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As technology gets upgraded every day, automotive manufacturers are paying more attention towards delivering a highly reliable product which performs its intended function throughout its useful life (without any failure). To develop a reliable product, accelerated combined stress testing should be conducted in addition to the conventional design validation protocol for the product. It brings out most of the potential failure modes of the product, so that necessary actions can be taken for the reliability improvement. This paper discusses about the field failure simulation and reliability estimation of automotive headlamp relays using accelerated combined stress testing. To analyze various field failure modes, performance and tear down analysis were carried out on the field failure samples. Field data (i.e. electrical, thermal and vibration signals) were acquired to evaluate normal use conditions.

Due to the emerging technologies and globalization, expectations of the customers on commercial vehicles are getting increased over the period. It is an important duty of an OEM to deliver a perfectly configured product to suit the customer requirements. When it comes to configuration of a vehicle, engine power is one of the key factors which indicate the performance of that vehicle. There is a tough competition between every OEM to increase the engine power for enhancing the overall operational performance. One method to increase power is to improve its volumetric efficiency. This is achieved with help of turbocharger and Charge Air Cooler (CAC). CAC improves volumetric efficiency by increasing intake air-charge density. Any failure on CAC leads to lower the volumetric efficiency and increase in turbocharger loading. This paper deals with the validation of CAC assembly using different test conditions by analyzing potential failure modes against the field issues.

The Indian automotive sector is experiencing a major shift, focusing predominantly towards the levels of quality, reliability and comfort delivered to the customer. Since the entry of global players into the market, there is a rising demand for timely product launches with utmost priority to reliability. In any vehicle, engine isolation systems play a critical role in isolating the engine vibrations from the vehicle chassis. This project details on how testing can aid in reducing the launch time as well as estimating the reliability of the component when used in a different application/vehicle. It proposes a methodology to formulate a life model for the engine mount considering various combinations of predictor parameters affecting its performance over its design life. In order to maintain good correlation with the field (which considers the loading pattern and the environmental factors), warranty data was analyzed and the predictors were chosen appropriately.