Book excerpt: Vehicle reliability problems continue to be the news because of major vehicle recalls from several manufacturers. This book includes 40 SAE technical papers, published from 2007 through 2010, that describe the latest research on automotive electronics reliability technology. This book will help engineers and researchers focus on the design strategies being used to minimize electronics reliability problems, and how to test and verify those strategies. After an overview of durability, risk assessment, and failure mechanisms, this book focuses on state-of-the-art techniques for reliability-based design, and reliability testing and verification. Topics include: powertrain control monitoring distributed automotive embedded systems model-based design x-by-wire systems battery durability design verification fault tree analysis The book also includes editor Ronald K. Jurgen’s introduction ,“Striving for Maximum Reliability in a Highly Complex Electronic Environment”, and a concluding section on the future of electronics reliability, including networking technology, domain control units, the use of AUTOSAR, and embedded software.