ISO/TS 16949:2002 Frequently Asked Questions (TS FAQs)

IATF communicated FAQs are clarifications of existing requirements. They are not new requirements,
thus the original requirements should form the basis for reporting any noncompliance and not the FAQs.

1. Applicability/Scope (Revised July 2003. Revisions in blue type)

Question: Which Organizations can obtain Certification/Registration to ISO/TS
16949:2002?

Answer: Any Organization in the Automotive Supply Chain meeting the criteria below
can obtain Certification to ISO/TS 16949:2002
1. Scope 1.1 General
- This Technical Specification, in conjunction with ISO 9001:2000, defines the
quality management system requirements for the design and development,
production and, when relevant, installation and service of automotive-related
products.
- This Technical Specification is applicable to sites of the organization where
production and/or service parts specified by the customer are manufactured.
2. "Automotive" shall be understood as including the following:
- Cars, Trucks (Light, Medium and Heavy), Buses, Motorcycles
3. "Automotive" shall be understood to exclude the following:
- Industrial, Agricultural, Off-Highway (Mining, Forestry, Construction, etc.)
4. 3.1.11 "Site"
- Location at which value added manufacturing processes occur.
5. “Manufacturing”
- Process of making or fabricating:
• Production materials
• Production or service parts
• Assemblies, or
• Heat treating, welding, painting, plating, or other finishing services

2. Supplier Development (Removed Jan 2007)

This FAQ has now been replaced by SI 5 06

3. Audit Day Calculations (Removed March 2005)

This FAQ is now addressed in the Rules FAQs, see number 35.

4. Additional Manuals (Revised March 2005)

Question: In addition to ISO/TS 16949:2002 requirements document are there additional
reference manuals, which we should use?

Answer: As well as Rules and Guidance, additional Manuals are those

specified by the Customer Specifics, either as stand alone documents or in their
Purchase Agreement. If the customers to the Organization do not have Customer
Specifics then the Organization is free to choose from the manuals available.

5. Less than 12 months Performance Data (Removed March 2005)

Now included in the Rules 2nd edition for ISO/TS 16949:2002, see clause number 2.4.

6. Initial Audit Timing (Removed March 2005)

Now included in the Rules 2nd edition for ISO/TS 16949:2002, see clause number 2.3.

7. One audit for ISO/TS 16949:2002 and other management systems standards (New,
Adopted January 20, 2004
This FAQ is now addressed in the Rules FAQs, see number 26.