Communications - Scientific letters of the University of Zilina X:X | DOI: 10.26552/com.C.2026.046

Adapting D-Fmea to Increasing Product Complexity: A Study of Conventional and Mechatronic Shock Absorbers

Łukasz Rudolf ORCID...1, *, Marek Roszak ORCID...2, Lenka Kuchariková ORCID...3
1 Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Gliwice, Poland
2 Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Engineering Materials and Biomaterials, Gliwice, Poland
3 University of Zilina, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Department of Materials Engineering, Zilina, Slovakia

The risk analysis is essential in product development, particularly as technical complexity increases. In this article the focus was on Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (D-FMEA) in the automotive industry. The conventional and electronically controlled shock absorbers as examples of a transition from a mechanical-hydraulic product to a more complex mechatronic system, are compared. In the study was considered how increasing complexity affects analysis boundaries, decomposition level, function description, interactions between components and subsystems, and the link between risk analysis and product validation. Based on industrial practice, a model is proposed to show how D-FMEA should evolve with product complexity.

Keywords: D-FMEA, product complexity, shock absorber, mechatronic product, risk analysis
Grants and funding:

The study was conducted as part of doctoral studies at the Joint Doctoral School under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education's 'Implementation Doctorate' program.

Conflicts of interest:

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Received: May 22, 2026; Accepted: July 14, 2026; Prepublished online: August 21, 2026 

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