Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and other design analysis techniques need to be performed iteratively throughout the design process so that engineers can obtain maximum feedback on the implications of their design choices. The initial FMEA for a design should be performed as soon as the first design is completed, and should be updated whenever a change is made to the design, or when more detailed information about components becomes available. The same principle is true for sneak circuit analysis, design verification, and other design analysis techniques. This ideal is unattainable without computer-based assistance for analysis tasks. This paper describes AutoSteve, innovative software for automating design analysis which provides a great improvement over performing design analysis tasks 'by hand'. It is closely linked to the engineer's electrical CAD software, and can use qualitative simulation early in the lifecycle as a basis for generating design analysis reports. Ford have used this software to automate FMEA report production, sneak circuit analysis, and the general verification of electrical subsystem functionality (virtual yellowboarding). In all of these areas, automated design analysis has produced valuable results. The main benefit of the automated design analysis is that it automatically produces results which identify gross problems early in the design process, when design changes can more easily be made. Over the past year, Ford have been extending the design analysis tools to use Saber as a simulation engine when detailed design information becomes available. The tools can employ information on tests and circuit functions that was defined for the qualitative tools, but perform simulation using Saber. This means that detailed design analysis can be performed with little extra effort later in the design process, providing more detailed answers than could be obtained with purely qualitative information. The paper describes the impact of this twofold automated design analysis on electronic systems design at Ford.