Consequences for product liability

Since ISO 26262 has been published it should be considered as state of the art for the life cycle of new developed safety relevant electronic systems for passenger cars, trucks trailers and busses, and it is strongly recommend that it should be followed by automotive industry in order to exclude possible future liability claims. Note that this doesn't concern the technical state of the art of the PRODUCT, but the state of the art of the complete PROCES to develop, produce and service the product!

European legislation on product liability (85/374/EEC, art.1 and art.7) states that car manufacturers are liable for any damage to the health or death of a person caused by a malfunction of the product, and that liability may be excluded only if the potential malfunction could not have been detected according to the technical state of the art at the time of placing the product on the market. The Dutch legislation on product liability (Burgerlijk Wetboek, Boek 6, Afdeling 3 “Produkten-aansprakelijkheid”, Artikel 185) is similar to the European legislation.