The vehicle development process has increasingly changed over the past decades due to external influences, competitive pressure, and time- and customer-oriented product placement. This marks a trend that will continue to evolve to better meet market and customer-specific requirements. The approach of earlier engineering departments was characterized by sequential processing, as well as a still manageable product range and vehicle complexity. Today, vehicles and the integrated systems are more complex and interconnected, the number of variants is higher, the available series and special equipment are more numerous, and the available development time is shorter. Facts that necessitate a parallel working method using computer-aided development tools and efficient processes. Therefore, rapid and high-quality product development is not only dependent on the competence of the involved engineers and suppliers, but is primarily ensured by efficient and controlled processes. The following will exemplify a product development process and in particular illuminate the scope of passive safety. The focus is on the “development tools” experimental and computational simulation, but also innovation management and the integration of accident research into the development process using the example of a vehicle manufacturer will be explained.