← All chapters Chapter 12

Fault Tree of the System ECU

The standard pattern, applied until a common cause surfaces itself.

Applied subsystem by subsystem along the signal path, the pattern assembles the ECU's whole tree, with the microcontroller's transition condition telling a system failure apart from an input-signal failure at each node. Tracing the switch signal to the boundary and back reveals that the ECU both reads and powers the switch — so the microcontroller is, by construction, a common cause. The structure surfaced it.

Full text of this chapter

The full text — with every derived fault tree, cut-set analysis, and worked example — is readable after signing in. Sign in right here (login and account in one step):