Published Date: 2016-03-28
| Postmortem Analysis | |
|---|---|
| Timeline | 1. The software failure incident with the Volkswagen e-Golf electric cars happened in early 2015 [42140, 41985]. |
| System | 1. High-voltage battery management system software in the 2015-2016 e-Golf electric vehicles [42140, 41985] |
| Responsible Organization | 1. Volkswagen AG [Article 42140, Article 41985] |
| Impacted Organization | 1. Volkswagen AG [42140, 41985] 2. Electric e-Golf car owners in the United States [42140, 41985] 3. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) [42140, 41985] |
| Software Causes | 1. The software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system that could cause the car to shut down [42140, 41985] 2. The software issue that could classify a brief internal electrical current surge/peak as a critical battery condition, leading to the shutdown of the vehicle [42140, 41985] |
| Non-software Causes | 1. Battery problem causing stalling due to a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system [42140, 41985] 2. Installation of software to allow diesel vehicles to emit excess emissions, leading to lawsuits and criticism [42140, 41985] 3. Stalling events reported in early 2015 and subsequent complaints from the US market [42140, 41985] |
| Impacts | 1. The software failure incident in Volkswagen's e-Golf electric cars caused stalling due to a battery problem related to a software glitch, leading to the recall of nearly 5,600 vehicles in the United States [42140, 41985]. 2. The software issue could cause the car to shut down by mistakenly classifying a brief internal electrical current surge as a critical battery condition, resulting in an emergency shutdown of the high-voltage battery and deactivation of the vehicle's electrical drive motor [42140, 41985]. 3. The impacts of the software failure incident included potential safety risks for drivers and passengers due to the possibility of stalling events, prompting the recall to address the issue and prevent further incidents [42140, 41985]. |
| Preventions | 1. Implementing more rigorous software testing procedures to catch the software glitch before the vehicles were sold to customers could have prevented the software failure incident [42140, 41985]. 2. Conducting thorough quality assurance checks on the high-voltage battery management system software to ensure it accurately detects critical battery conditions without causing the car to shut down unexpectedly could have prevented the incident [42140, 41985]. 3. Enhancing the software monitoring capabilities to detect and address stalling events promptly could have prevented the software failure incident [42140, 41985]. |
| Fixes | 1. Dealers will install updated software in the electric vehicles to fix the software failure incident [42140, 41985]. | References | 1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) [Article 42140, Article 41985] 2. Volkswagen AG [Article 42140, Article 41985] 3. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [Article 42140, Article 41985] |
| Category | Option | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring | one_organization | (a) The software failure incident related to the battery problem causing stalling in Volkswagen's e-Golf cars has happened again within the same organization. The articles mention that Volkswagen had previously faced issues with software in its diesel vehicles that allowed them to emit excess emissions, leading to lawsuits and criticism. This prior software issue is distinct from the current problem with the e-Golf electric vehicles but indicates a pattern of software-related problems within Volkswagen [42140, 41985]. (b) There is no specific mention in the articles of the same software failure incident happening at other organizations or with their products and services. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) | design | (a) The software failure incident in the Volkswagen e-Golf cars was related to a design issue. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mentioned that the recall was due to a software glitch in the "high-voltage battery management system" that could mistakenly classify an internal electrical current surge as a critical battery condition, leading to the car shutting down [42140, 41985]. This indicates that the failure was introduced during the system development phase. (b) The articles do not provide specific information indicating that the software failure incident was related to operation or misuse of the system. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) | within_system | (a) The software failure incident related to the Volkswagen e-Golf cars was within the system. The failure was caused by a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system that could mistakenly classify a brief internal electrical current surge as a critical battery condition, leading to the car shutting down [42140, 41985]. This issue originated from within the system's software and required an update to fix the problem. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) | non-human_actions | (a) The software failure incident in the Volkswagen e-Golf cars was due to a non-human action, specifically a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system. This glitch could cause the car to shut down as the software may classify a brief internal electrical current surge/peak as a critical battery condition, leading to an emergency shutdown of the high-voltage battery and deactivation of the vehicle's electrical drive motor [42140, 41985]. (b) The software failure incident was not directly attributed to human actions in the articles provided. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) | hardware, software | (a) The software failure incident in the articles is related to hardware. The recall of nearly 5,600 electric e-Golf cars by Volkswagen in the United States was due to a battery problem that can cause stalling. The issue was specifically related to the software in the high-voltage battery management system inadvertently classifying a brief internal electrical current surge/peak as a critical battery condition, leading to the car shutting down [42140, 41985]. This indicates that the failure originated from a hardware-related issue in the battery management system. (b) The software failure incident in the articles is also related to software. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mentioned that the German automaker is recalling its 2015-2016 e-Golf electric vehicle because a software glitch could cause the car to shut down. Volkswagen stated that the issue can cause an emergency shutdown of the high-voltage battery, which deactivates the vehicle's electrical drive motor. Additionally, Volkswagen received complaints about stalling events from the US market, prompting the recall, indicating a software-related issue [42140, 41985]. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) | non-malicious | (a) The software failure incident related to the Volkswagen e-Golf cars was non-malicious. The failure was caused by a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system that could inadvertently classify a brief internal electrical current surge/peak as a critical battery condition, leading to the car shutting down [42140, 41985]. This glitch was not introduced with the intent to harm the system but rather as a technical flaw in the software. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) | poor_decisions | (a) The software failure incident related to the Volkswagen e-Golf cars was primarily due to poor decisions made by Volkswagen. The company admitted to installing software in their diesel vehicles to allow them to emit excess emissions, leading to lawsuits and criticism. This previous scandal likely influenced the scrutiny on their electric vehicles, such as the e-Golf. The recall of nearly 5,600 e-Golf cars in the United States was a result of a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system that could cause the car to shut down unexpectedly [42140, 41985]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) | development_incompetence | (a) The software failure incident in the Volkswagen e-Golf cars was due to development incompetence. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mentioned that the issue was caused by software in the high-voltage battery management system incorrectly classifying an internal electrical current surge as a critical battery condition, leading to the car shutting down [42140, 41985]. This indicates a failure in the development process where the software did not accurately interpret the electrical signals, causing the stalling issue. (b) The software failure incident was not reported to be accidental in nature in the provided articles. |
| Duration | temporary | (a) The software failure incident in the articles seems to be temporary. The issue with the software in the high-voltage battery management system of the Volkswagen e-Golf electric vehicles was causing the cars to shut down due to a software glitch. Volkswagen received complaints about stalling events from the US market, prompting the recall to address the issue. Dealers were set to install updated software in the affected electric vehicles to rectify the problem [42140, 41985]. |
| Behaviour | crash | (a) crash: The software failure incident in the articles can be categorized as a crash. The articles mention that the software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system of Volkswagen's e-Golf electric vehicles could cause the car to shut down unexpectedly, leading to a stalling event [42140, 41985]. (b) omission: There is no specific mention of the software failure incident being related to the system omitting to perform its intended functions at an instance(s) in the articles. (c) timing: The software failure incident is not described as a timing issue where the system performs its intended functions correctly but too late or too early in the articles. (d) value: The software failure incident is not related to the system performing its intended functions incorrectly in the articles. (e) byzantine: The software failure incident is not characterized by the system behaving erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions in the articles. (f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident, as described in the articles, is primarily a crash where the system loses state and fails to perform its intended functions due to a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system of Volkswagen's e-Golf electric vehicles [42140, 41985]. |
| Layer | Option | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Perception | processing_unit, embedded_software | (a) sensor: The software failure incident related to the Volkswagen e-Golf cars was not directly attributed to a sensor error. The issue was with the high-voltage battery management system software incorrectly classifying an internal electrical current surge as a critical battery condition, leading to the car shutting down [42140, 41985]. (b) actuator: The failure was not directly linked to an actuator error in the articles. (c) processing_unit: The software failure incident was primarily due to a processing error in the high-voltage battery management system software, which misclassified an internal electrical current surge, causing the car to shut down [42140, 41985]. (d) network_communication: The failure was not related to network communication errors in the articles. (e) embedded_software: The software failure incident was specifically related to an error in the embedded software of the high-voltage battery management system, which incorrectly identified an internal electrical current surge as a critical battery condition, leading to the vehicle shutdown [42140, 41985]. |
| Communication | unknown | The software failure incident reported in the news articles does not specifically mention whether the failure was related to the communication layer of the cyber physical system that failed. The focus of the articles is on a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system of Volkswagen's e-Golf electric vehicles, which could cause the cars to shut down due to a critical battery condition being misclassified by the software. The failure is attributed to a software issue rather than a communication layer problem [42140, 41985]. |
| Application | TRUE | The software failure incident reported in the provided articles was related to the application layer of the cyber physical system. The failure was specifically attributed to a software glitch in the high-voltage battery management system of Volkswagen's e-Golf electric vehicles. This glitch caused the software to classify a brief internal electrical current surge/peak as a critical battery condition, leading to the car shutting down unexpectedly [42140, 41985]. This aligns with the definition of an application layer failure as it involves a bug in the software that incorrectly handles the electrical current surge, resulting in the shutdown of the vehicle. |
| Category | Option | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Consequence | property, delay, non-human, theoretical_consequence | (a) death: There is no mention of any deaths related to the software failure incident in the provided articles [42140, 41985]. (b) harm: There is no mention of any physical harm to individuals due to the software failure incident in the provided articles [42140, 41985]. (c) basic: There is no mention of people's access to food or shelter being impacted by the software failure incident in the provided articles [42140, 41985]. (d) property: The software failure incident impacted the high-voltage battery management system of the Volkswagen e-Golf cars, potentially causing the vehicles to shut down, which could impact people's property (their cars) [42140, 41985]. (e) delay: The software failure incident could cause the affected cars to shut down, potentially leading to delays in transportation for the owners of the Volkswagen e-Golf cars [42140, 41985]. (f) non-human: The software failure incident affected the high-voltage battery management system of the Volkswagen e-Golf cars, which are non-human entities [42140, 41985]. (g) no_consequence: The software failure incident had real observed consequences, such as the potential shutdown of the affected vehicles, as mentioned in the articles [42140, 41985]. (h) theoretical_consequence: The articles mention potential consequences of the software failure incident, such as the emergency shutdown of the high-voltage battery, deactivation of the vehicle's electrical drive motor, and the need for a recall to address the issue [42140, 41985]. (i) other: There are no other consequences described in the articles beyond those related to the potential shutdown of the vehicles and the need for a recall due to the software failure incident [42140, 41985]. |
| Domain | transportation | (a) The failed system was intended to support the transportation industry. The software failure incident was related to Volkswagen's e-Golf electric cars, which are part of the transportation sector [42140, 41985]. |
Article ID: 42140
Article ID: 41985