Preventive action (IATF only)
Plain-language summary
Stop problems before they occur: a defined process to find potential nonconformities and act on them proportionate to their impact — including using lessons learned from similar processes elsewhere.
What the clause is really asking
ISO 9001:2015 absorbed preventive action into risk thinking; IATF restores it explicitly. Establish how potential causes get identified (trends, FMEA, lessons from sister lines/plants), act before the failure, and check the action worked.
What auditors look for
Auditors ask for examples: show me a problem you prevented. They look for horizontal deployment — a failure on line 1 triggering checks on lines 2 and 3 — and for trend data (scrap, near-misses, supplier issues) actually generating preventive actions.
Typical evidence
Preventive action records; horizontal deployment evidence (read-across checklists); trend analyses; FMEA-driven actions.
How to comply — recommendations
Add a 'where else could this happen?' box to your CAR form — that single field generates legitimate preventive action and read-across evidence every time you close a corrective action.
Common nonconformities
Zero preventive actions on record; corrective actions never deployed to similar lines; trends analysed but no action triggered.
Related clauses
Builds on ISO 9001 6.1 / 10.2
In the book
Chapter 6 — Planning — Risk, Opportunity and the Discipline of Change treats this clause family in full: what it is really asking, what auditors look for, the evidence that satisfies, how to make it work on a real floor, and where companies stumble. This IATF requirement is covered in the Automotive Edition, in the same six blocks as the ISO clause around it.
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Qlause provides interpretive guidance only and is not a substitute for the standard. Refer to your licensed copy of the relevant standard for the authoritative text.