an agile interface – or rather collaborating in an agile framework – can cause some challenges, which definitely gives rise to the need for a guideline.

The VDA recommendations provides a blueprint on how an Agile Collaboration across company borders could work, while considering that the basic understanding and the intensity may vary. The vision for this guide is to equip the partners (Client, Contractor) with a toolbox, common language and practical use cases, as well as techniques to enable better results in such a collaboration model.

The increased connectivity of vehicles provides a multitude of possibilities to enhance vehicle functions (up to and including automated driving) and vehicle maintenance.

However, the extent to which the vehicle is connected to the environment increases the vehicle’s potential as a target of attacks and thereby the significance of cybersecurity in the automotive industry.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe – UNECE, reacted to the increasing cybersecurity challenges by founding the Task Force on Cyber Security and Over-the-Air issues.

This task force published the “Draft new UN Regulation on uniform provisions concerning the approval of vehicles with regard to cybersecurity”, which was passed in June 2020 and transferred to national law within the UNECE's jurisdiction.

The UNECE requires an audit of the cybersecurity management system (CSMS) of OEMs and an assessment with regard to cybersecurity as part of type approval. The OEM must also manage the dependencies with the contractual partners concerning the listed requirements.

This VDA volume defines the questionnaire and the rating scheme, which can be applied to the CSMS audit of both the OEM and the contractual partner. The cybersecurity assessment for type approval is not the subject matter here.

This volume describes the result of the joint agreement of a standardised structure for a Component Specification (CS) between automobile manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers. A standardised technical specification production at the OEM and/or supplier is not part of this VDA volume.

The objective of the procedure and structure described in this volume is to obtain an as clear and complete as possible requirements profile for the product, and with it also for its production process, by systematically inspecting all requirements imposed on a product.

Contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Objective and Purpose
• 3 General Classification and Definition
• 4 VDA Component Requirement Specification Structure
• 5 Formulating Precise Requirements
• 6 The CRS Process in the Supply Chain
• 7 Support Using Software Tools
• 8 Annex