In the automotive industry, quality control/assurance has often focused on the physical testing and evaluation of raw materials and finished products. From a safety perspective, it is imperative that the strength of these materials and products meets established standards. Tensile, compression, bending and hardness tests are used for these evaluations.
Thorough quality assurance requires evaluations of other characteristics beyond physical strength. The increasing complexity of safety-related functions, such as automated driving and erroneous start suppression functions, necessitates higher performance in the electronic devices which control those functions. In addition, the demands for improved fuel combustion efficiency and optimum control of the engine under varying running conditions has also increased. These control functions are performed by electronic control units (ECU), also called “car computers.”