Reliability paradox for worldwide automotive electronics

Automotive Electronics is growing ever since the technological advancement has brought about a revolution in the Automotive Semiconductor and Telematics industry, especially in the past decade. Utilization of microelectronics and hence circuits' complexity is increasing continuously in automotive industry. Advancement in electronic technology increases the dominance of electronics in automotive markets, and reliability requirements for Automobile Electronics have grown over the past many years. However, the faults and rate of defects is also increasing as indicated by proportion of number of recalls made by large automobile companies, and this poses a difficult `Paradox' to understand and curb. One of the reasons is that the increase in technological advancements makes the vehicles' system more complex and difficult to test for reliability. Also, operating parameters such as temperature, humidity, etc. are increasingly stringent with the continuous development of the electronic systems in vehicles. Short time to market and ineffective design for reliability methodology employed, including various misconceptions on reliability testing, have rendered a lag in providing components and systems that match the increasing reliability requirements for vehicles. Therefore, a call for greater effort in reliability understanding and systematic design for reliability methodology is essential if continuous engagement of advanced electronic technologies is to be continued. The transition from Mechanical Automotive system to Electronics Automotive system and its effect on the Automotive industry is discussed in this work. The fact that technological benefits are not helping in improving reliability of the Automotive Electronics system is explained by studying the worldwide automotive recalls and the Paradox of Automotive Electronics Reliability is presented and explained.