ABSTRACT
The validation plan describes the evaluation tests that should be conducted to determine whether the vehicle will meet its customer needs and will be accepted by the customers. The underlying goal of the validation tests is to perform the final tests to determine whether the whole vehicle as “assembled from all the verified systems and components” will meet the needs of its customers. The results of the validation tests are used to make minor changes to the vehicles. Customers are asked to provide judgments on vehicles used for validation evaluations. The chapter provides the validation tests for evaluation of the vehicle and its systems for the following seven vehicle attributes: vehicle performance, comfort, noise, vibrations, and harshness, crash safety, styling and appearance, packaging and ergonomics, and electrical and electronics. The vehicle validation tests must be carefully planned to ensure that they allow evaluation of the vehicle in areas that are important to the customers in satisfying their vehicle use needs.
