Era of High-Precision Automotive Industry & Liquid Cooling: Major Upgrade of Cleanliness Standards Accelerates Revision of ISO 16232 (2028)

Against the backdrop of the automotive industry upgrading toward high-end and intelligent development, and liquid cooling systems achieving breakthroughs in high precision and high reliability, cleanliness control of precision components has become the core key to ensuring stable operation of complete machine systems and extending service life. Following the official implementation of the new VDA 19.1 (2026), which further lowers the cleanliness detection threshold to 5 micrometers, the global international standard system for automotive component cleanliness is undergoing an unprecedented historic overhaul, with industry supervision thresholds and technical requirements raised across the board.

As the globally recognized authoritative guideline for automotive component cleanliness, the latest revision of ISO 16232 is steadily moving forward. Notably, the Standardization Administration of China (SAC) has taken in-depth participation in this international standard revision, integrating China’s industrial practical experience into international standard formulation, demonstrating China’s industrial influence in the global cleanliness sector.

I. Latest Progress of New Standards: Entered Working Draft 2 (WD2) Stage

Currently, the revision of ISO 16232 has smoothly advanced to the WD2 stage. In line with industrial progress rhythm, the fully revised version is expected to be officially released and implemented worldwide in 2028, catering to the high-precision development demands of the global automotive and liquid cooling industries.

1.In-depth Participation of Chinese Experts to Inject Domestic Industrial InsightsMr. Wang Lei, General Manager of JOMESA China, currently represents SAC to fully engage in the entire revision process of ISO 16232. As one of China’s core representatives participating in the formulation of international cleanliness standards, he promotes the integration of Chinese industrial voices into international regulations.

2.Core Industrial Significance: Build a Bridge for Alignment Between Chinese and Foreign StandardsThe in-depth involvement of Chinese experts in international standard setting not only brings massive real working condition data, mass production application experience and technological achievements accumulated by China in new energy vehicles and liquid cooling systems to the global arena, filling the gaps of relevant application scenarios in international standards, but also enables domestic supply chain enterprises to adapt to new international regulations in advance and optimize production and inspection systems. It helps local enterprises cut overseas compliance costs and enhance global market competitiveness.

II. Synchronized Evolution of Standards: Homologous Technology and Ordered Iteration

The evolution of global automotive cleanliness standards follows distinct industrial rules. Led by top international research institutions including Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute in technological research and achievement output, Germany first issued VDA 19.1 to set regional industrial benchmarks. Its core technical logic and detection specifications were then gradually transformed into the universal international standard ISO 16232, realizing the coordination and unification of regional and international standards.

Throughout the standard iteration process, JOMESA has always served as a core technical participant, deeply engaging in standard drafting and improvement, providing solid support for the standardization and normalization of global cleanliness detection technologies.

Core Technical Contributions of the German Team

During the revision of three consecutive versions of VDA 19.1, the core content of Chapter Eight Optical Analysis was fully drafted by JOMESA German technical team. It defines quantitative criteria and operating specifications for microscopic image processing and particle size measurement, sets technical benchmarks for global optical cleanliness detection, and boosts both detection accuracy and efficiency.

III. Technical Linkage: Coordinated Upgrade from VDA 19.1 to ISO 16232

As a universal international standard, ISO 16232 is closely rooted in Germany’s VDA 19.1 cleanliness standard, with highly consistent technical logic, detection concepts and synchronous iteration progress. With the official launch of VDA 19.1 (2026) that lowers the detection limit to 5 micrometers, the new ISO 16232 is expected to further unify particle classification criteria, component analysis methods and automatic detection specifications at the 5-micrometer level.

It achieves precise alignment between international standards and regional benchmark norms, provides more unified and accurate cleanliness management basis for global automotive and liquid cooling component manufacturers, and drives a qualitative leap in the overall cleanliness level of the whole industry.