The Automotive Electronics Council (AEC) is an automotive electronics industry group that defines basic IC qualification standards for the automotive electronics industry. AEC creates and maintains AEC Q-100 and Q-200, which define common electrical component qualification requirements for the automotive industry.
Included in the AEC Qs are qualification and requalification requirements, unique test methods, and guidelines for the use of generic data. Automotive electronics operate in harsh environments — surviving high heat and vibration for 10 to 15 years is not a requirement that other consumer electronics face. AEC Q-100 describes tests that such as wire bond shear and failure mechanism based stress tests for ICs are examples of AEC test guidelines for automotive.
The AEC documents are intended to serve the industry by “eliminating misunderstandings between manufacturers and purchasers, facilitating interchangeability and improvement of products, and assisting the purchaser in selecting and obtaining with minimum delay the proper product for use by those other than AEC members, whether the standard is to be used either domestically or internationally,” according to the AEC website.
Born out of a JEDEC meeting and subsequent discussions of four engineers working at American automotive companies, the AEC now has at least 18 sustaining members currently — as of 01/4/2021 — Aptiv, Bose Corporation, Continental Corporation, Cummins, Delphi Technologies, Denso International America, Gentex Corporation, Harman, Hella, John Deere Electronics Solutions (Phoenix International), Kostal Automotive, Lear Corporation, Magna Electronics, Sirius XM, Valeo, Veoneer, Visteon Corporation, and ZF. Other Technical, Associate, and Guest Members also participate in AEC.
Two committees work on the standards: the Quality Systems Committee and the Component Technical Committee. The Component Technical Committee defines the AEC Q-100 and 200 standards.
AEC founders were Earl Fischer (Ford), Gerald Servais (Delco Electronics – GM), Jerry Jennings (Chrysler), and Robert Knoell (Ford).
