FMEA in automatic transmission diagnostics

This paper presents research into the possibility of using Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) as a tool to share diagnostic knowledge between Engineering and Field Service. An object-oriented FMEA model has been adopted and expanded to generate the FMEA elements and diagnostic FMEA. The implementation of an object-oriented FMEA environment and the use of FMEA object libraries have promoted the reuse of existing information and has increased data availability for the diagnostic tool development. The Diagnostic Service Tool is an extended application from the automated FMEA generation. It utilizes the existing failure mode data to determine further characteristics of part failures. The prototype software was evaluated in a field service application using four automatic transmission problem cases. There was a significant difference in repair times between the conventional repair manuals and DST.