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VDI/VDE 2862 Joint Category Selector
The guideline sorts screwed joints into three risk classes, and the class — not the supplier — decides what your equipment has to measure and record. Two answers give you the category and the monitoring line for your RFQ.
If this joint fails, is there a risk to life and limb?
Failure in the guideline means loosening, breakage of the bolt, or loss of the bolt or nut — not cosmetic damage.
If this joint fails, does the system malfunction or stop?
For a vehicle the guideline’s example is that it can no longer reach the nearest workshop on its own.
Which sheet is the guideline being applied to?
Part 1 covers automotive minimum requirements; Part 2 covers plant and mechanical engineering.
Category A
High risk. Failure is likely to destroy the system and endangers life and limb.
What the equipment has to deliver
- Continuous monitoring of the screwdriving process, with at least one measured control variable available for further processing.
- Per-joint traceability records, retained and retrievable against the part identifier.
- A defined reaction on deviation, documented before the runoff rather than after.
- Torque and angle capture on every joint; for flow drill screwdriving the recorded variable is normally tightening torque, whose ceiling belongs to the fastener (8.3 N·m at M5, 12 N·m at M6).
- Acceptance testing at runoff that demonstrates the monitoring, not just the joint.
Category B
Medium risk. Failure causes a malfunction or a standstill of the system.
What the equipment has to deliver
- Monitoring with recorded process data for the joints in this class.
- A defined reaction when a joint falls outside the window, with the reaction recorded.
- Process data available for evaluation, at minimum torque against the set value.
- Break-loose torque sampling in validation, to confirm clamp load survives cooling to ambient.
- Acceptance testing at runoff on the same data path production will use.
Category C
Low risk. Non-critical joint, in neither class A nor class B.
What the equipment has to deliver
- Simpler tooling with limited monitoring may be sufficient.
- A set-torque tool with periodic verification usually covers this class.
- Do not pay for per-joint traceability you have no obligation to keep.
- Keep the classification on record anyway, because a design change can move the joint into class B.
Paste this into your RFQ
Answer both risk questions above to generate your precise screwdriving spec. An unassigned joint is the most common reason a screwdriving spec has to be reopened after buyoff.
Request an engineering review against this category
Category definitions, the failure definition and the continuous-monitoring requirement are from VDI/VDE 2862 (Part 1, 2012-04, automotive; Part 2, 2015-02, plant and mechanical engineering). Assigning the category is the customer’s decision, not the equipment supplier’s. SIMITCH holds CE conformity plus three attestations of conformity for the equipment families it supplies, and the machinery risk assessment follows the method defined in ISO 12100:2010.
