A ready-to-use Failure Mode and Effects Analysis worksheet for battery design, process, and system-level risk assessment.
This template accompanies our guide to Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) in Battery Design, which explains the method, the scoring conventions, and how FMEA fits alongside ISO 26262 and FTA. Use that page first if you are new to FMEA; use this template once you are ready to run one.
What’s in the download
The workbook has two sheets:
- FMEA Worksheet – the working sheet itself, with columns for item/function, failure mode, effect, cause, current controls, Severity, Occurrence, Detection, RPN, Action Priority, recommended action, owner, target date, and status. Three worked examples are pre-filled, covering a cell-level separator failure, a pack-level busbar joint failure, and a BMS-level current sensor failure, so you can see the method applied before adding your own rows. Fifteen blank rows are ready underneath for your own analysis.
- Guidance & AP Reference – a one-page summary of how to use the worksheet, what each score means, and how FMEA relates to FTA and to the ISO 26262 HARA process.
How the scoring works
Severity, Occurrence, and Detection are entered as whole numbers from 1 to 10. The worksheet calculates two things automatically as you type:
- RPN (Severity × Occurrence × Detection), included for reference and for comparability with older programmes that still use it
- Action Priority (High / Medium / Low), calculated using a severity-weighted banding so that a high-severity failure mode is flagged High priority even when it is unlikely to occur or is well detected. This is the approach most current automotive FMEA work uses in place of RPN alone.
The Action Priority column is colour-coded red, amber, or green so a completed worksheet can be scanned for the highest-priority failure modes at a glance.
Note on Action Priority: the banding used here is a simplified approximation for general engineering use, not a reproduction of the AIAG & VDA Action Priority tables, which are copyrighted and specific to each combination of DFMEA, PFMEA, and FMEA-MSR. For safety-critical or customer-mandated programmes, score Action Priority against the official AIAG & VDA FMEA Handbook tables directly.
Who this is for
Battery, pack, and BMS engineers running a first-pass DFMEA, PFMEA, or System FMEA who want a working spreadsheet rather than a blank page. It is not a substitute for a customer-specified FMEA form where one is contractually required, and it is not a certified safety deliverable.