The introduction of new automotive system architectures that exploit the benefits offered by advanced electronic control will require the dependability of the electronic systems to be assured over the vehicle's life, This is particularly important in safety critical subsystems such as braking steering and ride control.

Improved processes, designs and minimal connector strategies are all contributing to these goals however, aggressive pricing and specifications are eliminating the possibilities of extensive reliability screening. In addition, degradation mechanisms and intermittent faults still occur in IC's despite radical improvements in processing technology. It is clear therefore that self test and diagnostic strategies are required in addition to techniques that guarantee high reliability levels if ZERO failure electronics is to be realised in modem automotive systems.