ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the cascading process and provides a few examples and considerations related to specifications of requirements for the lower-level entities. Vehicle attribute requirements should be derived from customer needs, business needs, and government requirements enforced in the market where the vehicle will be sold and used. The vehicle attribute requirements are thus the highest level of requirements for the vehicle. To ensure that the vehicle meets all its requirements, the vehicle must possess the attributes that its customers want. The process of cascading attribute requirements from the vehicle level down to systems will vary between different vehicle manufacturers and even between different vehicle programs of the same manufacturer. Any shortcuts, approximations, or sloppiness in cascading the attribute requirements to vehicle systems can result in development of vehicle systems that will be incomplete, lack some characteristics or features, and ultimately cause customer dissatisfaction and lower vehicle acceptance.
