| Recurring |
one_organization |
(a) The software failure incident related to the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars' transmission issues, specifically with the DPS6 automatic transmission, has happened again within the same organization (Ford Motor Co). Ford extended warranties on clutch and related hardware in 560,000 Focus and Fiesta cars in the United States and Canada due to problems with their six-speed transmission [Article 88279]. The company also offered a software update to fix the issue, indicating a recurrence of the software-related problem within Ford's products.
(b) There is no specific information in the provided article about the software failure incident happening at multiple organizations or with their products and services. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design |
(a) The software failure incident related to the design phase is evident in the article as Ford Motor Co extended warranties on clutch and related hardware in 560,000 Focus and Fiesta cars due to problems with their six-speed transmission, specifically the automatic transmission DPS6. The issues included a degree of vibration at low speed and a potential for the transmission to default to neutral, which were introduced to improve the vehicle's fuel economy. Ford offered customers a software update to fix the issue, indicating a failure due to contributing factors introduced during the system development phase [88279].
(b) The software failure incident related to the operation phase is not explicitly mentioned in the article. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system |
(a) The software failure incident related to the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars' transmission issues, specifically with the automatic transmission DPS6, falls under the within_system boundary. Ford acknowledged problems with the transmission software, leading to issues such as vibration at low speeds and potential defaulting to neutral. The company offered a software update to address these issues, indicating that the failure originated from within the system itself [88279]. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions, human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in this case was not directly attributed to non-human actions. The reported problems with the automatic transmission DPS6 in Ford Focus and Fiesta cars were related to issues such as vibration at low speeds and potential defaulting to neutral, which were likely caused by design or software programming issues rather than non-human actions [88279].
(b) The software failure incident was more likely due to human actions, such as the design or programming decisions made by engineers at Ford Motor Co. The company acknowledged that many customers were inconvenienced and frustrated by the performance of the DPS6 transmission, indicating that the issues were likely introduced through human actions during the development and implementation of the transmission software [88279]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
hardware, software |
(a) The software failure incident in the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars was related to hardware issues with the automatic transmission DPS6. The problems included vibration at low speeds and the transmission defaulting to neutral, which were affecting the performance of the vehicles [88279].
(b) The software failure incident also involved software issues as Ford offered customers a software update to fix the problems with the transmission. The company acknowledged that many customers were inconvenienced and frustrated by the performance of the DPS6 transmission, indicating a software-related issue [88279]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident related to the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars' transmission issues was non-malicious. The problems with the automatic transmission DPS6 were not due to malicious intent but rather related to issues such as vibration at low speeds and the transmission defaulting to neutral, impacting the vehicles' performance and causing inconvenience to customers [88279]. Ford acknowledged the customer dissatisfaction and inconvenience caused by the performance of the DPS6 transmission, indicating a non-malicious nature of the failure incident. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
unknown |
The software failure incident related to the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars' transmission issues was not directly attributed to poor decisions or accidental decisions in the provided article [88279]. The focus of the incident was on problems with the automatic transmission DPS6, leading to issues such as vibration at low speeds and potential defaulting to neutral. Ford acknowledged customer inconvenience and frustration but did not specify the root cause as poor decisions or accidental decisions. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence |
(a) The software failure incident in the article is related to development incompetence. Ford Motor Co extended warranties on clutch and related hardware in 560,000 Focus and Fiesta cars due to problems with their six-speed transmission, specifically the automatic transmission DPS6. The issues included vibration at low speed and the transmission defaulting to neutral, which were made to improve fuel economy but caused inconvenience and frustration to customers. Ford acknowledged that many customers have been affected by the performance of the DPS6 transmission, indicating a failure due to contributing factors introduced due to a lack of professional competence in the development of the transmission software [88279]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
The software failure incident related to the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars' transmission issues was temporary. Ford offered a software update to fix the issue, indicating that the problem was not permanent and could be addressed through a software update [88279]. |
| Behaviour |
crash, omission, value, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident related to the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars involved problems with their automatic transmission DPS6, including a potential for the transmission to default to neutral, indicating a crash where the system loses state and does not perform its intended functions [88279].
(b) omission: The article mentions issues with the cars' automatic transmission DPS6, such as a degree of vibration when the transmission is operated at low speed, suggesting an omission where the system omits to perform its intended functions at certain instances [88279].
(c) timing: The software update offered by Ford to fix the transmission issue in the Focus and Fiesta cars could be related to timing failures, where the system performs its intended functions correctly but either too late or too early [88279].
(d) value: The problems with the cars' automatic transmission DPS6, such as vibration and defaulting to neutral, indicate a value failure where the system performs its intended functions incorrectly [88279].
(e) byzantine: The article does not mention any behavior indicative of a byzantine failure in the software incident related to the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars [88279].
(f) other: The software incident involving the Ford Focus and Fiesta cars could also be categorized as a glitch or defect, where the system exhibits unexpected behavior or malfunctions, leading to customer inconvenience and frustration [88279]. |