Special characteristics (IATF only)
Plain-language summary
Identify special characteristics through a defined process — from risk analysis, customer designations and your own knowledge — and carry them visibly through every document: drawings, FMEA, control plan, work instructions.
What the clause is really asking
A documented process must establish special characteristics (customer-designated plus those from your own risk analysis), include them in the control plan and FMEA with the appropriate markings, and apply customer-specified definitions and symbols where they exist.
What auditors look for
Auditors run the correlation check: special characteristics consistent across drawing, PFMEA, control plan and instructions, with the right symbols, and controls genuinely tighter at those steps (capability studies, error-proofing, increased frequency).
Typical evidence
Special characteristics identification procedure; correlation matrix; FMEA/control plan markings; capability evidence on SCs.
How to comply — recommendations
Maintain one SC correlation matrix per part and make it a PPAP document. Any document change touching an SC triggers a matrix check — one rule that prevents the most common automotive audit finding.
Common nonconformities
SC marked in FMEA but not control plan (or vice versa); no process for self-identified SCs; SCs treated identically to standard characteristics in practice.
Related clauses
Builds on ISO 9001 8.3.3; links IATF 8.2.3.1.2
In the book
Chapter 8 — Operation — Where the Product Is Won or Lost 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.
Resources for this clause
- ArticleProcess FMEA explained: the AIAG-VDA 7-step method, Action Priority vs RPN, and the process flow that feeds it
- ArticleControl plans explained: what goes in one, how it links to the PFMEA, and a free template
- ArticlePPAP explained: the 18 elements, submission levels 1–5, run-at-rate, and what the submission is actually proving
- Toolkit · $29PFMEA ToolkitProcess FMEA to the current method: type S, O and D and the Action Priority letter answers itself, colour-coded — with a linked process flow tab and the control plan handoff built in.
- Free downloadControl Plan TemplateThe production rulebook as a working file — a blank control plan, a filled worked example, and a 12-point health check for the plans you already have.
- Free masterclass · ~21 minProcess Flow & PFMEA MasterclassThe AIAG-VDA 7 steps on one welded bracket — the process flow that feeds Structure Analysis, prevention vs detection, rating S/O/D, why RPN is gone and what the AP letters oblige you to do.
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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.